Plural Justice and Territorial Conflicts: The Performance of the STF Conciliation Center in Indigenous Cases
Indigenous peoples; Indigenous rights; Federal Supreme Court; NUSOL; Legal pluralism; Intercultural justice.
The relationship between the Brazilian state and indigenous peoples has historically been marked by political, legal, and cultural asymmetries, resulting from the imposition of a monocultural state model that marginalized indigenous normative systems. Despite the 1988 constitutional milestone, which recognized indigenous rights to land, social organization, languages, and traditions, the enforcement of these rights remains limited by territorial conflicts, administrative delays, and institutional resistance. In this scenario, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) plays a central role in defining the legal contours surrounding indigenous peoples. With the creation, in 2015, of the Center for Consensual Conflict Solutions (NUSOL), the aim was to broaden access to justice through self-composition in structural disputes. However, the application of this mechanism in indigenous disputes raises questions about its ability to dialogue with indigenous conflict resolution practices and to achieve plural and intercultural justice. The research is based on the hypothesis that, although NUSOL represents a significant institutional innovation, its performance in indigenous cases is limited by institutional, cultural, and epistemological barriers. Methodologically, a qualitative approach with theoretical-empirical analysis is adopted: contributions from legal pluralism and the anthropology of law are mobilized, data are collected from the Federal Supreme Court (STF), the cases submitted to the center are identified, and those involving indigenous issues are analyzed. The main objective is to critically analyze NUSOL's performance in indigenous conflicts, evaluating the results and limitations of its practice. The aim is to contribute to the academic debate on intercultural justice and to offer subsidies for public policies that strengthen a plural and inclusive legal system.