Continent-wide Implications as Inter-American Court Finds Ecuador Government Guilty of Rights Violations in the Sarayaku Case
Amazon Watch
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | July 26″ 2012
For more information” contact:
Kevin Koenig (in Quito) +593-9794-9041 [email protected]
Andrew Miller (in Washington) +1-202-423-4828 [email protected]
Quito” Ecuador – The Inter-American Court has issued an unequivocal sentence in favor of the Kichwa indigenous community of Sarayaku” culminating an 8-year process within the human rights institutions of the Organization of American States that establishes new guidelines on the right to consultation of indigenous peoples. Sarayaku” a rainforest community deep in Ecuador's Amazon” brought the case in 2006 over rights abuses suffered at the hands of the government as Argentine company CGC” in partnership with U.S.-based ConocoPhillips/Burlington Resources” pursued oil exploration against the community's wishes. The outcome of the case has widespread implications not only for governments of Latin American countries but also the multinational companies operating therein.
Reflecting a global trend toward strengthening of indigenous rights” the Court's landmark decision found the small Andean nation guilty on a number of counts” including violating the indigenous right to prior consultation and the physical integrity of the community members. The decision outlines the most detailed binding language regarding the parameters of the consultation process to date” and will serve as the new standard as countries updated and implement regulations regarding the consultation of indigenous peoples.
Sarayaku's elected president” José Gualinga” stated on Wednesday that” “Sarayaku welcomes this victory” gained through the efforts of its people and the support of allied people and organizations committed to the rights of indigenous peoples. Sarayaku will be closely monitoring compliance with this sentence and we will ensure that indigenous peoples' territories will be respected in the face of damaging extractive industries such as oil drilling.”
Concrete recommendations of the Court include the Ecuadorian State obligatorily consulting with the Kichwa of Sarayaku” “in the eventual case that they plan to carry out any natural resource extraction activity or project in their territory.” Additionally” the State has to “neutralize” deactivate” and dig up the pentolite (explosives used to search for oil) on the surface and buried within the Sarayaku people's territory”” carry out a public act recognizing their international responsibility for the facts in the case” and pay reparations for the material and non-material damages to the indigenous people. Notably” the decision states that consultation should be carried out in good faith in order to achieve “agreement or consent” and a “consensus between parties.”
The ruling comes as the administration of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa is preparing to expand oil exploration throughout the southeastern Ecuadorian Amazon” in an oil-block auction planned for October 2012 known as the “11th Round.” The 10 million acres of Amazon rainforest represented by these oil blocks are found entirely within legally titled indigenous territory. These oil blocks are in violation of the core human rights principles outlined by the Court's ruling” for not having passed through good-faith consultation processes. Seven indigenous nationalities have repeatedly rejected the 11th Round” most recently in February of this year.
The implications of the judgment will reverberate not only across Ecuador but throughout the Latin America” where indigenous communities are under increasing pressure for natural resource extraction in their territories” regardless of the steep environmental and social costs. Around the Americas” public and private projects are facing growing resistance from indigenous and other local communities that are demanding respect for their health and homelands.
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