Loading

The case that the Kichwa People of Sarayaku (Pastaza Province) has been promoting before the Inter-American Human Rights System against the Ecuadorian State since 2003, has reached a point of definition. 

This case concerns the denunciation of serious human rights violations committed against Sarayaku in relation to the Ecuadorian State's unconsulted decision to allow oil operations in the so-called Block 23 in our territory; the impact that this decision had on our subsistence, life and worldview, and the acts of violence caused during the arbitrary entry of Ecuadorian oil workers and military personnel into Sarayaku territory in 2002 and 2003. This case will set important precedents regarding the right to consultation and free, prior and informed consent of indigenous peoples with regard to State decisions that seriously affect their territory and self-determination.


In July 2011, the Inter-American Court held a public hearing on the case at its headquarters in San José, Costa Rica. The hearing included statements from victims, witnesses, and experts, and the parties' positions and arguments were presented. Within the time limit established by the Court, the parties submitted their final written arguments. This means that the procedural steps prior to sentencing have been completed.

However, the Inter-American Court, in the exercise of its powers, has decided that, before issuing a judgment, it will conduct an on-site visit to the territory of the Kichwa People of Sarayaku on April 21, 2012, with the aim of obtaining additional information about the situation of the victims and the places where some of the reported events are believed to have occurred.

The People of Sarayaku welcomes the delegation of the Inter-American Court, the Inter-American Commission, which will also participate in the visit, and the delegation of the Ecuadorian State to its territory. Together with its representatives, Dr. Mario Melo Cevallos and the Center for Justice and International Law CEJIL, Sarayaku will actively participate in the proceedings.

We believe that the visit of the Inter-American Court to the territory of an Indigenous People resisting the entry of oil activity into their territory is an invaluable opportunity to make visible to national and international public opinion, which is following the case with interest, the harmful effects caused by the imposition of unconsulted state decisions on Indigenous Peoples, in violation of the international law standards that protect them, as well as to emphasize the validity and enforceability of the right to consultation and to free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples. This occurs in a context in which a new large oil tender has been announced in Ecuador that once again threatens the territory of Sarayaku and that of other indigenous peoples and nationalities in the South-Central Ecuadorian Amazon.

Sarayaku calls on Ecuadorian citizens, indigenous, social, environmental and human rights organizations around the world, the media and all people committed to indigenous rights and Mother Earth, to follow our website www.sarayaku.org. the development of this important proceeding and the judgment handed down by the Inter-American Court in the Sarayaku case.

Jose Gualinga
TAYAK APU TAYJASARUTA
(President of the Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku)

Leave a Reply

es_ESES_ES