blood and oil in the ecuadorian
amazon
quichua rights upheld by
inter-american court
"This violent action taken against us
will be made known, in an urgent manner, to
judicial authorities at the national and
international level, because if you all
want to protect an oil company that
violates our rights and the government
fails to respect us, then all of them will
be held responsible for the extinction of
my people."
Marlon Santi, leader of the Quichua people
of Sarayaku.
Sarayaku, which means "river of maize",
is home to some 1,000 people who live
amidst 135,000 hectares of pristine forest
in the Ecuadorian Amazon. However, oil
flows under the territory of the Quichua
people, and as a result their lives and
livelihoods are increasingly under threat
transnational corporations and the
Ecuadorian government.
In December 2003, a group of people from
Sarayaku on their way to a peaceful
demonstration in protest of oil activities
within their territory were viciously
attacked by aggressors "tied to the
petroleum company CGC" according to the
Quichua. Shortly afterwards, the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
extended the Precautionary Measures it had
previously granted in favour of Sarayaku
for an additional six months. Quichua legal
counsel Jose Serrano observed that "the
extension of the precautionary measures …
serves to call attention to the Ecuadorian
government's severe and systematic practice
of violating human rights and in this
specific case, the collective rights of the
indigenous peoples."
In March 2004, the Head of the Armed
Forces Joint Command entered Sarayaku's
central village area accompanied by heavily
armed military police and army officials in
order to intimidate the local people.
In July 2004, a ruling by the
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
ordered the Ecuadorian State to "guarantee
the life and personal integrity of the
members of the Sarayaku community and their
defenders, as well as the right of free
movement of the members of Sarayaku". Just
a few days earlier, the United Nations
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights had expressed concern "that natural
extracting concessions have been granted to
international companies without the full
consent of the concerned communities" as
well as "the negative health and
environmental impacts of natural resource
extracting companies' activities at the
expense of the exercise of land and culture
rights of the affected indigenous
communities and the equilibrium of the
ecosystem."
Although the ruling and the UN
statements appear to be significant
developments for indigenous peoples both
within Ecuador and globally, the Quichua
are not ready to let down their guard. Even
with the world's eyes upon them, their
people continue to suffer from aggressions
as well as repeated public threats by the
Ecuadorian authorities to militarize their
territory in order to allow the Argentinean
oil company CGC to take control over their
lands and livelihoods. This case may be
only the beginning: in July 2004, the
oil-thirsty Ecuadorian government declared
a "total opening" of the southern
Ecuadorian Amazon for the oil industry.
more information:
http://www.sarayaku.com
