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Sarayaku Indians to Confront Ecuador over Oil Exploration at the Inter-American Human Rights Hearing, March 29, 2005

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 32, March 29, 2005
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Washington, DC: Having granted provisional measures ordering the Government of Ecuador to take all necessary steps to protect the life and integrity of members of the Sarayaku indigenous community, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights last week summoned the parties to a hearing on May 11 to consider arguments regarding the Government’s continuing non-compliance. The Sarayaku are facing the imminent destruction of their territory by oil interests due to a government-auctioned concession of their land.

The concession was granted in 1996 to the CGC, an Argentinean-based oil company, to explore the Sarayaku’s territory for oil. The concession, known as Block 23, covers almost 500,000 acres of dense tropical rainforest in south-central Ecuador. Approximately half of the concession lies within the boundaries of this area.

The Sarayaku maintain that the extraction of oil from their territory will damage their environment and way of life, as has been the case with other Amazonian indigenous communities. Due to their opposition to the consessions, the community and their leaders, including Marlon Santi, President of the Sarayaku Association, have been the subject of a campaign of intimidation, which has included death threats and physical and verbal abuse. The perpetrators appear to be individuals aligned with the oil company, acting with the Government’s tacit approval. 

In response, the Sarayaku made the first of several petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR), a principal organ of the Organization of American States (OAS), with the help of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), and the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CDES), an AP partner. The petition alleged that CGC and the Ecuadorian military invaded their ancestral lands without consultation, persecuted their leaders, blockaded access in and out of their territory, and that the Government denied judicial protection and due process to the community.

In May 2003, the IACHR ordered Ecuador to protect the Sarayaku community. Later that year, the IACHR extended these precautionary measures after members of the Sarayaku community continued to experience death threats and 200 were physically and verbally assaulted while attempting to attend a pro-indigenous rights demonstration that month.

At the time, Ecuador's Minister of Energy and Mines is reported to have responded to the IACHR’s precautionary measures by stating that "the OAS does not give orders here" ("la OEA no manda aquí") and said that Ecuador will continue its plans to allow oil exploration in the area. 

According to Tara Melish, the CEJIL attorney representing the Sarayaku, “The government of Ecuador has consistently reiterated, both publicly and in private meetings, its firm intention to militarize Sarayaku territory to allow the oil company to enter, with or without their consent. This is in direct violation of not only international human rights law, which we are seeking to vindicate before the inter-American human rights system, but also the Constitution of Ecuador, which guarantees the collective rights of indigenous peoples to maintain ancestral possession of their lands and to be consulted about plans for exploration of non-renewable resources on their lands.”

The Inter-American Commission responded, at petitioners’ behest, by requesting provisional measures from the Court. Provisional measures are extraordinary orders aimed at protecting individuals from irreparable, urgent and grave harm. They are legally binding for all OAS Member States that have recognized the Court’s jurisdiction, such as Ecuador.

 In issuing the measures, the Court ordered the Government of Ecuador to “adopt, without delay, all necessary measures to protect the life and personal integrity” of the Sarayaku, to guarantee their free movement, and to “investigate the facts motivating the adoption of these provisional measures” in order to identify and sanction those responsible.

A decision on the merits of the case remains pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, but is expected during its October 2005 session.

A ruling in favor of the Sarayaku would have significant implications for the rights of indigenous peoples throughout the Americas. A favorable ruling would hold that governments cannot unilaterally grant concessions to companies to exploit natural resources such as oil, gas, mining or timber without the free and informed consent of the indigenous communities that occupy the land. 

This is true even where national law recognizes State sovereignty over sub-soil resources. Rather, said Melish, “Formal processes of prior consultation would have to be put in place, with strong substantive and procedural protections to ensure that free, prior and informed consent was granted by indigenous communities before concessions could legally be granted to extract natural resources from their lands. This is a basic principle which we are confident will be affirmed by the Inter-American human rights organs.”

A final ruling from the Commission on the merits of the case would result in it being sent to the Court by 2006 for a final, binding resolution of the matter.

The Advocacy Project profiled the work of CDES in 2001, and sent an intern from Georgetown University to work with CDES in 2004.

• Visit the Sarayaku website for updates on their struggle.
• The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) advocates for the implementation of international human rights norms through the inter-American system for the protection of Human Rights and other international protection mechanisms.
• See AP's profile of CDES’s work in defending the Amazon against oil companies.
• Read the weblogs of AP’s Christina Fetterhoff, who interned with CDES in 2004.