Complaint against Ecuador for having granted a concession for oil exploration and exploitation and allowing an Argentinean company to begin seismic exploration within the Sarayaku people’s territory without having consulted with the Sarayaku or obtaining their consent. Violations of the right to prior consultation, prior consent, community indigenous land, cultural identity, life, and personal integrity.
Although it is early to assess enforcement, the Ecuadorian government has publically recognized its responsibility for violations. The Legal Secretary of the President, Alexis Mero, has confirmed Ecuador’s intention of complying with the Court’s decision, although he has not specified by when that would happen. Nonetheless, it remains to be seen if Ecuador removes the explosives from Sarayaku’s territory. Additionally, although Ecuador affirms that it will include prior consultation processes in the upcoming XI Round of Oil Concessions, planned for the year 2012, the government published Executive Decree No. 1247 on July 19, 2012, which purports to regulate prior consultation rights. In the words of the Sarayaku and other indigenous organizations from Ecuador, the Decree “attempts to relegate the consultation to a mere formality or process of information or socialization, thus ignoring the Inter-American Court of Human Rights decision in the Sarayaku Case.”
The decision symbolizes indigenous resistance against oil, logging, and mining throughout the Amazon and it celebrates the solidarity among members of the Sarayaku people in fighting for their lands. According to the Sarayaku’s attorney, Mario Melo, the Court’s decision and intense international attention that it received are the result of a strategy of the Sarayaku that could be used with the same success by other indigenous communities that face the imposition of “development” projects in their lands. The Sarayaku were examples of unity, organization, social cohesion and determination. Moreover, from a normative perspective, the decision clearly establishes criteria for prior and informed consultation that will serve for other cases of development-induced violations of indigenous peoples’ rights in Latin America. It also recognizes indigenous communities themselves as subjects of collective rights under international law (Interview with Mario Melo, documents by CEJIL, Amazon Watch, The Economist).
Fundación Panchamama
Center for Justice and International Law – CEJIL