San Francisco, CA – Kichwa indigenous leaders from the Sarayaku community in the Ecuadorian Amazon will be in the Bay Area for a series of events from October 14-21.
Amnesty International | "We weren't expecting this award – it came as a surprise. Being chosen from among hundreds of films is a great honour," said Sarayaku filmmaker Eriberto Gualinga, who received the award on behalf of his community in Washington DC.
On the heels of their victory before the Inter-American Human Rights Court of the Organization of American States (OAS), the Kichwa of Sarayaku held a major celebration over the weekend on their rainforest lands.
We, as the legitimate authorities and governors of our territories, reaffirm the full exercise of our constitutional collective rights that guarantee the continuity of our identity and the territorial life spaces of the Selva Viviente (Living Jungle).
Amnesty International | Governments across the Americas are putting profit before the physical and cultural survival of thousands of Indigenous peoples, said Amnesty International in a briefing paper published ahead of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples.
Amazon Watch has been proud to accompany the Kichwa indigenous people of Sarayaku. In the wake of the historic sentence coming forth from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, our colleagues in Sarayaku issued the following expression of appreciation for all the solidarity they have felt over the years.
Earth Island Journal | "When I heard about the court's decision, I cried," said Cristina Gualinga. "I thought, 'After fighting for so long, after 30 years of invasions, the companies are finally going to leave us alone'."
After almost a decade of litigation, the international justice system has ruled in favor of an indigenous nation whose territory, life and culture were threatened by an oil project imposed on them by the state.
The Economist | The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that Ecuador's government had ignored the rights of Sarayaku's residents when granting permission for an energy project – putting governments in the Americas on notice that big physical investments are not legal until the indigenous people they affect have had their say.
Amnesty International | A regional human rights court has come down in favour of the Sarayaku Indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon in what Amnesty International has called a key victory for Indigenous Peoples.
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 that establishes new guidelines on the right to consultation of indigenous peoples.
Today the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared that the Ecuadorian state is responsible under international law for the violation of the Sarayaku people's rights to prior consultation, communal property, life, judicial protection, and other important rights.
Sarayaku in Ecuador is one of the more unique places in the Amazon. The community has beaten back oil drilling plans on their lands for over a decade, and their plan de vida for future development and land management is visionary.
Analytica | Sarayaku today is a postcard-pretty rain forest village strung along the banks of the Bobonaza River, with a sandy main square on a bluff high above the waters. A decade ago, the 1,200-resident village nearly became a battleground as Ecuadorian troops sought to impose the rights of an Argentine-US consortium to explore the area for crude oil.
Top judges of the Inter-American Human Rights Court visited the Kichwa indigenous community of Sarayaku to investigate their long-running case against the Ecuadorian government over rights abuses.
Al Jazeera | A discussion with Peter Hakim, the former president of the Inter-American Dialogue; Kevin Koenig, the Ecuador program coordinator for Amazon Watch; and Greg Palast, an investigative reporter and author.
Al Jazeera | The Sarayaku are a native people who live in several villages along a stretch of the Bobonaza river in the province of Pastaza in the southern part of the Ecuadorean Amazon. They number about one to two thousand and lead a frugal, self-contained life that has changed little in the last 100 years. But all that is now being threatened. The threat is...
Last decade, the Ecuadorian government made the mistake of trying to force oil exploration on the Kichwa, without any prior consultation. In this case, however, they didn't anticipate the community's fierce and dogged resistance.
The Kichwa of Sarayaku explain their trip to the Inter-American Human Rights Court in Costa Rica in their own words.
In a packed press room in Ecuador's National Congress building yesterday, leaders of Sarayaku brought their calls for justice to the country's capital en route to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.
Sarayaku, Ecuador- Ambush in Sarayaku territory leaves three persons seriously injured: In spite of the attack, Sarayaku evicts invaders On Friday 29th of April at 7.30 pm, a group of men from Sarayaku were attacked with dynamite and firearms. Our comrades managed to see that some of the attackers were of African race.
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