{"id":3082,"date":"2016-12-02T17:04:46","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T22:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarayaku.org\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2016-12-06T09:45:45","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T14:45:45","slug":"desde-san-jose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarayaku.org\/en\/desde-san-jose\/","title":{"rendered":"From San Jos\u00e9"},"content":{"rendered":"
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San Jos\u00e9, December 1, 2016.- Leaders of the Original Kichwa People of Sarayaku; his lawyer, Mario Melo, and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) evidenced during a press conference, the lack of compliance by the Ecuadorian State with fundamental points of the sentence that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued in against him in 2012.<\/p>\n
Three points of the sentence will be the topics to be discussed in the supervision hearing, which will take place in San Jos\u00e9, Costa Rica, today, Friday, December 2, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The hearing will be broadcast live through the official website of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: http:\/\/www.corteidh.or.cr\/<\/p>\n
The Inter-American Court ordered the State of Ecuador to remove the pentolite -an explosive with high destructive power- from the territory inhabited by the Sarayaku people, located in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Given this, Mario Melo denounced that the State has not yet removed or neutralized the pentolite abandoned 14 years ago on the surface of the territory and buried with the aim of conducting a seismic study that would allow oil exploitation. Due to their characteristics, these explosives represent a danger to the Sarayaku people and prevent the use and enjoyment of a significant part of their territory.<\/p>\n
At another point, the sentence obliges the Sarayaku people to consult any activity or project for the extraction of natural resources within their territory that could have an impact on them. Finally, this 2012 resolution obliges Ecuador to adopt or modify legislative, administrative and any other measures, in order to ensure the implementation of the right to prior consultation of indigenous peoples.<\/p>\n
Despite what was ordered by the Inter-American Court, the Ecuadorian State convened a new round of oil tenders -the eleventh- that ended with the assignment and concession of three blocks that will affect the Sarayaku territory. Said tenders, the representatives of the people maintained, were carried out without the prior, free and informed consultation required by the ruling of the Inter-American Court and international law.<\/p>\n
"The lack of adaptation of Ecuadorian policies, practices and legislation to international obligations regarding indigenous peoples has consequences that include and exceed the Sarakayu, insofar as they put the survival of numerous indigenous peoples in the country at risk," he said. Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director of CEJIL added: \u201cIn a regional context, where the actions of States and extractive industries against indigenous peoples are being closely examined, Ecuador could serve as a benchmark, if it adapted its legislation and its practices complying with what was ordered by the Inter-American Court\u201d.<\/p>\n
The president of the Sarakayu people, F\u00e9lix Santi, pointed out that this non-compliance has been repeated, despite what the highest inter-American court orders: "Although the Court's ruling was a historic victory for us, the non-compliance by the State threatens again our territory, worldview and development as an indigenous people. We demand that the State comply with what was ordered by the Court to preserve the Kawsak Sacha (living forest) that is our life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part of the damage to the Sarakayu territory will be evidenced at the hearing through an interactive map. The tool was developed by CEJIL and the Amazon Conservation Team, to strengthen the Sarayaku struggle. It had the technical support of the geographer of the Ecuadorian organization Terra Matter, Carlos Mazabanda, and the assistance of Amazon Watch. The project graphically narrates the struggle of the people in defense of their territory and nature. To access the map: \n