A collective investigation from 2021 to 2026 by Indigenous Peoples and Nations, indigenous organizations, and allies in the Andean-Amazon region documents multidimensional violations and urges national and international actors to act
October 28, 2026, Panama City, Panama.—The governments of Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru must be held accountable for the decisions and omissions that leave cross-border Indigenous peoples vulnerable to dispossession, pollution, and violence. A collective report by Amazon Frontlines, presented at the 197th session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), concludes that the expansion of extractive industries,including mining and oil and their socio-environmental impacts; the pursuit of critical minerals and rare earth elements; the growth of illicit economies; transnational criminal violence; militarization; dispossession; and the lack of state protection form a systematic pattern of threats against the lives, territorial and cultural integrity, and self-governance of cross-border Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon regions of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The report titled “Territorial Fragmentation, Dispossession, and Violence Against Cross-Border Indigenous Peoples and Nations: Systematic and Multidimensional Violations of Rights and State Obligations to Protect in Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru” compiles testimonies and contributions from communities and organizations of the Awá, A’i Cofán/Kofán, Andwa, Siona/ZioBain, Siekopai/Secoya, Achuar, Shuar, and Wampis peoples, as well as regional and human rights organizations, warning of the imminent risk of physical and cultural extermination faced by Indigenous nations whose ancestral territories extend beyond state borders; this research process ran between 2021 and 2026.
The central warning is that these threats are spreading across shared territories and watersheds, while state responses remain fragmented. Pollution, incursions by armed groups, and extractive pressures are jeopardizing access to water, food, and territorial security. At the same time, threats, attacks, and the criminalization of authorities and defenders are weakening community mechanisms to prevent harm, demand justice, and sustain self-governance.
These impacts deepen a history of territorial fragmentation marked by border demarcation and cycles of extraction of cinchona bark, rubber, and oil. For peoples whose existence predates the formation of states, restrictions on mobility and access to their territories disrupt family relationships, spiritual practices, and the transmission of their own languages and knowledge.
This report is linked to another recently released report, “Defending the Amazon Under Threat,” produced through Amazon Frontlines’ rapid response program to protect defenders, which supported 39 cases involving at-risk individuals and/or groups of defenders.
At the press conference, held in Panama City at the headquarters of the Guna Youth Movement (Movimiento de la Juventud Guna) —a native people of that country—representatives of indigenous peoples: Justino Piaguaje—Siekopai/Secoya, Fredy Piaguaje—ZioBain/Siona, Oswando Nenquimo – Waorani, and Indira Vargas—Kichwa of the Amazon—accompanied by Maria Espinosa, a human rights defender and attorney with Amazon Frontlines. Other representatives of cross-border Indigenous Peoples who joined the press conference were Shapion Noningo of the Wampis people and Adriano Perez, chief of the Guna Dule people.
The forum also heard complaints presented by Martha Tuquerres, a Kichwa leader from Cotacachi with the organization UNORCAC, who spoke about the criminalization and violence against Indigenous leaders and organizations following the October 2025 strike. Similarly, Daniel Sisa, president of the Jerusalem Drinking Water Board in Las Naves canton, said his community was denied protective measures to make way for mining operations, which seriously affected their water sources and rights.
Key Findings of the Report
- Populations at Risk and Historical Fragmentation: At least 18 Indigenous Peoples in the Andean Amazonian border region are divided by state borders. The report examines in depth the situation of the Awá, A’i Kofán/Cofán, Siona/Ziobain, Siekopai/Secoya, Andwa, Achuar, Shuar, and Wampis peoples, whose territories span more than 6.2 million hectares.
- Extractive Development Without Consent: Natural vegetation remains on 96.26% of the analyzed territorial area. At the same time, oil blocks overlap with 3,046,228.63 hectares, or 48.75% of the mapped area analyzed. In the Achuar and Andwa territories under consideration, the overlap reaches 100%.
River and soil pollution affects their water, food, health, traditional medicine, and spiritual practices. Barriers to healthcare, education, and basic services exacerbate these impacts
- Criminal Governance and Mercury Poisoning: Borders have been turned into strategic corridors for illicit economies such as drug trafficking and illegal alluvial mining. Chronic mercury contamination from mining destroys aquatic ecosystems and severely impacts the neurological health and food security of children, women, and communities. Threats, murders, forced recruitment, displacement, confinement, and anti-personnel mines restrict their mobility, livelihoods, and the exercise of authority.
- Critical danger for human rights defenders: The convergence of extractive pressures, armed groups, and impunity has turned the Amazon into one of the most dangerous places in the world for Indigenous leaders, human rights and territorial defenders, and Indigenous guards.
- Exclusion and “green dispossession”: Despite evidence that Indigenous territories have the lowest rates of deforestation, environmental schemes, debt swaps, and carbon markets—implemented without the effective participation of indigenous authorities—transform conservation into a new mechanism of control and territorial dispossession.
The report was submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations special rapporteurs to strengthen international monitoring, issue recommendations to States, and establish responsibilities, deadlines, and verifiable results.
Demands on States and International Organizations
- To the governments of Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru: Adapt their legal frameworks to recognize territorial continuity and the self-determination of cross-border peoples; fulfill their obligations to protect and guarantee the rights of Indigenous Peoples; suspend extractive concessions granted without consent; implement coordinated protection plans against armed and illicit groups; and guarantee ancestral freedom of movement.
- To the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR): Strengthen ongoing monitoring in border areas and request an advisory opinion from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the scope of States’ cross-border obligations regarding self-determination, territorial continuity and legal certainty, the prevention of socio-environmental harm, and the control of transnational organized crime.
- To the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Strengthen the monitoring of Article 36 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Article 32 of ILO Convention No. 169 regarding cooperation and contact between peoples divided by borders.
Participating organizations warn of threats, criminalization, and displacement that delegation members face upon returning to their home territories. They point to a history of reprisals following reports of rights violations and demand immediate preventive and protective measures, agreed upon with the concerned individuals and communities.
Participation in international human rights forums must not become a new source of danger. The state’s obligation to protect continues after the hearings and the delegations’ return.
Statements from participants:
Maria Espinosa, attorney with Amazon Frontlines and an advocate for rights, communities, and nature.
This report documents how Indigenous Peoples—whose existence predates the formation of nation-states—are today facing dispossession, pollution, and violence in territories fragmented by the borders of Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru. This collective investigation reveals how dispossession, oil and mining expansion, pollution, and control by armed groups and criminal networks are compounding one another. In light of this, the governments are responsible not only for what they fail to do. It also encompasses the decisions through which these governments authorize interventions, maintain barriers to territorial recognition or free movement, and fail to implement protective measures and rulings in favor of these peoples. The state has the capacity to cooperate in military and mining-energy matters; we demand that it uses the same capacity to guarantee rights, enforce justice, and protect life.
We warn of a specific risk: the members of this delegation may face threats, criminalization, and displacement upon returning to their territories. This has already happened after they denounced these violations. We are publicly documenting this risk and call on the three governments to take immediate preventive and protective measures. Speaking out must not cost them their freedom, their territory, or their lives.
Communities still lack sufficient guarantees for health, education, and safe water, while they endure pollution and environmental liabilities without comprehensive remediation. We call on governments to comply with court rulings, protect those who defend their territories, and hold companies accountable. It is their obligation to ensure these people’s survival and their right to govern and make decisions regarding their territories.
Justino Piaguaje, territorial leader of the Siekopai Nation (Ecuador-Peru border)
Legal uncertainty prevents us from exercising autonomy, self-government, and self-determination. In Ecuador, we filed a protective action [to return to our ancestral territory]; we won the case in 2023, and nearly three years later, the ruling has not been enforced. Until then, our grandfathers and grandmothers cannot return to their territory and cannot pass on that wisdom and knowledge to future generations. On the Peruvian side, the territories have been titled, but they remain on loan: the state loans 80% under an arrangement called “transfer of use,” and only 20% is owned outright. We, as peoples, want to continue being Siekopai; that is why we ask the international community to ensure that these conflicts are resolved beyond the peace agreements. Ecuador and Peru signed the agreement in 1998, but we, as peoples, have not been able to return to our territories for more than 50 years.
Fredy Piaguaje, Delegate of the Association of Indigenous Councils of the Siona People (ACIPS) (Ecuador-Colombia border)
We have lived along the Putumayo River for thousands of years. We were already in that territory before the border was established. The Siona are a cross-border people in both Colombia and Ecuador. In Colombia, we have 13 communities; in Ecuador, eight; and our total population of approximately 1,800 people. In Colombia, [the Constitutional Court] has declared that we are on the verge of physical and cultural extinction through Order 004 of 2009. Most of our territories are constantly threatened by oil extraction, mining, and armed groups based in Colombia and Ecuador—and advancing toward Peru—who exercise constant control. We have been threatened; we have experienced massive internal displacement; and we live under constant confinement. Another complex issue is the assassination of leaders in Colombia for defending our territory and cultural identity.
Oswando Nenquimo, President of the Waorani Organization of Pastaza (OWAP)
Under the current government’s plan, we face two risks: the expansion of oil operations, which affects seven indigenous nations [in the Amazonian province of Pastaza], and we demand that the Ecuadorian government respect our decisions because we are the owners of the territory. The second challenge is the mining registry: mining is there, day after day, destroying our rivers, our rainforest, and our people. To confront this threat, our indigenous guard patrols the territory, but the government criminalizes and stigmatizes these guards.
Indira Vargas, Vice President of the Kichwa Nation of Pastaza (PAKKIRU)
We are 16 peoples comprising more than 225 Kichwa communities, where we practice our traditions and philosophy as guaranteed by the Ecuadorian Constitution and stipulated by international treaties that recognize self-determination and prior consultation. For more than 70 years, the struggle of Indigenous Peoples against oil extractivism and the establishment of both legal and illegal mining in our territories has continued. Furthermore, the rise of organized crime fills us with fear. We are defending our territories, and in response, the government has established a system of criminalization and persecution of Indigenous leaders. In 2025, during the national strike in Ecuador, authorities criminalized 60 people for alleged unjustified private enrichment and froze their bank accounts. We denounced these human rights violations before the rapporteurs at the 197th session of the IACHR urging them to remain vigilant on these allegations.
Shapion Noningo, technical secretary of the Wampis Nation’s autonomous territory (Peru-Ecuador border)
Starting in 1941, the war between Peru and Ecuador severed our family, territorial, and social ties until 1998, when a peace agreement was signed, and we were finally able to restore our historic family ties with our Shuar brothers and sisters in Ecuador. As a cross-border community, we face serious problems: legal and illegal mining, oil blocks, illegal logging, and shady business dealings involving external actors with international connections. Countries like Peru are complicit in these actions because, on the one hand, they do nothing, and on the other, corruption prevails. The mining industry funds many officials—congresspeople, regional and local governments—and nothing is being done to put an end to these practices. Our rights as cross-border communities are being violated. When we cross the borders to sell our plantains or go about our daily lives, we are harassed by the military. Governments are not working to protect Indigenous people; that is why we are asking the IACHR to take action on this matter. Even though it lacks the authority to impose sanctions, we are bringing this issue to light so that the world may learn of this reality.
Adriano Pérez, Sagladummad (chief) of the Guna Dule people—Panama (Panama-Colombia border)
Our rights as indigenous peoples are threatened and violated by the Western system; this is also happening in Panama, where there is persecution against traditional leaders and authorities. The system recognizes the rights and laws we have in the Indigenous reserves, yet it still persecutes us; we have three Indigenous authorities in prison. National and community laws must work together, but when they enter our territories, they act arrogantly and seek to trample on our rights. They want us to comply with the laws, but they violate them first. We are not a problem for the State; we are part of the solution.
Media Contacts and Interview Coordination
- Luisana Aguilar: National Media Coordinator, Amazon Frontlines — luisana@amazonfrontlines.org
- Raúl Estrada: Campaigner, Amazon Frontlines — raul.estrada@amazonfrontlines.org
