The Achuar and Sapara Nations of Ecuador held extraordinary assemblies to make decisions about their territories in response to the Ecuadorian government’s plan to auction off their ancestral lands in the Southeastern Oil Round.
President Daniel Noboa’s administration has been promoting the bidding on oil fields in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon—an initiative that directly affects the territories of seven Indigenous nations, none of whom have been consulted. If the auction proceeds, the entire territories of the Achuar and Sapara will be handed over to oil companies.
To halt this effort, the nations are demanding that the Constitutional Court take up Case 1296-19JP concerning the Waorani communities of Pastaza – OWAP, and hold a hearing in Indigenous territory to listen to testimonies and understand how, beyond the Waorani, other nations have also had their rights violated through alleged deceptive and bad-faith consultations that disregarded their organizational structures.
A ruling from the Constitutional Court that establishes binding jurisprudence guaranteeing the right to free, prior, and informed consultation and consent would be a key tool of resistance for the nations as they see the threat of extractivism come dangerously close to their lands.
“I am asking the national government to respect the Achuar nationality because we preserve our forest and river. We have our markets and medicine here in the jungle. That is why we reject oil companies in our territory. The Ecuadorian State must respect our resolution”, says Unkum Mukucham, Vice President of the Achuar Nation of Ecuador (NAE).
“We remain committed to defending our territories collectively with the other Amazonian nations. To address Case 1296-19JP, we ask the Constitutional Court to come to our territory and hold a hearing to listen to the facts, which were recognized by the Provincial Court of Pastaza in the case of the Waorani communities of Pastaza – OWAP. The same violations of the right to free, prior, and informed consultation and consent also occurred in our communities.” — Resolution of the Sapara Nation of Ecuador.
Below, we share the full resolutions and statements from the leaders of the organizations that are uniting to fight back and stop the drills before they reach the southern Ecuadorian Amazon.
