March 13, 2022

This Week in Human Rights News

Ecuador Constitutional Court rules in favour of Indigenous land rights

Sources: OpenDemocracy, Mongabay, Al Jazeera 

Ecuador’s Constitutional Court has ruled in favour of Indigenous land rights. The ruling, which was passed on February 4 2022, supports Indigenous communities’ right to decide matters regarding oil and gas extraction on their lands.

Mongabay reported that, effective immediately, oil and mining projects will need to gain the consent of Indigenous communities in relevant regions that may affect communities and their land. 

Andres Tapia, communications director for the Indigenous organisation Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana (CONFENIAE) told Mongabay that the ruling “provides a guideline for the right to consent, whereby the community has the final decision on whether or not to allow any extractive activity.”

Oil spills from extraction have had disastrous effects on both people and the environment in Ecuador. A spill in early February, for example, resulted in 6,300 barrels of crude oil leaking into the federally protected Piedra Fina sector of the Amazon.

“The damage…will be [for] 20 years,” Bolivia Buenano, a merchant from near the area told Al Jazeera.