Sarayaku vs. Ecuador, Derechos Humanos y de la naturaleza

Abstract

In 1996, the Ecuadorian state made a round of negotiations through which it gave many Amazon Ecuadorian zones to transnational enterprises which were in charge of extracting oil. The state through Petroecuador signed a contract with the consortium made byCompañía San Jorge and Compañía General de Combustibles. They explored the territory located in the province of Pastaza, which is known as block 23. The Kichwa community of the Amazons live in this territory, in a sector called Sarayaku where they live maintaining their traditions. The exploration of the zone began causing uncertainty and opposition of the Sarayaku Community. In 2002, zones were destroyed that were considered as sacred, and this caused a great impact between its inhabitants. The enterprises to work on their activities took all measures producing clashes between communities and also, caused strikes in Sarayaku. The indigenous went to judicial instances to ask for protection of their rights. The lack of agility andresponse caused for the indigenous to make a petition to the Human Rights Commission to inform them of their case. The Commission made a report that was presented to the Inter-American Human Rights Court which passed a sentence for all the damages. The sentence, imposed the performance of various points, how to establish an appropriate system of Human Rights that consider the multi culturalism of Ecuador, and a legal protection of nature. These facts led to various improvements in the Constitution denominated as the “Rights of Nature”