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The Sinangoe and Waorani nationalities, who live in the Amazonian part of Ecuador, presented this Tuesday, September 6, a legal appeal against the State, in the Constitutional Court. They demand that the judicial decisions rendered in their favor, years ago, by provincial courts, be respected and applied. These decisions were expected to ban oil and mining activities in their territories. But the State has never put them into practice.
A remedy for breach. This is the lawsuit that was presented this Tuesday, September 6, to the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court in the capital, Quito, by a delegation of representatives of two nationalities from the Ecuadorian Amazon: the Waorani and the Sinangoe.
The delegation, accompanied by fifty members of the communities, decided to continue with their legal battle, considering that the State is not complying with the rulings issued by two courts in their respective Amazonian provinces.
The provincial courts had ruled in favor of the communities and against the extraction activities in thousands of hectares of tropical forest.
The sentences had also determined the responsibility of the Ecuadorian State in the violation of the right to prior free and informed consultation and self-determination of these indigenous communities. On the other hand, they had ordered reparation measures for those affected.
According to the delegation, the State has not complied with any of these judicial decisions.
“We don’t want mining, we want to live”
The representatives of the indigenous peoples regretted that, years after the sentences, the violations of their rights continue.
Amid shouts calling for justice and action, the members of the affected communities demanded effective decisions by the authorities.
“Here we are all. We have come from afar. We have not slept. We have come to Quito to demand our right. We are here to ask the judges to wake up and to enforce the sentence,” he said in front of the door of the Court Constitutional the president of the Waorani nationality, Gilberto Nenquimo.
“It is a shame to say that we have been there for several years and there has been no compliance in the territory. The reversal of the concessions has not been done and the sentence is super clear. The sentence orders to eliminate them, but the Ecuadorian Government has only suspended them,” he said. Wider Guaramag, president of the Sinangoe community.
Alexandra Narváez, a member of the indigenous guard of the Sinangoe community and this year’s winner of the Goldman environmental prize, was also present.
“We are very indignant because we are tired of always having to come to the city to demand that our rights be respected and fulfilled,” declared Narváez, adding that “we do not want mining, we want to live. We want a future for our children. We are all connected with the territory and with life. If we indigenous peoples disappear, you are also in danger”.
EFE, AP
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