Oil Spill Lawsuit Appeal
Submit this letter to support Kichwa communities’ appeal for justice
For over a year Kichwa Indigenous communities affected by the largest oil spill in more than a decade in the Ecuadorian Amazon have been fighting for justice. When their rivers and food supply were contaminated, and they saw that the government’s response was woefully inadequate, the Kichwa people partnered with Amazon Frontlines, the Ecuadorian Alliance for Human Rights, Ecuadorian Amazon Regional Indigenous Organization (CONFENIAE), and Regional Kichwa Peoples’ Indigenous Federation (FCUNAE) to file a lawsuit demanding the government and oil companies carry out urgent environmental remediation, provide remedies to affected peoples, and repair or relocate the pipelines.
However, the lower courts dismissed the case, stating that the constitutional court, which addresses rights violations, was the incorrect legal venue. Despite the excuse of a procedural dismissal, the judge’s ruling outrageously implied that the constitutional rights of Indigenous peoples and nature had not been violated. So, we appealed and the highest court in the country selected the case for review! With existing oil infrastructure and pipelines in dangerously poor conditions and Ecuador’s new President set to ramp up oil drilling in the Amazon, a decision by the Court is urgent. And now we need your help to reverse the lower court’s decision and ensure that the justice system upholds the Rights of Nature and of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon, while setting an invaluable national precedent.
Voices From the Frontlines
News
Related Press
- ‘Trapped again’: Quarantined Ecuador indigenous groups fight Amazon oil spill – Reuters
- Campaigners Demand Court Shuts Down Ecuador’s Oil Pipelines After Spill – Desmog
- An Ecuadorian court will rule on the oil spill in the Amazon – Explica
- Oil Spill Threatens The Bajo Napo Key Biodiversity Area – ValueWalk
- Dirty Money, Dirty Water: Oil on Trial in the Amazon – The McGill International Review
- Catholic leaders voice support for Ecuador’s indigenous after oil spill – Vatican News
- Ecuador races for emergency infrastructure as river’s collapse threatens dam – Mongabay
- Exclusive: European banks face indigenous calls to end Amazon oil trade – Reuters
- How Covid-19 could destroy indigenous communities – BBC
- An oil spill in the time of coronavirus – Al Jazeera
- Court forces Ecuador government to protect Indigenous Waorani during COVID-19 – Mongabay
- The incomprehensible tragedy unfolding in the Amazon during the pandemic – Washington Post
- Triple crisis of pipelines, pesticides and pandemic is an existential threat to Ecuador’s indigenous peoples (commentary) – Mongabay
- Two Pandemics in the Ecuadorian Amazon: COVID-19 and Oil – Sierra Magazine
- Ecuador scrambles to contain oil spill in Amazon region – Reuters
- ‘Go Make Camps Deeper in the Forest.’ How the Amazon’s Indigenous People are Handling the Threat of the Coronavirus – TIME Magazine