1 12 2 https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/0091a8f0daabe283c53627b90795704b.pdf 2496f54cd005894d95ece7a4d7612491 PDF Text Text I N B R I E F_ _ ,_,_ Indian Communities Trapped by Ecuador-Peru Border Conflict ighting erupted between the Peruvian and Ecuadorian armies in a disputed Amazon border region ~long the Ccnepa Rh·er valley on jan. 26. What looked at first like an isolated border skirmish has escalated into an intense conOict F At a press conference concluding their visit. the commission announced that the govemment could St<tnd in \'io1ation of the right to life and well·being as a result of oil pollution in the Amazon. t\ final repon on the visit has yet to be released. For more info,.matwn. coruacr: with at leasl 47 dead and 94 wounded combatants. The Sierra Qub l..tgal Dtj01S< Fund. /80 Montgomery St.. Suire HOO. S<ln Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) demanded a cease fire on Jan. 3 1. stating that. "'more than 300 communities a.re located in the zone of mili· FranclS<o, CA 9410-1, (415) 627·6700. FGX: (-liS) 62i·6i40, email: scldjsj@igc.copc.org. tary connic.t, these Indigenous cornmunilies that have nol Peruvian Indian Communities File Suit Against Texaco n December 29. a class action la,vsuit \I/3S filed in feder- been auended by either the government of Peru or of Ecuador". An unknown number of Indian residents of the region have been displaced from their communities. despite calls by CONAIE for the governments to respect the lives and territo· ry of Indigenous peoples. The war is reportedly costing each side overS 10 million a day. and has heated up with bombings on each side of the border and the downing of several Peruvian planes and a helicopter. Ecuador accepted a CCtlSC· fire mediation offer from former US president Jimmy C:mer and former COSta Rica president Oscar Arias. but Pcno declined to comment on the offer. OAS Commission Investigates Ecuadorian Human Rights Violations or yem'S. Indigenous organizations in the Ecuadorian Fmassive oilh•we suffered hum-an rightsb}'violations asmultina· Amazon a resuh or dC\'Cloptnem carried US-based OUl tiona! corporations and the Ecuadorian government within their territories. The struggle to resolve these problems hit a turning point on Nov. 7 when the Org...'\nit3tion of American Sunes· spe(:ial commission on hun'la.n rights arrh•ed in Ecuador to investigate human rights abuses in that country. Although the commission framed its visit as a general investigation of the human rights situation in Ecuador. the impact of oil development on Indigenous peoples was one of O al coun in New York on behalf of 20.000 Indigenous people !hong on and around the Napo River in the nonheast Peruvian Amazon. The suit charges that mismanaged Texaco activities within Ecuador, along the upper ~ches or the Napo River, caused severe damage to the lnditms' w3y of life in Peru- damage due to the release of huge amoums of toxic chemicals. and to repeated oil spills. This case follows a ground-breaking victory by Ecuadorian Indian organizations in the spring of 1994, when a New York coun held that Texaco could be held liable in US couns for their actions in Ecuador. The Peruvian suit charges Lhat ··texaco deliberately ignored reasonable and S<lfe practices and treated the pristine Amazon roin forest ... :md its people as a toxic waste dump... lt runhcr contends that over 400 flawed well sites were built. despite Texaco's full knowledge that they would ·rcsuh in SC\'Cre spills and environmental damages. The Ecuadorian governmem estimates that Texaco spilled 16.8 million gallotlS of crude oil and oil residues in its Amazonian provinces. with an unknov.m portion winding up downriver in Peru. As recently as J992. the Peruvian Rio Napo ran black with crude that had been released upstream . Irifonnati(}l1 I'YOYid<d by Edwatd f-lmnmcml.. two topics the Commission actually in\'cstigated (the other bemg the treatment of prisoners) . Half of the Commissions delegation traveled to the Oriente region. where they met with representatives from grassroots organizations and leaders or Lhe eoran and Siona·Secora tthnic groups. Commission members were appalled at Lhe impact of Texaco oil develop· ment on the envir onment. The Commission also mt:l with a Huaorani community from the Napo region who reponed on .J>ollution and the encroachment of colonists in their territory. In addition to meeting with state authorities, the Commission consulted environmental. human rights, and Indigenous organizations. including representatives from: CONAl E. CONFENIAE. COICA. ECUARUNARI, FICI, FOIN, and OINt\E. 4 Brazilian Senate Proposes Law Threatening Land Demarcation he Brazilian Stn..1te 3pproved a bill 3imed at eventually reducing existing 1ndian Areas within frontier zones. nnd T complicating the process of rmure demarcations. 10 become law. this bill will have to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the President of Lhe Republic. If approved. the btl! will put the already demarcated Yanomami Indian Area. located along the Venezuelan border, at risk of being reduced. The bill threatens not only the Yanomami. but would be a blow to all Indian peoples in Brazil. It is supported by CCO· nomic groups with a \'CSted intcr~t in exploiting the natural resources within the Indian Areas. as wen as cenain sectors or Abya Ya~ News � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 8, no. 4 (Winter 1994) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource OAS Commission Investigates Ecuadorian Human Rights Violations Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Winter 1994 Language A language of the resource English English Zotero Title OAS Commission Investigates Ecuadorian Human Rights Violations Item Type Journal Article Volume 8 Issue 4 Pages 4 Publication Title Abya Yala News: Journal of the South and Meso American Indian Rights Center (SAIIC) ISSN 1071-3182 Date Winter 1994 Language English Abstract Note The Organization of American States (OAS) commences an investigation on human rights violations related to oil development on the part of US-based multinational corporations in Ecuador. Attachment Title OAS_commission_investigates.pdf Attachment URL [No URL] Cofan Human Rights Napo Organization of American States Siona-Secoya https://www.abyayalanews.org/files/original/9b390183dd082b481ab5ec8964e11288.pdf 2cd907da8c82eedb655574c4414db7ec PDF Text Text ORGAN I ZATION AND COM M UNICA T ION OAS Drafts Inter-American Declaratio n on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Recently, the Organization of American States <OASJ distributed a rough draft of 8 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. On February 27-28. 1996. the IACHR (see below) of the OAS organized a reunion in Guatemala in which Indigenous leaders critiqued the declaration. The initial May deadline for receiving the input of Indigenous people has been indefinitely postponed. so there is time to unify Indigenous voices into one to modify the Declaration. For this. Indigenous peoples must come together in inter-regional meetings. SAIIC encourages the OAS to go further. as the Draft Declaration falls short of meeting the aspirations of Indigenous peoples for their collective rights. Despite addressing key problems Faced by Indian communities. the paternalistic dominance of national ideology pervades the document, leaving Indigenous peoples in a subaltern position of entities somehow "protected" by nation-states. In what follows, we present excerpts from the Draft Declaration. he prcs.:nt draft approved by the Inter-American TCommission on has been RightsGovernments,the OAS for Human (IACHR) of consultation about Its text with indigenous organizations. other interested institutions and ex pens. On the basis of their answers and comments, the IACHR will prepare its unal proposal to be presented to the Geneml Assembly of the OAS. Section On.e. 'Indigenous Peoples' An. l. Definition. 3. The use of the term "peoples" in this lnstmment shall oot be constmed as having any Implication ";th respect to any other rights that might be attached to that tenn in international law. Section Two.' Human Rights' An. II. Full observance of human rights 3. The States also recognize that the indigenous peoples are entitled to collective rights insofar as they are indispensable to the enjoyment of the indh<idual human rights of their members. Accordingly they recognize the right of the indigenous peoples to collective action, to their cultures, to profess and practice their spiritual beliefs and to use their languages. Art. V. No forced assimilation. The States shall not take any action which forces indigenous peoples to assimilate and shall not endorse any theory. or engage in any practice, that importS discrimination. destruction of a culture or the possibility of the extennination of any ethnic group. Section Three. Culrural Development Art. XVI. Indigenous Law. I. Indigenous law is an integral part of the States' leg.• I S)'S· tern and of the framework in which their social and economic development takes place. 2. Indigenous peoples are entitled to maintain and reinforce their indigenous legal systems and also to apply them to mauers within their communities, including systems pertainVol. 10 No. 1 ing to ownership of real property and natural resources, resolution of conOicts within and between indigenous communities. crime prevention and law enrorcemem. and maintenance of internal peace and harmony. Section f ive. Soc:ial, Economic, and Property Rights 5. In the event that ownership o[ the minerals or resources of the subsoil pertains to the State or that the State has rights over other resources on the lands, the governments must establish or maintain procedures for the participation or the peoples concerned in detennining whether the interests of these people would be adversely affected and to what extent. before undertaking or authorizing any program for tapping or exploiting existing resources on their lands. The peoples concerned shall panicipate in the benefits of such activities. and shall receive compensatlon in accordance with international law. ror any damages which the)' may sust.ain as a resuh of such activities. Art. XX. Intellectual propeny rights. 1. Indigenous peoples shall be entitled to recognition of the full ownership, control and protection of such intellectual propeny rights as they have m their cultural and artistic heritage. as well as special measures to ensure for them legal status and institutional capacity to develop, use, share, market and beque:uh. that heritage on to future generations. 2. Where circumstances so warrant. indigenous peoples have the right to special measures to control. develop and protect. and full compens;~tion for the use of their sciences and technologies, including their hum.~n and genetic resources in geneml. seeds, medicine. knowledge of plant and animal life. original designs and procedures. SccLion Six. General p-rovisions An. XXIV. Nothing in this instmment shall be constmed as granting any rights to ignore boundaries between States. Scprcmbcr 19, 1995. 35 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Vol. 10, no. 1 (Spring 1996) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource OAS Drafts Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Type The nature or genre of the resource Journal Article Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Spring 1996 Language A language of the resource English, Spanish English Zotero Title OAS Drafts Inter-American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Item Type Journal Article Volume 10 Issue 1 Pages 35 Publication Title SAIIC Newsletter ISSN 1071-3182 Date Spring 1996 Language English Abstract Note Recently, the Organization of American States distributed a rough draft of a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. On February 27-28, 1996, the IACHR of the OAS organized a reunion in Guatemala in which Indigenous leaders critiqued the declaration. Attachment Title abyayala_v10_n1_p35.pdf Attachment URL [No URL] OAS Organization of American States Rights of Indigenous Peoples