Information about the people of Waorani

MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES NON –
RENEWABLE, MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND ATTORNEY
FOR 3 DAYS OF HEARING failed to show
that in 2012 FULFILL ITS OBLIGATION TO
EXECUTE prior consultation, free and informed AND BE
BOUND BY THE SELF – DETERMINATION OF 16 COMMUNITIES
WAORANI

The lack of solid proof and aigumentos and descalciƒicar attempt to
communities Ia was constant during their interventions

Puyo, April 19, 2019 . During days 11 and 13 April l2 as stipulated in article 14 of the organic law of judicial guarantees and constitutional control the Waorani communities of Pastaza ’16 through our claimants and lawyers demonstrate without a doubt that in 2012 the then Ministry of Natural Resources Nonrenewable through the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and the Ministry of Environment violated our right to free, prior and informed consultation and self – determination and the impacts of such a violation lasts until today.

The 3-day hearing Protection Action through a solid legal argument and documentary evidence (record prior consultation, free and infomada. 2013, Round southeast. Block 22 Prepared by HES) and testimony (members of communities and expert) witnesses show that what happened in 2012, and that the state insists cn call request, was merely the execution of activities, metoIoIógicamente inaccessible, hasty, culturally inadccuadas and in no way sought to establish a process of dialogue incomplete information systematic, harmonious and respectful of our ways of life and priorities. That is in no way be understood as consultation and worse still free, pre-informed.

We regret that during the three-day hearing a defense of the Ministries of Energy and nonrenewable natural resources, Ministry of Environment and Attorney General, in the absence of factual and technical arguments have sought to terrorize and delegitimize community and expert testimony; and since our documentary evidence is information produced by the own Secretary of Hydrocarbons did not have as challenge it, instead they only sought to justify the stamp signature assistance photograph of a person at a meeting, a radial wedge waoterero, or a video of an assembly where a technique in 28 minutes explaining everything that involves oil exploration tender and may be considered consultation.

The court, presided by Judge Esperanza del Pilar Araujo, decided to reinstall the hearing next Friday, April 26 sentencing. For our part, we believe that the court has sufficient legal, technical and evidentiary arguments to declare the violation of the rights to free, prior and informed consultation and self – determination in favor of the applicants communities; in estrido sense, sufficient that we had shown that has not been met with one of those applicable to prior consultation for a violation of constitutional rights requires a comprehensive repair set standards.
However, the so – called consultation of 2012 has not one but multiple defaults background, proven in court and positions below:

PRIOR CONSULTATION WAS NOT

Our first argument on the standard of consultation, and in relation to the reasonable time and Ia good faith; He showed that the state had already intended to tender the so-called Block 22 since 2010 when he announced the convening of a new round of bidding and was confirmed in 2011 when the Ministry of Natural Resources Non-Renewable (MRNNR) made the presentation of the new oil land in the country which created 21 blocks, located in the provinces of Pastaza, Morona Santiago, Napo and Orellana, constituting the Tenth oil Round First Round East or South.

To understand prior and reasonable time should last the consultation process should be suitable for transmirir information, obtain understanding of the implications of the project and create opportunities for cultural dialogue, allowing the consulted community make a decision without any pressure because of time. For determining the reasonableness of the term should be clearly time to cultural communities consulted.

However, the State waited until August 2012 for 3 meetings of rapprochement with NAWE (the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador organization) and 27 days to run the so-called consultation; prior to the issuance of Executive Decree 1247, which regulates the execution of prior, free and informed bidding processes and allocation of areas and consultation hydrocarbon blocks.

It is important to note that the Executive Decree 1247 has a restrictive approach to collective right of free, prior and informed consultation; it emphasizes informative nature of the process, reducing it to a non garantista formal procedure which undermines the spirit and purpose of the consultation and contemplates the socialization of the benefits of activities that can access the indigenous peoples and naçígnalidades but omits include information regarding the potential social damage and negative environmental impacts, also contravening the character of „informed“ that must have the query.

Ecuadorian Constitutional Court itself, in the absence of an adequate legal framework for the exercise of the right to prior consultation, has appeared on minimum standards to be met by all processo consultation in Case N. 001-10-SIN- CASE No. CC-09-iN OOOS and 0011-09-iN (ACCRUED) of 18 March 2010:

„In the case of infra-constitutional legislation does not exist, so far this runs aware, no law or regulation governing the process somehow prior eonsulta. Even so; no shortage of other sources that allow this Court to establish the minimum standards necessary to be met by any process of participation so that it can be given the name after consultation ‚at the terminus of paragraph 7 of arrtículo 57 of the Constitution. Among the most important sources of information with which quenta the Court, are Interamerikana the jurisprudence of the Court of Human Rights (Case Saramaka vs. Surinam); (…). Under this, the Court will use the general recommendations of the Special Rapporteur James Anaya, regarding the minimum requirements to be met by the process of eonnsulta to deserve the name.

Prior and concerted definition of the procedure requires as a first step of the query is set at the beginning of the discussion on substantive issues, a process of negotiation and mutually agreed decision-making, and respect for the rules established; This provision of the Constitutional Court was not observed since from the beginning the state took no contact with the legitimate representatives of the Waorani communities of Pastaza, making only some leaders of the NAWE; leaders after the process of consultation alleged dumping in 2012 they were removed from office by the residents of the communities as they never authorized to such leaders subscription records according to the state within the framework of the alleged prior consultation.

The element of good faith implies there from the state real intention of reaching an agreement, to obtain a real and informed consent of the community. Under good faith, consultation must be a true instrument of participation that goes far beyond a mere formality, where an atmosphere of mutual trust and transparency is generated; nonexistent action in this case.

INQUIRY WAS NOT INFORMED

The criterion for the community informed consultation should be available to all relevant information at all stages, transmitted in simple language, easy to understand and in the appropriate language for its members. This information includes, but is not limited to documents and studies that would achieve a real understanding of the communities consulted about the type and magnitude of the anticipated environmental and social impacts. Informed consultation character also implies that in any way the query is exhausted in mere socialization of policies, plans, projects or actions.

Unlike the provisions of international and domestic standards for consultation, what happened is that the state in 2012 through sporadic community meetings between 1 to 2 hours, two assemblies of about 4 hours and installation of a permanent information office, in charge of a 18 year old, without prior training, reported: it is a tender and round, the phases of the oil industry and its impacts, oil revenues, the management model HYDROCARBON the state and the right to consultation among other topics; without it had informed at any time about the potential that the activity causes HYDROCARBON territories and communities in social, cultural and environmental impacts.

None of the community members who participated in those spaces supposed consultation and testified before the court recognizes these terms, their meaning or scope for their life plans and territory.
Nor is suitable as a method of registration, systematization and acceptance collecting signatures of support, videos of an assembly or registration of blogs and comment sheets; none of this corresponds to the traditional forms for the socialization of information, analysis and decision making.

Nificativo results if the technical defense of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources Non-Renewable indicated that the call to each of these spaces was performed by radials wedges, loudspeakers and written press calls. In this regard the content of the single wedge Waoterero shown in audience does not specify any details on prior consultation, press advertisements were in Castilian and perifoneo reserved for cities and communities with access by land routes.

Unfortunately in this case, although the state had the firm intention to tender the so-called oil block 22 since at least 2011, and in spite of the existence of the sentence issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Ecuadorian state for violation of prior consultation in the Sarayaku case the state made what it calls consultation 2 months prior to the bidding process.

Thus, the lack of a reasonable time and in full, detailed, accessible and sufficient information shows that the state query far from being a right is a simple procedure that is performed before the execution of an activity, Here, the tender of an oil block.

INQUIRY WAS NOT FREE

Relative to the standard free consultation discussion within the community should not be marked by any coercion or inducement of an economic or material. That is, there should not be pressure, fear or promise bribes to influence the outcome of the consultation; however, in the documentary and testimonial evidence it demonstrated that over the course process conducted in 2012 SHE assured the communities that their health needs, education, housing, etc. would be covered with resources from the tender; thereby satisfying conditional rights to execution of a contract with third parties.

This was fully demonstrated in the minutes compromise: agreement social investment between HES and representation of communities in the area of ​​influence of Block 22, signed on 21 November 2012 between Ricardo Obando, coordinator of social monitoring of SHE and Cawetipe Yeti president of the NAWE, which states that if the block 22 is awarded for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, the block operator NAWE give a general social background of $ 3,000,000 (Three million USD) by the occupation of the territory for the execution of: education, health, social development, infrastructure construction and institutional strengthening.

The signing of this agreement is a clear demonstration that the alleged consultation process was not without pressure and injerencja and therefore did not meet one of its lowest relative to good faith.
The obligation that the query is culturally appropriate all evidence, and even the development of interaction between state attorneys and plaintiffs during the hearing showed that institutions in 2012 and to date unknown complex organizational social system of Waorani, its clinical distribution, the role of and Pikenani (senior leaders) in decision-making issues of importance, the role of other age groups of the population, considerations and differentiated relationship of the Waorani with chronology and Spanish, its orality and the absence of meanings and signifiers of many terms mestizo occupied by the white world especially on technical specifications as discussed during the alleged eonsulta.

It is shown that in 2012 the state through the SHE and MAE did not take into account any of these items and instead the ignoring of their traditional methods of decision-making has generated confusion, ignorance, conflict and persistent communal divide up the date.
Finally, it is essential to emphasize that the right to consultation has a transverse relation to the right to self – determination including the power to indigenous peoples (…) to determine their own institutions and government authorities; to take or retain their norms, customs, worldview and development option or life project; and adopting internal or local decisions it deems most appropriate for conservation or protection of these purposes and its territories.

It is concluded that when the Constitution, the constitutional law, the law and national and international jurisprudence, sends the state make free, prior and informed consultations with indigenous peoples consultations not simply sends any one procedural step but a substantive process that would facilitate the priorities of life of these peoples and the defense and protection of their rights (those generals of the entire population, those specific to Ylos indigenous peoples rights of nature), scope clearly did not occur in the processes of alleged consultation developed over 2012.

All the above, and which, as indicated was duly argued and tried in court, leaves no doubt of rape to prior consultation prevented the Waorani communities depth knowledge of which implies a bidding process and phases of the oil industry, was not accessible, simple and culturally appropriate process, not respect their governance systems, it affected the relationship between its members causing conflicts and fissures remain dormant to date and has created a situation of uncertainty about the safety of their territories and their lifestyles.

Therefore the declaration of infringement of the right to prior consultation and thus to self-determination by the Court should not be limited to the simple replacement of the consultation procedure, corrects the formality of an administrative act, as could be the tender of an oil block. Proceed this way would involve keeping violations perpetrated background when the authorities do not adhere to the true spirit of the Right to Prior Consultation intact.

So the repair must order the court will have to ensure that the country is carrying out a process which ensures the participation of the authorities and organizations representing indigenous peoples and communities and people directly involved, and describe the guidelines, principles and standards that should govern the phase of consent and consultation, ensuring culturally appropriate processes according to each village; ie through autonomous consultation protocols according to the customs, rules and indigenous traditions, and taking into account the socio organizational structures and traditional methods for making decisions of each people.

Order that is synthesized in the words of closing statement that Nemonte Nenquimo, one of the plaintiff and president of the Waorani CONCONAWEP Organization addressed the judges of the Court on April 13:

„We demand that our rights are respected. For our children, for other indigenous communities. You Lords, have the responsibility to defend our rights, because what happens in our territories is our decision and our territory is not for sale. Our territory is part of our life. We will die if oil companies come into our lands. We will fight until the end, not only here in this court. That’s my last word, with all my heart and all my soul. „

Contact:
Lina Maria Espinosa, lawyer for the plaintiffs -> +593 98 633 84 95
Nemonte Nenquimo, President CONCONAWEP -> +593 97 970 94 11
Oswando Nenquimo spokesman Waorani -> +593 99 359 38 49
For more information , requests for interviews or photos / videos, contact:
Sophie Pinchetti, Comunicadora sophie@amazonfrontlines.org

CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS

  • In 2010 the Minister of nonrenewable natural resources announced the convening of a round of oil bidding at that time included 8 blocks.
  • In November 2011 the Minister of nonrenewable natural resources made the presentation of the new oil land that includes 21 blocks located in the provinces of Pastaza, Morona Santiago, Napo and Orellana constituting the eleventh round or oil southeastern round.
  • In April 2012 the Minister of Non-Renewable Resources, reported that between May and October of the same year would be made „prior consultation“ in indigenous communities.
  • In June 2012 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights determined the international responsibility of the Ecuadorian State for the violation of the rights to free, prior and informed consultation, the indigenous communal property and cultural identity to the detriment of lndigenous Kichwa Sarayaku.
  • On 29 June Personal Secretary of Hydrocarbons – SHE met with leaders of the NAWE to expose the oil governance model as part of its strategy of previous socialization
  • On July 6 the President of NAWE provides information about 12 communities SHE Waorani to be consulted.
  • On 23 and 24 July 2 meetings between NAWE and HES for logistics definition of community visits were held.
  • 25-26 July SHE staff and NAWE visited Waorani communities to socialize the model of hydrocarbon political management. Reunions in an hour and a half to two duration was reported on: oil industry processes, HYDROCARBON normative, pertrolera income benefits, levanter community information. Kiwaro, Tiweno, Tzapino, Damointaro: on 25 communities were visited. Day 26: Toñanpare, Kenaweno, Mite.
  • 2 sgosto 2012 was published in the official register 759 N. Executive Decree 1247 / Rules consultation areas bidding processes and blocks.
  • On September 11 he took place in Toñanpare and Kiwaro Public Hearings. In a video presented by the Technical Defense Ministry he showed the facilitator of the SHE hacienda a statement of 28 minutes (Includia translation) where they say information was given complete and culturally appropriate for: legal framework of the role consultation secretary of hydrocarbons, socio-environmental diagnostic, management sociopolitical model, which is a consultation, which is tender, which is south east round, information block components, steps from the consultation, etc. (Toñanpare Public Hearing Report, September 11, 2012. Prepared by supervising Ministry of Natural Resources Non-Renewable MRNNR)
  • On September 25 assemblies feedback and closing permanent office that developed in Toñanpare and Kiwaro
  • The draft ROUND suroriente was officially inaugurated on November 28, 2012 determined that oil companies may submit their bids for the blocks to be tendered until May 30, 2013, in April 2014 the Special Tender Committee hydrocarbon (Colh) extended the deadline until July 16 of the same year
  • In 2013 the company TECPETROL Argentina showed interésen block 22 Ecuadorian state paying the amount stipulated by participation rights. After the technical and economic analysis, the company decided not to bid for failing in their estimates a critical mass of reserves to enable it to face the risk of mandatory minimum inversions. (Wilson Pastor, evaluation of the XI round of bidding)
  • During 2018 several times Minister Carlos Perez reported that, in the next round or oil supply, block 22, among others, it is again made available to local and international oil companies.
  • On 23 October 2018, will realize in the city of Quito the XIII Meeting Annual Mining Energy & Oil ENAEP 2018, Aspacio where governmental authorities of the area of ​​energy, oil and mining provide domestic companies and foreign prospects for investment in projects which are considered strategic for the country. One of the main presentations was made by Carlos Pérez Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Non-Renewable entitled „New scenario energetic in the country and prospects for 2019“, which showed a favorable scenario for investment in hydroelectric projects, mining and oil in the south.