The Waorani people of the Amazonian Region of Ecuador filed a suit to demand protection from the government against oil extraction in the so-called Block 22, in a tender by the Ministry of Energy and Hydrocarbons of that South American country and a court in Puyo ruled in their favor on April 26.
These indigenous people inhabit the provinces of Napo, Orellana and Pastaza and “are characterized by their traditional worldview in which there is no distinction between the physical world and the spiritual world”, El Campesino explained.
To them, the Amazon forest is essential for their survival and it is also a protection from the modern world. This is why they complained that oil extraction in their territory was a violation of the right to prior consultation, which in Ecuador, it is a mechanism or participation, based on Article 6 of Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization.
On April 26 a court in Puyo, capital of Pastaza, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. However, the law recognizes that the indigenous people of Waorani have jurisdiction of the territory, it retains the State’s authority on the subsoil.
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Cover Photo Pxhere.
