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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights – one of the two main bodies of the Organization of American States (OAS) – dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights and international judicial protection, granted a public hearing to the indigenous community of Sarayaku on October 16, 2003.

The hearing constitutes an event of special importance because the Commission will be presented with authentic and concrete evidence of the arbitrary, illegitimate, and illegal acts that the current government has been committing. Therefore, the government has failed to comply with the cautionary measures that the Commission of the OAS granted Sarayaku in May of 2003.

The cautionary measures obliged the Ecuadorian state to investigate, prosecute, and sanction the individuals responsible for the torture and rape attempts in January 2003. In addition, the cautionary measures state that the Ecuadorian government must protect the lives and physical integrity of the leaders and inhabitants of Sarayaku and protect their special relationship with their territory. This relationship has generated a continuous persecution of the different peoples and indigenous nationalities that struggle to protect their ancestral rights and their territory. Marlo Santi, President of Sarayaku, states that the persecution has been especially directed against the members of Sarayaku.

On the other hand, Jose Serrano of the Center for Economic and Social Rigths (CDES), pointed out that “the noncompliance on behalf of the authorities of the Ecuadorian government to the cautionary measures dictated by the Inter-American Commission, is but a reiteration of an ill-fated precedent for Ecuador before the international and national community. The ill-fated precedent is reiterated by the constant and systematic violations of the human rights established in national and international regulations. The situation is also reflected in the constant threats, pressures and persecutions on behalf of the current regime against various sectors of the country, ranging from the press to the indigenous communities who, while defending their rights and their territory, in practice also defend the rights of all peoples, such as the right to disagree, the right to freedom of expression, and the right to an effective judicial guarantee that permits and grants equitable social and economic conditions, without distinctions." Finally, he added, "the authorities of the Ecuadorian government will have to assume the responsibilities of the sanctions that may be imposed as a consequence of noncompliance with international resolutions that are obligatory and binding to Ecuador."

The President of Sarayaku will take part in the hearing, as well as the legal sponsors, the Center of Economic and Social Rights (CDES) and the Center for International Justice and Rights (CEJIL).

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