Country: Ecuador
Group: Kichwa
Date Finalized: 4/12/2020
Team: Arisha Khan (lead), Maya Shrikant, Vianney Mancilla
The Kichwa people live in Sarayaku, Ecuador. Sarayaku, Ecuador was in a prime location for oil drilling, and the government of Ecuador gave oil companies the right to drill the Sarayaku land. In 1996, the government signed a 20-year contract to an Argentine oil company without informing the Kichwa people or asking for consent (Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku v. Ecuador ). The people of Sarayaku have a very close relationship to their land (Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku v. Ecuador ). The land provided sustenance to the people and was considered a sacred place for people to congregate. In 2004, the oil company planted mines which destroyed lands that the Kichwa people held dear (Minority Rights Group). The case against the government and oil company was brought to trial, and the court made a decision favoring the Kichwa. However, between the time that the oil company started planting mines and the time the court made their decision, 10 years had already passed. The Kichwa people have been separated from their lands which is very sacred to them and is integral to their life-style and traditions. We classified this as ethocide, because of the decade long abuse of the Kichwa people’s culture by the combined efforts from the oil company and government. We would rate the quality of the data a 3 because of the significant amount of official documents about this topic.
Sources
- Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku v. Ecuador | IACHR. (2012). Retrieved March 14, 2020, from https://iachr.lls.edu/cases/kichwa-indigenous-people-sarayaku-v-ecuador
- Minority Rights Group(n.d.). Quichua. Retrieved March 14, 2020, from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/quichua/