For this year’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, ERI calls attention to the struggle of the Achuar people and other indigenous groups against destructive oil development in the Peruvian Amazon. ERI is currently representing the Achuar in a lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum for toxic contamination of their communities, and has highlighted the damage in a recent report, Legacy of Harm. As we try to achieve accountability for past harms and stop ongoing harms, the Achuar and other groups are also threatened by new projects. In April and May, ERI joined a coalition of groups in expressing concerns to the Peruvian government over the environmental impact statements of oil companies beginning to operate in new concessions in Lot 39 and Lot 67 (both documents are in Spanish,) which pose a major risk to isolated indigenous peoples in that territory. And in July, Achuar communities voiced their objections to new petroleum development in their territory by the Argentinian oil company Pluspetrol. On this day, we stand with the Achuar and all threatened indigenous peoples of Peru, the Amazon, and throughout the world.
