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Our Work in Pictures: Protecting the Amazon & Its Peoples

November 04, 2013
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The Amazon & the Andes: A Region Under Constant Threat. The Amazon basin, home to the world’s largest rainforest, is widely recognized as the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet. Less frequently mentioned is the area’s human diversity: the Amazon region, and the Andes highlands from which much of the river flows, is home to hundreds of indigenous ethnic groups, some still living in voluntary isolation from the outside world. When government and big business implement major development projects in South America, it isn’t just the ecosystem that is threatened; the lives and livelihoods of these indigenous communities also hang in the balance. Our work in the Amazon equips these communities with the legal tools and skills that they need to protect their livelihoods and ensure that their voices are heard in the halls of power.Devastating Impacts on Human Rights & the Environment. Development projects in the Amazon and Andes regions have a wide range of horrific impacts on local communities. (Clockwise, from upper left): Water supplies contaminated by toxic runoff from oil wells can both devastate local agriculture and cause cancer and other illnesses to sweep through a community. These illnesses affect young and old, and the contamination will last for generations. Mining projects often destroy the land and pollute the water of nearby communities, and the mine workers often endure horrible working conditions, including exposure to toxins that lead to chronic illnesses and death. Highway and logging projects disrupt local ecosystems and bring disease, confrontation and conflict to isolated indigenous groups. Hydropower dams often lead to deforestation, disruption of vital fisheries, and displacement of local communities. All of these projects occur against a complex political backdrop that often discourages local groups from taking a stand. Depending on their location, communities and activists may find themselves facing off against government corruption, police violence, covert threats and intimidation, and overwhelming political power. Building the legal and advocacy capacities in these communities is essential to their future.Diverse Cultures, Common Challenges. The Amazon and Andes regions are home to hundreds of indigenous groups, each with their own unique cultural heritage, but shared challenges that cross national borders and cultural divides, including threats to their lands and livelihoods and systematic exclusion from decision-making around development projects. Pictured here are members of three indigenous groups we've partnered with over the years: (from left) the Achuar, living along the Rio Corrientes in northern Peru; the Kichwa, in southern Ecuador; and the Shipibo-Conibo on the Rio Ucayali in eastern Peru.La Escuela Amazonica de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (Quito, Ecuador). Our work in the Amazon began in 2001 with the founding of La Escuela Amazonica de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (Amazon School for Human Rights and the Environment) in Quito, Ecuador. A joint program run in partnership with the Centro de Derechos Economicos y Socialas, the school was open for four years and trained indigenous and mestizo leaders from the Andean-Amazon countries in human rights and environment issues. The intensive course included workshops in contemporary Amazon environment and development issues, economic, social and cultural rights, strategic campaigning and advocacy, media messaging, and internet use.La Escuela Amazónica de Derechos Humanos (Pucallpa, Peru). In 2005, several alumni of ERI's own school in Ecuador joined forces and founded La Escuela Amazónica de Derechos Humanos (Amazon School for Human Rights) (http://eadhsenensoi.blogspot.com/) in Pucallpa, Peru, with the aim of strengthening the capacities of men and women, in defense of their collective and individual rights, as their ancestral lands are affected by mining industries activities. EADH is an education and training institution that trains indigenous leaders who are able to act from the local perspective to the global context with the aim of enforcing their cultural collective rights, which are systematically violated by the State and extractive industries. While EADH is an independent organization, we provide ongoing support to their training work, including both logistical support and classroom instruction, and we are immensely proud of their own growing network of alumni.Litigation in US Courts: Doe v. Chiquita. Chiquita Brands International, Inc., the multi-national produce company, has been accused of funding and arming known terrorist organizations in Colombia, in order to maintain control of Colombia's banana growing regions. In 2007, after the US Justice Department brought criminal charges, Chiquita pled guilty and agreed to pay a $25m fine to the US government, which was at the time the largest U.S. criminal penalty ever imposed under federal global terrorism sanction regulations. In civil courts, however, survivors of paramilitary violence and family members of victims are still awaiting justice. We filed a federal class action suit against Chiquita in 2007, on behalf of the Colombian families. This case is ongoing.Building Legal Capacity in Indigenous Communities. To boost the ability of indigenous groups in the Amazon to protect their human rights, we regularly conduct training sessions for indigenous activists, lawyers and judges. These trainings enhance their understanding of and ability to use Peruvian law and international law to address the impacts of oil extraction and mega-infrastructure projects in their territories. In this photo from an Achuar village, Lily, our Senior Amazon Counsel, discusses the health and environmental impacts of oil extraction in northern Peru.Raising Indigenous Voices in the Halls of Power. The struggle for indigenous rights proceeds on many fronts, from the jungle to corporate boardrooms, from the classroom to the court room. We aim to meet these challenges wherever they arise, and ensure that local communities are equipped with the legal and advocacy tools they need to defend their own rights. This photo was taken at the Inter-American Human Rights Commission in March, 2013, during a thematic hearing on the human rights situation in Bolivia's Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS). With the support of ERI and other organizations, a delegation of indigenous leaders from TIPNIS and the Indigenous Confederation of Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB) travelled from Bolivia to Washington, DC, to testify at the hearing, presenting information about a Bolivian highway project and the threats it poses to the human rights of TIPNIS’ indigenous peoples.Please help us continue this work! With many more development projects planned and underway, the threat to the indigenous peoples of the Amazon has never been more severe. Please help us continue to strengthen these communities so that they can protect their environment and their human rights! Donate

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