ILO recognizes the rights of the Shuar Arutam people in Ecuador with PSI support

At its March 14, 2024 session, the ILO Governing Body approved the Report of the Committee examining the complaint alleging Ecuador's non-compliance with the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) in relation to two large-scale mining projects in the province of Morona Santiago, in the center-south of the country.

"The conclusion of the case is a victory for the unity between the trade union and indigenous movements," announced Daniel Bertossa, PSI General Secretary, who also ratified the global union's commitment to the joint defense of the common goods of humanity - today at risk due to the intensification of the extractivist capital accumulation model.

Bertossa further stated that "PSI will continue its work for the full implementation of C169 to guarantee indigenous peoples' control over their own organizations, ways of life, development, and prior consultation in all matters that impact their way of life, including their territory."

The complaint was filed in January 2021 by PSI together with two of its Ecuadorian affiliate organizations, the National Confederation of Public Servants of Ecuador (CONASEP) and the National Federation of Workers of the Provincial Governments of Ecuador (FENOGOPRE) on behalf of the Shuar Arutam people, and was supported by the support and expertise of Amazon Watch and attorney Mario Melo. The Shuar Arutam people are an ancestral community whose territory is located in the southeastern Ecuadorian Amazon, one of the most biodiverse regions in the world.

Luis Cherres, president of FENOGOPRE said, "Solidarity between the union movement and the indigenous movement is an essential element of the victory of our movements in the context of the relentless attack on our rights in the last two decades".

Canadian and Chinese multinationals

The complaint filed denounced, on the one hand, the lack of consultation with the Shuar Arutam people in relation to the Warintza and Panantza projects, developed and carried out by Canadian and Chinese multinationals in their ancestral territories, which resulted in the eviction of several Shuar Arutam communities amidst a climate of violence.

On the other hand, the lack of participation spaces for the Shuar Arutam people in developing and adopting the national mining policy was denounced. Finally, the lack of recognition and protection of the territorial rights of the indigenous people was also denounced, as well as the lack of measures to protect the integrity of its members during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the information provided, the ILO Tripartite Committee recognized and deplored the seriousness of the cases exposed and stressed the importance of the State guaranteeing a climate free of violence, while at the same time calling on the government to investigate the acts of violence, impose the corresponding sanctions and ensure the integrity of the members of the Shuar Arutam people.

The Committee also recalls"the importance of taking measures to foster a climate of trust and freedom from violence in which representatives of indigenous peoples can participate in consultation processes and assert their rights".

ILO direct contact mission

It is important to note that this report and recommendations were adopted at the same time that the Ecuadorian trade union movement continues to demand that the government define the dates of the ILO direct contact mission, defined by the International Labor Conference in June 2022. This mission presents an opportunity to resume a process of social dialogue with the government of President Daniel Noboa, for the restoration of union organizing rights, freedom of organization and collective bargaining.

"This victory highlights the importance of the International Labor Standard and the weight that global unions have to enforce it, as we have done in Ecuador since 2008," said Wilson Alvarez, collegiate coordinator of the PSI National Committee in the country.