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Fundación Pachamama's President, Belén Páez, visits with Pachamama Alliance staff and donors
This last December, The Pachamama Alliance's sister organization, Fundación Pachamama, became the first civil society organization to be shut down in Ecuador under a law passed last summer that allows the government to control the behavior of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country.
Fundación Pachamama's appeal to Ministerial Accord 125, which dissolved Fundación Pachamama in December of 2013, without any previous notification, without due process, without permitting the right to self-defense, and on the basis on unproved accusations, was denied last month. The organization is in the process of submitting a second appeal to the civil court system in Ecuador, and is bringing its case to the Inter-American Commission in Washington D.C. on March 28th.
Additionally, the organization's President, Belén Páez, recently visited Pachamama Alliance donors and staff in San Francisco on her return from an extended trip to several European countries at the invitation of high level officials eager to learn more about the state of civil society in Ecuador, and the closing of Fundacíon Pachamama. During that time, she met with officials from the European Union and the United Nations, and had other meetings in Brussels, Geneva, Copenhagen, Oslo, and Rome.
Since the shutdown, The Pachamama Alliance has been able to continue supporting our indigenous partners.
Please visit our Defend the Amazon page for latest news and updates on the situation.
