Fundación Pachamama Goes to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

March 19, 2014 | By Dina Buck

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  •  March 28th, 2014 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm ET (9:30 - 10:30 am PT): Belén Páez, President, and Juan Auz, Director of Fundación Pachamama, will attend the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) topic hearing titled “Situation of the Right to Freedom of Association and Environmental Defenders in Ecuador.”
  • The hearing will be broadcasted live online: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/

Quito, March 17th, 2014:  In light of the controversial dissolution of Fundación Pachamama, representatives of the organization will attend the IACHR topic hearing titled “Situation of the Right to Freedom of Association and Environmental Defenders in Ecuador” next Friday, March 28th in Washington DC.

As part of the 150th regular sessions of the IACHR, lawyers and representatives of myriad organizations, such as the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and the Regional Foundation of Human Rights Advisory (INREDH), will present and submit key information regarding violations of the right to freedom of association and violations of the working conditions of human rights and rights of nature defenders in Ecuador.

These violations were generated upon the implementation of Executive Order 16, and the Ministerial Agreement 125, instruments used to dissolve Fundación Pachamama on December 4th, 2013 without any previous notification, due process or the right to defense, and relying only on unproven accusations.

Fundación Pachamama is an independent, non-partisan Ecuadorian organization without any political ties. The organization has been working for more than 16 years in favor of the rights of indigenous peoples and the conservation of the Amazon rainforest. We reconfirm that none of its members participated in violent acts that may have occurred last November 28th, on the occasion of the XI Round Oil, contrary to what has consistently been asserted by various public bodies.

Contact for Media:
Fundación Pachamama
Joke Baert
Cell phone: 0991356877
Email: jbaert@pachamama.org.ec

Photo credit: Humberto Moreno on Flickr