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Update: On July 25th, 2012, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the Sarayaku people. Download and read the Court's full ruling (in Spanish).
On July 7th and 8th, 2011, a delegation of indigenous people from the Sarayaku territory in Ecuador testified before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica about the human rights violations perpetrated on their communities by both foreign oil companies and the state.
The Court´s verdict is important for indigenous peoples and experts throughout the world, especially in the American continents, because it could set new precedents for respecting the right to prior consultation and consent of communities affected by oil projects.
The verdict is also an important development in a struggle that has gone on for 15 years, as it will be compulsory for the Ecuadorian government, and will have large repercussions for the intense debate that has been raging in the last few years about the scope of the right to consultation and territorial rights of indigenous peoples.
