Sarayaku

- 1.7333333333333 - 77.483333333333Koordinaten: 1 ° 44 ' S, 77 ° 29 ' W

Sarayacu ( Kichwa Sarayaku ) is a Kichwa village on Bobonaza River in the Ecuadorian part of the Amazon and has about 1,200 inhabitants kichwasprachige.

The place name, which is also the name of a river in the area, means to Kichwa corn or corn - water - flow ( sara, " corn "; yaku, " water").

Political affiliation

Administratively Sarayaku heard as the parish of the canton of Pastaza Province Pastaza. The entire parish had Sarayacu 2001 2.195 inhabitants in the census. After 1912 Sarayacu was a few years the capital of this canton, before this task went to Puyo.

The community is a member of the "Organization of Indigenous Peoples of Pastaza " ( Organización de Pueblos de Pastaza indigenous / OPIP, Kichwa: Pastaza Runakuna Tantanakuy ).

Economy

Traditionally, the church lives from fishing, shifting cultivation and collecting plants in the rainforest. Meanwhile, the eco-tourism plays an increasing role.

Education

For Sarayaku be multilingual and intercultural education is an important component of its development strategy. There are six primary schools and one secondary school. Moreover, there is in the community a university program ( Yachay, "knowledge" ) in collaboration with the Universities of Cuenca ( Ecuador) and Lleida (Spain).

Resistance to oil production

The community was known by her until today continued resistance to the decision taken by the Ecuadorian government opening up the documents belonging to the rainforest for oil production by the Argentine oil company CGC, which would be associated with expropriation of their land and environmental degradation. The inhabitants have a satellite dish and use it with their own website the Internet for their struggle. A solar system provides in the rain forest for electricity, which is needed for the operation of Internet cafes. Modern technology was funded among others by donations and the sale of a film of Eriberto Gualinga. He documented the resistance of his village on DVD.

The resistance of the Kichwa in Sarayaku against oil production in their area began in 1989 when she (former Ecuadorean, today belonging to the British BP ) prevented drilling of the Group ARCO in their area. The community was awarded in 1992 an area of ​​about 130,000 hectares. The resources have remained in possession of the State by law anyway. The Government 1996/2003, the area is divided into blocks for oil production: The Argentine Group CGC the concession for the designated as Block 23 area was allocated to the Italian company Agip Block 10 The surveys were initially stopped after popular protests were loud. The Commission on Human Rights subsequently filed a lawsuit against CGC has been submitted by the population of Sarayaku. 1998 was recognized by the Constitutional Court that the oil production of the rights of indigenous peoples violates and 2004 adopted the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica provisional measures in favor of the indigenous population in the region.

Oil companies were trying ever since to come back to shore. The rights, to which the Sarayaku refer, are the rights guaranteed in the Constitution so-called " collective rights " (ILO 169). The Convention on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries of 1989 (ILO 169) is an international agreement that has the protection of indigenous peoples and their land to the content, the Ecuadorian government has signed the agreement and thereby gives him weight. In this case, the mean for the Kichwa that they have lived as indigenous long before European settlement in the region and them being entitled to special rights and self-determination over their territory. The penetration of business is supported by the ignorance of many local municipalities, because they do not know exactly the laws of the state. In July 2012, after 10 years Sarayaku won his lawsuit against the Ecuadorian State: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights confirmed in its judgment the State's responsibility for the violation of the rights of the Kichwa. You will receive a compensation of explosives on their land must be vacated. The Court reaffirmed the right of the Kichwa to self-determined development.

Sons and daughters of the town

• Marlon Santi, 2008-2011 Chairman of the Indigenous Association of CONAIE.