Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes hands with Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa at a meeting in Ottawa

Speak up to ensure trade negotiations do not sacrifice human rights in Ecuador

In September, Canada is hosting the third round of fast track negotiations to secure a free trade agreement with Ecuador. To date, Canada has failed to act on calls from Amnesty International and thousands of our supporters to undertake an independent human rights impact assessment, with particular attention to how the rights of Indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities will be impacted. UN bodies have recommended human rights impact assessment as a tool to ensure that trade agreements do not undermine human rights.

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Click here to add your voice to calls for action to prevent a new trade agreement from exacerbating or profiting from human rights violations in Ecuador.

Why the concern?

Earlier this year, in evidence provided to a parliamentary hearing, Canada’s negotiators acknowledged they were seeking provisions requested by the Canadian mining industry to promote and protect more mine projects in Ecuador, one of the world’s most biodiverse countries. That’s hugely concerning for Indigenous peoples and small farmers in Ecuador who say human rights are already being violated in places where Canadian companies are operating. Those who exercise their right to speak up in defense of water and a healthy environment are facing exclusion from consultation processes, as well as false accusations of involvement in terrorism and organized crime. Dozens of people are being prosecuted on trumped up charges, and facing years in jail. They are also suffering violent attacks and repression.

Indigenous leaders speak out at a press conference in opposition to the President's promotion of more Canadian mining in their territories in Ecuador
Josefina Tunki, leader of the Shuar Arutam Indigenous people, speaks during a press conference next to the President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) Leonidas Iza (R), in Quito on March 6, 2024. Indigenous leaders of the Shuar Arutam Indigenous people expressed their rejection of the participation of Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa in the PDAC mining convention in Toronto and the possible concession of projects in their territory without their free, prior and informed consent. Photo: RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP via Getty Images

Amnesty International has joined Ecuadorian and international organizations and UN experts to sound the alarm about the worsening situation for defenders of land, water and indigenous territory, increasing militarization, and systemic failures to protect human rights. Yet authorities in Ecuador and in Canada are turning a blind eye and have failed to listen to the voices of those monitoring realities on the ground.

Soldiers stand guard after an inauguration ceremony in April for a referendum on tougher measures against organized crime, amid rising violence in Ecuador. Mining-affected communities speaking out to defend their human rights have denounced the deployment of the military to intimidate and repress them. Photo: RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP via Getty Images

Visit by Ecuadorian women defenders to Canada

It is imperative that Canada’s trade negotiations and the interests of Canadian resource extraction companies do not make a bad situation worse. With important issues flying under the radar, Amnesty Canada is working with partner organizations to bring a delegation of courageous women human rights defenders from Ecuador to Canada to share the view from the ground. The delegation will meet with parliamentarians, government authorities and key decision makers, as well as journalists and media organizations. They will also speak with Indigenous allies and civil society organizations to build a stronger community of concern.

The delegation that Amnesty Canada is co-hosting is made up of the following respected Indigenous women and rights defenders:

  • Zenaida Yasacama is a member of the Kichwa Ancestral People of Pakayaku and Vice-President of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, the country’s largest Indigenous rights organization. On July 2, CONAIE submitted a bill to the National Assembly for Free, Prior and Informed Consultation for the corresponding consent within the territories of Indigenous communities. Recently, Zenaida’s team was involved in a successful campaign to protect the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve. 
  • Fanny Kaekat leads External Affairs for the Shuar Arutam People (PSHA) and is a member of Amazonian Women Defenders of the Forest, a collective formed by women belonging to the seven Indigenous Peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon. These defenders have been threatened and attacked with impunity for defending ancestral territory, nature, the health of their communities and the safety of women and girls. In February, the Shuar Arutam People filed a complaint against Solaris Resources Inc. before the British Columbia Securities Commission.  
  • Hortensia Zhagüi represents the Board of Potable Water Administrators of Victoria del Portete and Tarqui. The Indigenous and campesino communities that form the organization are facing risks from Canadian mining companies in the Páramo de Kimsakocha, a high-altitude Andean wetland that provides water for tens of thousands of people and is essential for biodiversity conservation. Hortensia is also a member of the Kimsakocha Women’s School of Agroecology, which promotes food sovereignty. 
  • Ivonne Ramos works with Acción Ecológica (Ecological Action), an environmental and human rights organization created in 1986 and a member of Ecuador’s Alliance for Human Rights umbrella group. Ivonne works for the protection of threatened environment defenders and accompanies processes of territorial defence led by women, making them visible to local, national and international bodies. She is a member of the Latin American Network of Women Defenders of Social and Environmental Rights and of Saramanta Warmikuna, a network of women defenders of nature.  

The visit of these defenders is co-organized by Amnesty International Canada, MiningWatch Canada, KAIROS Canada, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the Canadian Labour Congress, with generous support from CUPE, NUPGE, the Social Justice Fund of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Steelworkers Humanity Fund, and the Social Justice fund of UNIFOR. The Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability (CNCA) and the Americas Policy Group (APG) coalitions of civil society organizations have endorsed the visit of the delegation from Ecuador.  

How you can hear the women defenders from Ecuador

We are organizing public events in Ottawa on October 3 and in Montreal on October 4. Check back here for links to these events. You can also watch a livestream of the press conference that will take place on Parliament Hill at 10 am on October 2 – click here on the day for the link.

We will record video messages by the women defenders to ensure broad communication of their perspectives and calls on Canada.

TAKE ACTION

Learn More

Read a joint press release: Human rights organizations sound alarm as Canada-Ecuador trade talks get underway (April 30, 2024).

Read the words of Amnesty Canada’s Secretary General Ketty Nivyabandi at a public webinar: What’s at stake in Canada’s trade negotiations with Ecuador: Investor protections vs the rights of communities and nature (April 4, 2024)

Read our testimony to Parliament’s Standing Committee on International Trade: Amnesty International Canada shares concerns at parliamentary study of free trade negotiations with Ecuador (Feburary, 2024)

E-Action

We have mobilized thousands of calls to Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng for action to ensure the trade negotiations with Ecuador do not sacrifice human rights or the environment. The Minister has not responded. We need to get louder! If you have not already, please click here to add your voices to our calls. You can personalize your message. We also invite you to share the action with your networks, inviting others to speak up too.

Write a letter

Use the instructions here to send a letter to Trade Minister Ng. For more impact, send a copy to your MP.

Thank you for raising your voice for rights and justice! Please contact campaigner Kathy Price about the information in this blog:- kprice@amnesty.ca

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