Since its creation in 2011, the annual UN Forum on Business and Human Rights has brought together thousands of government representatives, international organizations, business, trade unions, civil society and academics to address and prevent rights impacts. of business activities and achieve a more sustainable global economy.
The 11th edition of this forum, which will take place on November 28 and 29 in Geneva, has as its motto “rights holders at the center: strengthening accountability to advance corporate respect for people and the planet in the next decade”. In this edition the forum will have the participation of Carlos Ajonindigenous Kichwa and representative elected by the communities affected by the oil spills in the Napo and Coca river basins in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Carlos will present the situation of his people in various spaces and meetings, with the important support of the 2nd Regional Report on Violations of Human Rights in the Amazon where, in its 1st chapter, the terrible and structural situation that thousands of families are experiencing every day in the Ecuadorian Amazon is collected.
Carlos will be accompanied by Monsignor Adalberto Jimenezpresident of REPAM-Ecuador and bishop of Aguarico, a vicariate affected by the spills of the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline.
The attendance of both in the main UN platform for dialogue on business and human rights is part of the advocacy work carried out by Cáritas Española in defense of Amazonian communities. That is why the delegation will have the support of Sonia OleaHuman Rights expert from Cáritas Española and head of international political advocacy for REPAM throughout the region.
15,000 barrels of oil
The spill of 15,000 barrels of oil on April 4, 2020 affected several communities, six in Orellana and six in Sucumbíos (northeast of the country). These populations develop their lives around the river where they wash their clothes, bathe their children and get water for their crops.
The level of poverty in these provinces is the highest in the country, but “thanks to the support of Caritas and other friendly institutions, training and organization are being promoted to be able to demand rights and propose alternatives,” says Monsignor Adalberto Jiménez.
REPAM, of which Cáritas Española is a founding entity, has been making an enormous effort for some time to give visibility to the situation of violation of human rights of the peoples who inhabit the Amazon – which has been aggravated as a result of the impact of Covid -19 throughout the region- and to reinforce REPAM’s role as dialogue in all international forums.
Last April the REPAM presented in New York and Washington in high-level meetings in the United Nations System and the Organization of American States the findings contained in the aforementioned report, which is being presented these days before the Human Rights Council in Geneva and several of its special mechanisms.
