This letter from over 100 regional and international human rights organizations expresses concern over contradictory human rights policies by the Ecuadorian government. While Ecuador has taken positive steps at the UN Human Rights Council to strengthen corporate accountability, it has also taken actions that weaken human rights protections. These include dissolving the indigenous rights organization Pachamama Foundation and discussions of withdrawing from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The letter calls on Ecuador to reconsider these policies and instead protect indigenous rights and the environment as guaranteed by its constitution.

1. Quito, Geneva, 10 February 2014
Subject: Open Letter from human rights organizations on the contradictions in
Ecuadorian human rights policy
Ambassador
Luis Gallegos Chiriboga
Representative of Ecuador before the Office and
Specialized Agencies of the United Nations Organization
Geneva, Switzerland.
Dear Ambassador,
As you and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility in Ecuador
know, the undersigning regional and international organizations have publicly
expressed support for several initiatives taken by the Ecuadorian government
regarding human rights. Specifically, those initiatives to develop a process within the
Human Rights Council that would eventually culminate in the adoption of a treaty on
human rights and business; this would represent a significant step forward that the
international community should take after adopting the “Guiding Principles on
Business and Human Rights” (Human Rights Council, resolution 17/4, 16 June 2011).
It is in this context that we welcome the announcement you have made in
the Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights for Latin America and the
Caribbean, held August 28th
– 30th
, 2013 in Medellín, Colombia. And later, at the 24th
session of the Human Rights Council, where as Ecuador´s representative before the
United Nations in Geneva, you made a historical declaration regarding “Transnational
Corporations and Human Rights”, which was supported by the African Group, the
Arabic Group, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Venezuela
and Peru.
Over a hundred regional and international human rights organizations and
social movements welcomed this historic petition on September 13th
of last year, as
it signaled the loss of trust in voluntary mechanisms which have characterized the
debate on corporate social responsibility and facilitated the systematic impunity of
transnational corporations.
This action taken by the Ecuadorian State was ratified in the Second Forum on
Business and Human Rights, held in Geneva and convened by the working group on
the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business
enterprises on December 3rd
and 4th
.
Despite this position before the international community, we are troubled and
concerned by some decisions of the Ecuadorian government which send contradictory
messages regarding its human rights priorities. Some of these decisions are:
1.- The executive branch´s decision to dissolve the Pachamama Foundation, a
non-governmental organization whose mission has been to promote and defend
environmental and indigenous rights for over 16 years, by the express petition of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs addressed to the Ministry of the Environment, based on
the Public and State security Act, and Executive Decree no. 16, a lower-ranking legal

2. norm that was been subject to three public unconstitutionality actions before the
Constitutional Court and a writ of amparo before the Judiciary;
2. - The reiterated public statements made by the highest State authorities
(President, Vice-President, Chancellor, National Legal Secretary of the President) on
Ecuador´s possible “withdrawal” from the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights (IACHR). We suppose that these statements are related to a possible
“denouncement” of the American Convention on Human Rights (American
Convention), and not to an unlikely withdrawal from the Organization of American
States (OAS). Obviously, denouncing the American Convention would have complex
and serious consequences for the victims of human rights violations and the users of
the Inter-American System of Human Rights (IASHR), fostering impunity for human
rights violations and affecting the “principle of universality” which the Ecuadorian
State legitimately proclaims in regional and international forums.
3. - The decision of the Ecuadorian government to embark on and lead
together with other countries in the region a reform process of the IASHR and in
particular the IACHR, which were part of an exhaustive analytical and reform process
promoted by the General Assembly and the OAS Permanent Council for two years, a
process which concluded on March 22 of last year, in the XLIV Extraordinary General
Assembly held in Washington D.C.
This initiative included a call for three conferences of the States Parties to
the American Convention (Guayaquil, 11 March 2013; Cochabamba, 14 Mayo 2013;
and Montevideo, 22 January 2014). The agendas of these conferences were not
officially released to the OAS General Assembly or Permanent Council, the IACHR,
civil society organizations, social movements or key actors in the IASHR.
Mr. Ambassador, as you may understand, this national and international
human rights policy does not reflect the discourse rightly used by the Ecuadorian
State at the Human Rights Council, especially regarding the need of a new binding
international human rights instrument that would contribute to ending the impunity
currently enjoyed by transnational corporations in our countries. Ecuador, in
particular, is currently litigating an asymmetrical case against one of the most
powerful transnational oil companies in the world, Chevron-Texaco.
Dear Ambassador, we acknowledge Ecuador´s initiative at the Human Rights
Council, which demonstrates that Ecuador aims to strengthen human rights systems
and wishes to end impunity for human rights violations committed by the corporate
sector. Nevertheless, this action does not justify Ecuadorian policies that weaken
human rights in its territory and the Americas, which is how Ecuador has been
treating the Inter-American System of Human Rights, the Pachamama Foundation and
the Ecuadorian Amazon. We are calling on the Ecuadorian government to reconsider
its policies regarding the Inter-American System, revoke its decision on the
Pachamama Foundation, and protect the rights of indigenous people and of nature in
line with the Ecuadorian constitution.
Sincerely,
C.c.
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the OAS
Sub-Commission on Human Rights of the European Parliament
European External Action Service

3. European Union Delegation in Ecuador
Ambassador of Ecuador in Brussels and Stockholm
Supporters of this letter:
Acción por la Biodiversidad
Ágora Espacio Civil, Paraguay
Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH), Peru
Asociación por la Integración Latinoamericana (APILA), Chile
Bangladesh Fish Workers’ Alliance
Coordinadora Andina de Organizaciones Indígenas (CAOI)
Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Washington D.C.
Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales, Ecuador
Centro de Documentación en Derechos Humanos “Segundo Montes Mozo S.J. (CSMM),
Ecuador
Colectivo Pro Derechos Humanos (PRODH), Ecuador
Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la Defensa de los Derechos de las Mujeres
(CLADEM)
Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, Ecuador
Confederación de los pueblos Kichwa del Ecuador (ECUARUNARI)
Confederación Unitaria de Comerciantes Minoristas y Trabajadores Autónomos
del Ecuador
Coordinadora Nacional de Ecuatorianos en España
Ecologistas en Acción, España
Entrepueblos-Entrepobles-Herriarte-Entrepobos, España
FIAN Internacional
Franciscans International
Fundación de Culturas Indígenas Kawsay, Ecuador
Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
GRAIN
Habitat International Coalition
Human Rights Without Frontiers Int'l, Bélgica
Instituto de Estudios Políticos para América Latina y África, España
Instituto de Estudios sobre Desarrollo y Cooperación Internacional de la Universidad
del País Vasco (HEGOA), España.
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Dinamarca
Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre
Manitese, Italia
Pachamama, Ecuador
People's Health Movement (PHM)
Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD)
Share the World's Resources, Reino Unido
Transnational Institute, Holanda
Koepel van de Vlaamse Noord-Zuidbeweging - 11.11.11 /Coalición flamenca para la
Cooperación NorteSur – 11.11.11
Youth Acting for Change Nepal (YAC Nepal)