Awarded Theses 2018/2019 Juan José Guzmán Torán When the Forest Screams The Rights of Nature and Indigenous Rights as a Mutually Reinforcing Resistance Platform for the Indigenous Peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon ema, The European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation JUAN JOSÉ GUZMÁN TORÁN WHEN THE FOREST SCREAMS THE RIGHTS OF NATURE AND INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AS A MUTUALLY REINFORCING RESISTANCE PLATFORM FOR THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE ECUADORIAN AMAZON JUAN JOSÉ GUZMÁN TORÁN FOREWORD The Global Campus of Human Rights is a unique network of more than one hundred participating universities around the world, seeking to advance human rights and democracy through regional and global cooperation for education and research. This global network is promoted through seven Regional Programmes which are based in Venice for Europe, in Sarajevo/Bologna for South East Europe, in Yerevan for the Caucasus, in Pretoria for Africa, in Bangkok for Asia- Pacific, in Buenos Aires for Latin America and the Caribbean, and in Beirut for the Arab World. Every year each regional master’s programmes select the best master thesis of the previous academic year that is published online as part of the GC publications. The selected seven GC master theses cover a range of different international human rights topics and challenges. The Global Campus Awarded Theses of the academic year 2018/2019 are: • Begalieva, Nuriza, From Democracy to Autocracy? Growing Threats to Civil Society and Media in Kyrgyzstan, Supervisor: Arusyak Aleksanyan, Yerevan State University. Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in the Caucasus (CES), coordinated by Yerevan State University • El-Hawary, Nouran Refugees ad Migrant Access to Health in Transit Countries: Politics of Adaptability, Enactment of Slow Death and Inevitability of Pain: an Ethnography of Poor Urban Neighborhood in Rabat (Morocco), Supervisor: Jeremy Gunn, International University of Rabat (UIR). Arab Master’s Programme in Democracy and Human Rights (ARMA), coordinated by Saint Joseph University (Lebanon). II WHEN THE FOREST SCREAMS • Ferizov Jasenka Prosecution of Crimes of Appropriation of Private Property before the ICTY and the IRMCT, Supervisor: Hans- Joachim Heintze,ić, Ruhr Unversity Bochum. European Regional Master’s Programme in Democracy and Human Rights in South East Europe (ERMA), coordinated by University of Sarajevo and University of Bologna • Frías Sampaio, Emmanuel, Politics of Memory of the Recent Past in Brazil: The Federal Government’s Role in Constructing Collective Memory Between 2003 and 2016, Supervisor. Ana De Maio, University of Buenos Aires. Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Latin American and the Caribbean (LATMA), coordinated by National University of San Martin (Argentina) • Guzmán Torán, Juan José, When the Forest Screams. The Rights of Nature and Indigenous Rights as a Mutually Reinforcing Resistance Platform for the Indigenous Peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon, Supervisor: Felipe Gómez Isa, University of Deusto Bilbao. European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation (EMA), coordinated by Global Campus of Human Rights Headquarters. • Hasanah, Mahesti Between the Domination of Transnational Companies and Its Discourse on Business and Human Rights: Contract Farming and Banana Small Farmers in the Davao Region (The Philippines), Supervisor: Ryan Jeremiah D. Quan, Manila University. Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Asia Pacific (APMA), coordinated by Mahidol University. • Nyemba, Chisomo Right to Data Privacy in the Digital Era: a Critical Assessment of Malawi’s Data Privacy Protection Regime, Supervisor: Akinola E Akintayo, University of Lagos. Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa (HRDA), coordinated by Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. III JUAN JOSÉ GUZMÁN TORÁN This publication includes the thesis When the Forest Screams. The Rights of Nature and Indigenous Rights as a Mutually Reinforcing Resistance Platform for the Indigenous Peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon written by Juan José Guzmán Torán and supervised by Felipe Gómez Isa, University of Deusto, Bilbao. BIOGRAPHY Juan José Guzmán holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Anthropology from the University of Chile and graduated from the European Master’s Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation. His research interests are human rights law, legal anthropology, indigenous rights, rights of nature and postcolonial studies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all the people who helped me during the research process. It would have not been possible without the time that the interviewees dedicated to answer my questions and without the guidance of my thesis supervisor Felipe Gómez Isa. Moreover, this experience would not have been possible without the unconditional love and support of my parents, Carolina Torán and Claudio Guzmán. Additionally, I would like to thank the EMA team, my EMA classmates and my dear friend Rakan Zahda. IV JUAN JOSÉ GUZMÁN TORÁN ABSTRACT Indigenous peoples from the Ecuadorian Amazon have historically been dispossessed from their cultural heritage and ancestral territories. In the past, these actions have been justified by the need for natural resources derived from indigenous lands. However, this has led to the destruction of natural and culturally significant environments, in addition to other human rights violations. This research will focus on contemporary efforts by Ecuador to protect its nature through the auspices of constitutional and legislative regimes. In 2008, the government of Rafael Correa incorporated the ‘rights of nature’ into the Ecuadorian constitution, which in essence gave nature legal personality. That is, nature became a subject of rights, to be protected despite human needs. In this context, the rights of nature protect it from its commodification, thus contributing toward the fulfilment of indigenous peoples’ rights in contexts of extractivism. This research explores the impact of this constitutional recognition, analysing how indigenous Amazonian communities legally and politically use the rights of nature. Concerning the legal uses, lawsuits filed by indigenous groups, in circumstances where the rights of nature were invoked, tended to fail. Despite the legal obstacles, the rights of nature have been progressively incorporated into resistance- orientated discourses/actions of Amazonian indigenous communities, becoming a robust political tool against the destruction of traditional territories. The findings of this research support the conclusion that the incorporation of the rights of nature – into the Ecuadorian legal system and in human rights discourse/practices of Amazonian indigenous communities – empowers Amazonian indigenous groups. Indigenous empowerment in this region has been found to comprise the ability to communicate in legal, political, epistemological and ontological spheres though resistance-based platforms. This form of engagement has been used as a vehicle to voice opposition to neocolonial practices as regards the exploitation of culturally significant natural environments and the destruction of indigenous ancestral lands. V JUAN JOSÉ GUZMÁN TORÁN TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS ACHR American Convention on Human Rights CGC Compañía General de Combustibles CONAIE Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador IACHR Inter-American Commission on Human Rights IACtHR Inter-American Court of Human Rights IEL International environmental law ILO International Labour Organization OAS Organization of American States UDHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN United Nations UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples UNGA United Nations General Assembly VI JUAN JOSÉ GUZMÁN TORÁN TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword II Biography IV Abstract V Table of abbreviations VI INTRODUCTION 1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 5 1. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: DECOLONISING LAW AND EXPANDING HUMAN RIGHTS: INDIGENOUS CONCEPTIONS MATERIALISED IN THE RIGHTS OF NATURE 7 1.1 Colonialism, human rights and international law 8 1.1.1 Post-colonial approach to international law and coloniality of power 8 1.1.2 Inclusion of other voices in human rights: Striking the balance between universalism and cultural relativism 10 1.2 Progressive inclusion of indigenous peoples in international law and human rights 13 1.2.1 The International Labour Organization Convention 169 14 1.2.2 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 15 1.3 Indigenous narratives enriching human rights: The rights of nature 17 1.3.1 International environmental law and the human right to a clean and healthy environment 19 1.3.2 Hierarchy between humans and non-humans in international environmental law and the human right to a clean and healthy environment 22 1.3.3 Anthropology and Amazonian nature ontologies: Different ways of understanding nature 24 1.4 Conclusion: Potentialities of the rights of nature for indigenous peoples’ rights 27 VII JUAN JOSÉ GUZMÁN TORÁN 2. THE RIGHTS OF NATURE IN THE ECUADORIAN LEGAL PRACTICE 29 2.1 From green to black: brief characterisation of indigenous peoples and oil activities in the Amazon Basin 32 2.1.1 Ecuador and the oil politics 32 2.1.2 Impacts of oil activities on indigenous peoples 33 2.2 Legal implementation of the rights of nature in Ecuador 36 2.2.1 Rights of nature cases filed by indigenous peoples 36 2.2.1.1 Mining Law case (2009) 36 2.2.1.2 Condor-Mirador case (2012) 39 2.2.1.3 Tangabana Paramo case (2014-ongoing) 42 2.2.2 Oil activities