Latin American Water Tribunal censures the Ecuadorian State

From March 12 to 20, the Latinamerican Water Tribunal (LAWT) was held in the City of Mexico. The tribunal was created in order to contribute to solve conflicts related to the water systems in the latinamerican region. The six judges of the Court, expert environmental lawyers of Brazil, Colombia, France and Mexico, treated 14 cases, among them cases that dealt with the construction of dams. Before the court, FIAN, together with the Coordination for the Defense of Life and Nature (COORDENAGUA), presented a case from Ecuador of the River basin of the Guayas River. Also, FIAN participated in a fact finding mission to La Parota, one of the cases dealt with at the tribunal.

On the presented case on Ecuador, the Court resolved to censure the Ecuadorian State and the Commission for the Development of the River basin of the Guayas River (CEDEGE) because of the violation of the rights to health, food, environment and to quality of life of the populations that have been affected directly and indirectly by the construction project “Jaime Roldós Eyrie”. This resolution endorses the complaint of thousands of peasants who consider this project to be an ecological and human crime. The environmental effects resulting from this project and the omission of the State to grant remedy to the population have affected negatively on the population’s fundamental rights to food, health and water. In the verdict issued on March 20, the members of the LAWT recommended to the Ecuadorian State to provide an integral indemnification to the communities affected by the construction of this project, taking into account the economic and social development, and to take measures in order to submit CEDEGE to an independent and participative environmental audit.

The LAWT recognized the increasing deterioration of the river basin of the Guayas river due to several factors and the river communities’ limitations in their realization of the right to water, and consequently recommended to the Ecuadorian State to implement a regional plan of (re)forestation of the slopes and shores of the hydrographic system of the basin of the Guayas river, in participation with organizations of the civil society, the academy and involved communities. Additionally, the LAWT recommended to the Ecuadorian State, in conformity with national and international legal norms, to recognize the availability, accessibility and quality of water as a human right and to create a propitious legal frame to implement a national strategy that allows to assure sufficient and salubrious water resources to present and future generations.

In one of the sub basins of the Guayas river exists a great opposition from thousands of peasants who would be either directly affected by the construction of the project “Quevedo-Vinces” or indirectly concerned due to the project’s effects upstream and downstream. The LAWT insists to the Ecuadorian State to guarantee physical security to the leaders of the COORDENAGUA and to finish with threats and repression against opponents to this project.