Yesterday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights published a landmark ruling in the case of Pueblos Indígenas Tagaeri y Taromenane v. Ecuador, the first case in its 45-year history to address the rights of Indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation. The case concerns Ecuador’s international responsibility for the violation of the rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane Peoples — names attributed by Western society to two groups of the Waorani people from the western Ecuadorian Amazon who live in isolation in their ancestral territories. The case also extends to other voluntarily isolated peoples of the Eastern Amazon, whose territories, resources, and way of life were severely impacted by extractive activities. While Ecuador had designated a protected area (Zona Intangible Tagaeri Taromenane or ZITT) to prohibit extractive activities and prevent external interference, it failed to enforce territorial protections, allowing continued encroachment by oil companies and illegal loggers. The case also concerns three instances of violent events — in 2003, 2006, and 2013 — that led to the deaths of…
American Convention on Human Rights
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Peru at a Crossroad: The New Impunity Law
In the last decades, Peru has undergone two significant transitions: one following the internal armed conflict of the 1980s and 1990s, initiated by the terrorist organisation Peruvian Communist Party Shining Path (SL), and another after the authoritarian rule from 1992 to 2000. While the SL was the main perpetrator of violence, state-led counter-subversive measures were…
People from La Oroya vs Peru, Inter-American Court of Human Rights: How Effective is International Law to Protect the Environment in Extractive Contexts?
On March 22nd, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled a landmark decision on the protection of the right to a healthy environment in the context of mining activities. The Court declared the international responsibility of the Peruvian State for breaching the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, specifically for violations of the right to a…
Pardon for Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori: New Chapter, Same Plot?
In December 2023, Alberto Fujimori, Peru’s President from 1990 to 2000, was released from prison by the order of the Peruvian Constitutional Court (CC). In response, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) declared Peru in contempt of the Court and imposed a reinforced monitoring of its judgments in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases. Although both…
State and Corporate Homophobia: A Commentary on the Olivera Fuentes v. Peru case
On 11 April 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) published its long-awaited ruling in the Olivera Fuentes v. Peru case. The decision holds personal significance to Crissthian Olivera, a pioneering defender of LGBTIQ+ rights in Latin America, as it was the culmination of a 19-year journey to deliver justice following discrimination he…
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