Chevron Case: An open letter to Ecuador
by La Via Campesina
Social movements and Civil Society Organisations send an open letter to
Ecuador on the Chevron case
The Chevron case [1] in the Ecuadorian Amazon is paradigmatic in the
struggle against corporate impunity. It's also linked to the struggle
against ISDS, and for the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational
Corporations and Human Rights. The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples
Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity [2], allied
with members of the European Campaign "Rights for People, Rules for
corporations - Stop ISDS" [3], as well as other allies at the
international level, in coordination with the Union of those affected by
Chevron - Texaco in Ecuador (UDAPT) [4], carried out several actions
worldwide.
On 21st May #AntiChevron Global Day of Action more than 280
organisations, networks, Unions and movements worldwide, in
representation of more than 280 millions of people, addressed this
letter to the Ecuadorian Government on the Chevron case.
-------------
LETTER TO ECUADOR ON THE CHEVRON CASE [5]
Mr. Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés
President of the Republic of Ecuador
_21 May 2019_
Regarding the Chevron-Texaco Case in Ecuador
MR. PRESIDENT,
We who belong to many international civil society social organizations
and networks who are committed to human rights and social, economic and
environmental justice are writing to you because we are deeply concerned
about the Chevron-Texaco case in the Ecuadorian Amazon region.
The case is irrefutable proof of the way the system whose purpose is to
ensure the impunity of transnational companies all over the world works.
After 25 years of trials, and although a judgement requiring Chevron
(formerly known as Texaco) to pay US$9,500 million to repair
environmental damage, has been ratified at every level of the Ecuadorian
judicial system, it has never been enforced [6]. To avoid complying with
it, Chevron withdrew all of its assets from Ecuador. Because they did
that, the men and women affected by the environmental disaster had to
have recourse in foreign courts (in Argentina, Brazil and Canada) to
have the judgement recognised and enforced, but so far, they have had no
success. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of those affected continue
suffering serious health effects. The cancer rate in the contaminated
area reaches up to 8-10 times the national average. Chevron left 880
pits full of crude oil which are still there, the rivers are still full
of hydrocarbon sediment and polluted by the crude oil spills in
Amazonia, which is one of the most biodiversity rich regions in the
world. The damage has been left unrepaired for more than 40 years.
Corporate crime goes on.
Even worse, in 2009 Chevron sued the Ecuadorian state at the
International Court in The Hague using the Investor State Dispute
Settlement Mechanism (ISDS). The oil company also sought economic
compensation and asked that the arbitration panel interfere in the
Ecuadorian justice system itself. In August 2018, the arbitration panel
ruled in favour of Chevron and sentenced Ecuador to pay a still unknown
sum to the transnational company. Moreover, it ordered the Ecuadorian
government to prevent the judgement of the Ecuadorian courts from being
enforced. These provisions are unconstitutional and inapplicable in
Ecuador. If the government were to execute the arbitration ruling, it
would be violating its own constitution, wiping out the rights of the
30,000 people affected by Chevron and openly favouring that company's
interests. This decision would therefore establish a dangerous precedent
at the international level which could encourage similar arbitration
tribunals, putting them above domestic law courts and thus undermine the
legal bases of the rule of law.
Mr. President, today your government is heading the process that is
working towards drafting a binding UN treaty on transnational
corporations with respect to human rights [7]which could put an end to
corporate impunity. These negotiations are taking place in the Human
Rights Commission. It is worth pointing out that this treaty is a
response to a demand from millions of people who belong to hundreds of
social and environmental organizations, unions and affected communities
around the world.
Today, popular mobilization against the ISDS is growing [3]. Proof of
this is that recently more than half a million signatures from European
Union citizens were delivered to the Vice President of the European
Commission asking that the European Union reject the ISDS and support
the UN Binding Treaty and other regulations to force transnational
companies to respect human rights.
Mr. President, we remind you that the aforementioned case is not an
exception. Chevron has been denounced for negative social and
environmental impacts in other countries [8], for example, their
fracking projects in Argentina have seriously affected Mapuche
indigenous communities. What is more, oil companies like Chevron bear a
large part of the responsibility for climate change [9] which today has
caused hundreds of thousands of victims, driven thousands from their
homes - climate refugees - and is also thrusting the whole planet into
the worst environmental crisis ever see.
Mr. President, we tell you that we cannot understand the direction that
your government is taking currently with regard to this case. WE REMIND
YOU THAT IT IS THE DUTY OF EVERY STATE TO PROTECT ITS POPULATION'S HUMAN
RIGHTS FROM THE VIOLATIONS OF THIRD PARTIES. WE DEMAND THAT YOU NOT GIVE
IN TO THE PRESSURE FROM THE UNITED STATES OR FROM CHEVRON BUT PUT THE
RIGHTS OF ECUADORIAN MEN AND WOMEN FIRST AS THE CONSTITUTION OF ECUADOR
DEMANDS. We ask you not to intervene in the court case between the
affected communities (who are grouped together as UDAPT - Union of those
Affected by Chevron-Texaco's Oil Operations) and the transnational
company but that, on the contrary you give your support and protection
to the indigenous and rural communities, respecting, protecting and
guaranteeing their rights over the interests of international companies.
SEE HERE THE LETTER AND THE 280 ENDORSEMENTS [5]
Links:
------
[1] https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/chevron-impunity-in-ecuador/
[2] https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/
[3] https://stopisds.org/
[4] http://texacotoxico.net/
[5]
https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Carta_Ec...
[6] http://texacotoxico.net/en/the-case/
[7] https://www.stopcorporateimpunity.org/binding-treaty-un-process/
[8] https://ejatlas.org/featured/chevronconflicts
[9] http://climateaccountability.org/carbonmajors.html
5 years, 7 months
Via Campesina E-newsletter, April 2019
by La Via Campesina
*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*
Via Campesina E-newsletter, April 2019
To Donate to the Peasant Movement, click here [1]
This edition of the newsletter is the result of a collective effort
of organisations, which are part of_ La Via Campesina_ movement
worldwide. TO SUBSCRIBE CLICK HERE [2]
#17APRIL: AROUND THE WORLD
This April, scores of mobilisations and demonstrations around the world
called for an urgent implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights
of Peasants by ushering in agrarian reform.
This article looks at the highlights of these direct actions and
demonstrations that took place during the month. READ MORE [3]
OTHER NEWS FROM APRIL 2019
We, the youth of La Via Campesina, gathered in Thiès, Senegal, from
25-28 April, express our solidarity with the peasant youth of all those
peoples who are being attacked by capitalism, imperial power,
agribusiness and transnationals, and particularly with the youth of
Palestine, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Venezuela and Mozambique.
READ THE THIÈS DECLARATION [4]
La Vía Campesina stood in support of the organized sectors of Colombian
society that mobilised on the 25th of April, during a National Peasant,
Indigenous, Afro-descendent, Worker and Popular Strike.
READ OUR PRESS RELEASE [5]
_ALSO READ:_
"The only struggle that is lost is that which is abandoned",
FINAL DECLARATION [6] from the III Solidarity Mission to Colombia
Global Network against Corporate Impunity condemns the arrest of Julian
Assange. The Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle
Corporate Power and Stop Impunity expresses its deepest concern at the
arrest of Julian Assange on April 11, 2019, at the Embassy of Ecuador in
London and calls on the UK government to demand his freedom and
non-extradition to the United States.
READ THE STATEMENT [7]
DECADE OF FAMILY FARMING: 'PEASANT AGRICULTURE MUST BE THE FOCUS', SAYS
VIA CAMPESINA IN DERIO
READ THE FULL TEXT [8] of the intervention made by Joan Brady, the
International Coordination Committee member of La Via Campesina, during
the closing session of the VI Global Conference on Family Farming, March
2019, Derio.
YOU ARE AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE AUTONOMY OF OUR MOVEMENT
-------------------------
As a supporter who has contributed financial resources to La Via
Campesina, and as an activist who joins us on the streets and in the
fields, your support is always welcome and put to good use.
You can renew your contribution to La Via Campesina by clicking here
[1]. [9]
This edition of the newsletter is the result of a collective effort of
organisations,
which are part of_ La Via Campesina_ movement worldwide.
To subscribe to our monthly newsletter click here [2]
To unsubscribe from the distribution list click here [2]
For questions or comments, email LVCWEB(a)VIACAMPESINA.ORG
WEBSITE: www.viacampesina.org [10]
TV: www.tv.viacampesina.org [11]
To subscribe to this newsletter - Click Here [2]
Links:
------
[1] https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/viacampesina
[2] https://mail.viacampesina.org/lists/listinfo/Via-info-en
[3]
https://viacampesina.org/en/rights-of-peasants-and-agrarian-reform-what-t...
[4]
https://viacampesina.org/en/thies-declaration-in-solidarity-with-young-pe...
[5]
https://viacampesina.org/en/%EF%BB%BFla-via-campesina-supports-the-nation...
[6]
https://viacampesina.org/en/the-only-struggle-that-is-lost-is-that-which-...
[7]
https://viacampesina.org/en/global-network-against-corporate-impunity-con...
[8]
https://viacampesina.org/en/decade-of-family-farming-peasant-agriculture-...
[9] https://viacampesina.org/en/donations/
[10] http://www.viacampesina.org
[11] http://www.tv.viacampesina.org
5 years, 7 months
Latest Nyeleni Newsletter on "Agroecology: Real innovation from and for the people" is available online
by La Via Campesina
AGROECOLOGY: REAL INNOVATION FROM AND FOR THE PEOPLE
6 MAY 2019
The crisis in the industrial food system is impossible to ignore. For
over a decade, study after study has validated the assertion of the Food
Sovereignty movement in 2007 - that the corporate food system destroys
life. Now Governments are anxious to find 'innovations' in agriculture
that can overcome this. They are hoping to be saved by a new Green
Revolution(...).
On the other hand Agroecology within the framework of Food Sovereignty
is also gaining widespread recognition and is increasingly being
promoted as an approach to transform agriculture and food systems and
address the challenges we face. The Food Sovereignty movement is
exposing how the discourse on innovation is actually a way to
depoliticise the debate on what a new food system should look like - by
not setting any criteria on what innovation must deliver on. In this way
Agroecology is put together with GMOs, new gene breeding technologies,
'climate-smart agriculture' and 'sustainable intensification'. (...)
In this edition, we look at the elements of Agroecology as defined by
small scale food producers that make it the only real innovation to
transform our food and farming.
_Click here to download the English [1]edition or_ read it directly on
the website at www.nyeleni.org [2] !
Links:
------
[1] http://www.nyeleni.org/ccount/click.php?id=133
[2] http://www.nyeleni.org/
5 years, 8 months