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<div class="header reader-header reader-show-element"> <font
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href="https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-Waorani-Women-Shut-Down-Court-With-Singing-Protest--20190314-0026.html">https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Ecuador-Waorani-Women-Shut-Down-Court-With-Singing-Protest--20190314-0026.html</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Ecuador: Waorani Women Shut Down Court
With Singing Protest</h1>
Published 14 March 2019</div>
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<p>Waorani women were called without proper notice to
present arguments against the Ecuadorean state in
violation of their rights to free prior and informed
consultation regarding an oil bloc auction in the heart
of their territory, located in the country’s eastern
Amazon region. Left without an interpreter, they shut
down the court by singing Waorani songs in the
courtroom.</p>
<p>In February, in a press statement released by ally, <a
href="http://waoresist.amazonfrontlines.org/"
target="_blank">Amazon Frontlines</a>, the Waorani,
organized under the CONCONAWEP (Coordinating Council of
the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador-Pastaza) say they
filed the legal action because their “rights to free,
prior and informed consultation… were violated” when the
government announced it would potentially sell seven
million acres of Indigenous territories to oil companies
without holding the constitutionally required public
debates on the matter.</p>
<p>They say their case “aims to keep their ancestral lands
free from natural resource extraction and to set a
precedent for other indigenous nations to do the same.”</p>
<p>They were summoned to a public hearing to present their
case, but were not given the proper notice
they requested from the court, at least 20 days notice
in order to gather their elders who are the only
ones allowed by their laws to make important decisions,
and some of whom must travel long distances. </p>
<p>Instead, the court gave them just two days notice to
prepare their defense. </p>
<p>In addition, the court is mandated by Ecuadorean law to
provide interpreters -- not all members of the Waorani
speak Spanish -- but the interpreter did not show up,
which meant that not all members could understand court
instructions. </p>
<p>Despite the various objections to the process, and the
absence of the Waorani elders, the court continued to
try to select one of the women to arbitrate with. </p>
<p>In response, the group sang traditional songs in the
court, drowning out the court voices and stopping
all business.</p>
<p>“They rose and sang without stopping until the judge
suspended the hearing, the song spoke of the unjust
treatment of a western justice that does not understand
and does not respect the Waorani world, spoke against
the discriminatory treatment that the court is giving
us, spoke of the lack of guarantees,” a press statement
from the Waoranis said.</p>
<p>The Waoranis had requested that the public hearing be
held in their ancestral territories to ensure that all
witnesses could be called. This was was denied to them.
Instead, they had to travel to the court in the
provincial capital, and could not properly present their
case.</p>
<p>They say oil extraction from their territory will “be a
colossal environmental disaster... with devastating
impacts on the rain forests and life, culture, and well
being of those who call the Amazon their home.” </p>
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