Background
The Tagaeri and Taromenane are indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation (PIAV) who live without contact with the majority population. Known as ecosystemic, these peoples inhabit the Amazon in a strict relationship of dependency on their ecological environment.
Their mobility pattern allows them to exercise their activity of gathering and hunting, as well as searching for places related to their ancestors. Any change in the natural habitat can harm both the survival of its members and that of the group as an indigenous people.
The Problem
The expansion of extractive activities in their territory has interrupted the cultural dynamics and life of these people; generating: the drastic reduction of their land, worrying environmental impacts, and the disruption of the social fabric between the PIAV and their sister people, the Waorani Nationality.
In 2003, 2006, and 2013 there were three massacres against the PIAV in the context of the lack of action of the Ecuadorian State in the face of the expansion of the extractive frontier and the increase in social and environmental problems in the zone.
Actions
Since 2006, a legal process has been carried out before the Inter-American Human Rights System to demand the protection of the rights and way of life of the Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation, Tagaeri, and Taromenane.
Results
In 2019, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights declared the responsibility of the Ecuadorian State for the deaths that occurred during the three massacres and for the violation of the collective rights of the PIAV.
News
Now, we accompany CONAIE and a group of activists in defense of the rights of the Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
The hearing of the case is to take place in 2022. The ruling published in the proceedings before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights would be the first to establish standards for protecting indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation in the Americas.