[Translated by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"Shuar Arutam people win protection action. Constitutional Court withdraws license to San Carlos-Panantza mining project" - 18 November 2022

Nankintz is a community in the province of Morona Santiago, an area rich in minerals, mainly copper. The Chinese mining company Explorcobres S.A., obtained a concession over the community's territory and as a consequence eight families composed of 32 individuals, including children and adults, were evicted... The research Nankints: A Current Case of Official Racism, Dispossession and Deprivation of Rights of the Shuar People in Ecuador, in particular of Shuar women, carried out by the National Coalition of Women of Ecuador in July 2017, reports that after the evictions in November 2016, a group of indigenous Shuar returned to the community of Nankints and were evicted again because by then the place was already called "Campamento Minero La Esperanza" (La Esperanza Mining Camp). By December, there were clashes between indigenous groups and the military. According to this investigation, the facts "were not clarified by the state" and resulted in the death of a policeman and other injured people, as well as some indigenous people. After what happened, the Shuar "decided to flee to the jungle for fear of being arrested". The government at the time declared the area a "State of Emergency" and militarised it, which put the rest of the communities and population in fear... The rights of the Shuar people were totally violated and violated because they were not consulted in order for the project to be installed in their territory, as established in article 57, numeral 7 of the Constitution... Josefina Tunki, president of the Shuar Arutam People, asked for a minute's silence in honour of those who died during the Nankints struggle. She also recalled that her people will no longer accept the entry of mining and oil companies into their territory. For his part, Domingo Ankuash, leader of the Shuar people and who was persecuted after the evictions and militarisation of Nankints, mentioned that the sentence of the Constitutional Court will become a reality "until those who were evicted return to live" in these territories. He also said... "In Nankits they attacked [with] military, tanks, drones. A government that claims to belong to everyone is attacking us in this way. Now they say they are going to consult, consult when they are already dead..."?