Ecuador: Chevron Accused of Trying to Deny Human Rights to Thousands of Rainforest Inhabitants
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Ecuador: Chevron Accused of Trying to Deny Human Rights to Thousands of Rainforest Inhabitants
SOURCE Amazon Defense Coalition
Indigenous rainforest communities from Ecuador who recently won an $18 billion judgment against Chevron for environmental damage have filed suit before a renowned international human rights court seeking an order that would prevent the oil giant from using a secret arbitration to violate their legal rights.
The Ecuadorians filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights strongly criticizing Chevron's "egregious misuse" of the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty ("BIT"
to violate human rights protections. They are seeking an order requiring Ecuador's government to protect their right to life, physical integrity, health, a fair trial, and equal treatment under the law as guaranteed by the American Declaration of the Rights of Man and other international human rights treaties.
The petition was filed against Ecuador's government because Chevron is seeking an order from the private investor arbitration panel mandating that the country's President freeze the court proceedings until the BIT panel can rule, a process which normally takes three years. Such an order would violate Ecuadorian and international law as well as the human rights protections that the Commission is sworn to uphold, said Pablo Fajardo, the lead lawyer for the Ecuadorian plaintiffs in the underlying environmental case.
The Commission, located in Washington, D.C., hears claims for emergency relief from individual human rights victims and derives its authority from the the multilateral international treaty that created the Organization of American States, of which Ecuador and the United States are members. Any order from the Commission is binding on the government against which it is issued.
More:
http://ionglobaltrends.blogspot.com/2012/02/ecuador-chevron-accused-of-trying-to.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FzqKG+%28i+On+Global+Trends%29