“Good news! Indigenous communities in Lote 192 have won an overwhelming victory and signed an agreement with the Peruvian Government which recognizes their right to be consulted on use of their ancestral lands.
Land Rights Now has supported campaign actions related to this case for over one year –we highlighted the story of Teddy and his community during the Stand for Land campaign in September 2016, and more recently on World Indigenous People’s Day 2017 we called on the Government of Peru to respect the rights of Indigenous People. The tremendous outcry from within Peru and internationally alongside a series of peaceful protests staged by the Indigenous Communities finally paid off!
The Government of Peru had begun to negotiate a new oil contract on the ancestral land without consultation with Quechua, Achuar and Kichwa communities who live in Lote 192. The communities were not prepared to endure this – not least after the last 40-year oil concession left the area with over 2000 contaminated environmental sites. And while the current exploiters had promised to clean it, the communities continue to live with the contamination every day. To prevent this from happening again, the indigenous communities demanded that the government respect their right to Free Prior and Informed Consent and when the Government refused, they had not choice but to take direct action, staging a series of peaceful protests seizing petroleum production in Cuenca Corrientes.”
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