President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry talk with President Vladimir Putin of Russia after a bilateral meeting at the United Nations in New York, N.Y. Sept. 28, 2015. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly this evening, attempting to downplay his government’s recent crackdown on indigenous and civil society protests.
Please take action IMMEDIATELY on Twitter and tell the UN General Assembly (#UNGA2015) that President Correa must end the criminalization of nonviolent protest in Ecuador.
During last month’s nationwide strike, police and military met protests with violent repression. Indigenous leaders and organizers were persecuted. According to CONAIE, Ecuador’s national indigenous confederation, women were specifically targeted for attack, with reports of women being dragged through the street by their hair and threatened with rape.More than 200 people were detained, some 98 still face charges, and 24 are still in jail—many of whom have had trouble obtaining counsel because lawyers are too scared to represent them, fearing reprisals from the government.
Ironically, a major demand of the demonstrations was an end to the criminalization of protest. Indigenous leaders are also calling for a rejection of the proposed constitutional amendments that would end term limits and allow Correa to run for an unprecedented fourth term, an end to oil and mining projects in indigenous territories and Yasuni National Park, and the cancellation of a law that threatens indigenous access to water, among other issues.
While there were violent clashes that also resulted in police being injured, the government’s heavy handed response was denounced by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The UN Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples called on Ecuador to “guarantee rights of indigenous peoples established in the constitution,” reminding that judicial guarantees and due process of those detained must be respected, particularly for those who find themselves in the situation for doing nothing other than exercising their right to peacefully protest.
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