AIRLINK 62.48 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (3.39%)
BOP 5.36 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.19%)
CNERGY 4.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.43%)
DFML 15.50 Increased By ▲ 0.66 (4.45%)
DGKC 66.40 Increased By ▲ 1.60 (2.47%)
FCCL 17.59 Increased By ▲ 0.73 (4.33%)
FFBL 27.70 Increased By ▲ 2.95 (11.92%)
FFL 9.27 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.32%)
GGL 10.06 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (1%)
HBL 105.70 Increased By ▲ 1.49 (1.43%)
HUBC 122.30 Increased By ▲ 4.78 (4.07%)
HUMNL 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.92%)
KEL 4.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-1.1%)
KOSM 4.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.97%)
MLCF 36.20 Increased By ▲ 0.79 (2.23%)
OGDC 122.92 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (0.43%)
PAEL 23.00 Increased By ▲ 1.09 (4.97%)
PIAA 29.34 Increased By ▲ 2.05 (7.51%)
PIBTL 5.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-2.36%)
PPL 107.50 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (0.12%)
PRL 27.25 Increased By ▲ 0.74 (2.79%)
PTC 18.07 Increased By ▲ 1.97 (12.24%)
SEARL 53.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.63 (-1.17%)
SNGP 63.21 Increased By ▲ 2.01 (3.28%)
SSGC 10.80 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (0.47%)
TELE 9.20 Increased By ▲ 0.71 (8.36%)
TPLP 11.44 Increased By ▲ 0.86 (8.13%)
TRG 70.86 Increased By ▲ 0.95 (1.36%)
UNITY 23.62 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.47%)
WTL 1.28 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
BR100 6,944 Increased By 65.8 (0.96%)
BR30 22,827 Increased By 258.6 (1.15%)
KSE100 67,142 Increased By 594.3 (0.89%)
KSE30 22,090 Increased By 175.1 (0.8%)

QUITO: Ecuador's main indigenous group late Tuesday unveiled an unprecedented legal complaint against the government alleging "genocide" against the country's native population in the Amazon region.

The suit targets President Rafael Correa, several serving ministers and other members of the executive branch, which the campaigners said have been promoting the mining and drilling in the region.

Efforts to expand oil exploration have seriously harmed the uncontacted tribes of Tagaeri and Taromenane who live in the remote territories, said the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONAIE).

The oil and mining work was disrupting these people's fragile "absolute dependence" on the Amazon ecosystems, the group argued.

As a consequence, there was a process of "cultural and physical disappearance, which amounts to the crime of ethnocide or genocide".

It is the "first time we have presented a complaint of this type, which is also directed to an Ecuadoran president," CONAIE spokesperson Janeth Cuji told AFP.

While Correa enjoys immunity from criminal proceedings related to his current duties, the complaint was still able to move forward, Cuji said.

Relations between Correa and the group are already strained over new mining legislation the campaigners say would put water under the control of the mining and energy sector a claim the government denies.

There is no official data on the number of members in the Tagaeri and Taromenane tribes, or among other uncontacted people who live in the area.

But the figure is thought to be in the hundreds in larger communities.

Ecuador's indigenous population, however, accounts for about a third of the country's 14 million inhabitants.

Despite a history of violent clashes between indigenous groups and the state, there is also no record of genocidal efforts to exterminate the tribes.

Observers have long warned of the slow demise of nomadic peoples in the Amazon region due to the exploitation of their environment, both from illegal logging activity and from mining.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011 

Comments

Comments are closed.