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indigenous women
A River's Rights: Indigenous Kukama Women Lead the Way with Landmark Legal Victory
Defending the rights of nature represents a big step forward in the fight against climate change.
Jun 17, 2024
Here’s one of the most powerful pieces of good news you probably missed this year: a group of Indigenous women in Peru succeeded in asserting the legal right to integrity and protection of the Marañón River, a sacred waterway that flows from the Andes to the Amazon. This is a significant victory for the preservation of nature, water, forests, and biodiversity; in other words, life itself. It’s also a big step forward in the fight against climate change, and for the rights of nature, both topics that were debated last week at the 11th Pan Amazonian Social Forum in Rurrenabaque, Bolivia.
The women warriors behind this legal victory—the second of its kind in Latin America after the case of the Atrato River in Colombia—come from the Huaynakana Kamatahuara Kana, a Kukama women’s federation in the lower Marañón Watershed.
108 oil spills in 40 years
The Federation began its fight in 2021, when Kukama women from 29 communities, led by Mari Luz Canaquiri, filed an injunction action against Petroperú (a Peruvian state-owned petroleum enterprise), the Ministry of Environment, and other government bodies. The women were outraged at how the ecosystems of their rivers, forests, and sacred plants were being poisoned and systematically destroyed by more than 40 years of oil spills. In fact, according to an article published by the Citizens' Movement against Climate Change (MOCICC, in Spanish), at least 108 oil spills have occurred along the path of the North Peruvian Oil Pipeline (ONP) since its inception in 1977, with little to no response or outrage from the national and international opinion. These spills are ecocidal, and yet, the Peruvian state has enjoyed near total impunity from any consequences so far.
The most outrageous aspect of this fact is that ONP did not respect the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) stipulated in ILO Convention 169, nor has it implemented environmental safeguards measures and proper maintenance of the pipeline. Only in 2014, as a consequence of a big rupture of one of the pipelines the Kukama became aware of the imminent danger of the oil spill flooding their forest ecosystems and water bodies. Since then, they, especially the inhabitants of the community of Cuninico, have been forced to consume this contaminated water, with serious consequences for women's reproductive health (with a rise in the number of miscarriages), and generalized immune, respiratory, and gastrointestinal diseases. Even now, owing to the permanent contamination of the Marañón, fish and other riverine species essential to the livelihoods of local communities are disappearing.
Meanwhile, the Peruvian State has not bothered to provide even basic amenities like drinking water or health care to these communities. The health problems amongst the Indigenous Peoples continue to remain unaddressed, while the staggering profits from the sale of crude oil are amassed by a few foreign companies. This includes Pluspetrol, with Argentine capital, in lot 8; the French Perenco, in lots 67 and 39; and Frontera Energy in lot 192 (ex1Ab) and PetroTal in lot 95 from Canadian capital.
“In our culture, the Marañón River is a living being”
After years of struggle, the Kukama women leaders succeeded in getting Judge Corely Armas Chapiama, of the Mixed Court of Nauta-Loreto, to rule in favor of their demands in March 2024. It was so evident that more than four decades of oil spills have destroyed the livelihoods of the Amazonian communities living along the tributaries of the Marañon River. In the words of one of the women leaders, Emilsen Flores: “When there are spills, our forests are contaminated, our plants, the space [territory] we live in is contaminated. The spills threaten to kill our fish, our fauna, our flora (...) Our health is at risk, our education, and everything related to food, because the food is contaminated.” In court, Emilsen was also the voice of her living and sacred river. As the words of leader Mariluz Canaquiri of the Shapajilla Native Community make clear: “in our culture, the Marañón River is a living being. The Kukama have a close relationship with the rivers, the Purahua lives there, the largest boa in the Amazon, which for us is the mother of the rivers. For the Kukama people, the river is the heart of life, which pumps blood to the whole body.”
The ‘voice’ of the River
Since the establishment of the colony in Peru until almost the 1970s, public spaces, such as courts, have privileged and listened primarily to the voices of men, generally white, with formal education. Women's voices were considered 'gossip', as they were seen as incapable of testifying rationally and coherently. Women were even barred from entering the realm of legal proceedings and litigation. If they were called to testify as witnesses, the testimony of three women together was considered equal to the testimony of a man (see Vera Delgado 2011, p. 54).
This makes the facts of the ruling of the Mixed Court of Nauta on November 12, 2023 nearly transcendent; a female judge of Indigenous descent, listening attentively not only to the testimony of the Kukama leaders, but also – through the leaders – to the ‘voice’ of a vital and animate entity, the Marañón River and its tributaries. Judge C. Armas Chapiama understood that not only are the rights to a healthy and fair livelihood of local communities being violated by the oil companies, but also the inherent right to life of the Marañon River. These rights include its right to flow freely and without contamination to ensure healthy ecosystems of forests, water sources, and biodiversity; the right to feed and be fed by its tributaries; the right to be protected, conserved and restored; and the right to the regeneration of its natural cycles.
No reparations or compensation
Although Judge Armas Chicama ordered ONP’s authorities to update their environmental management instruments and to respect FPIC, she did not issue a ruling to provide reparations to the 69 communities in total who have been affected by the oil spills for more than 40 years. Despite this, it is expected that the ONP authorities will comply with the court's ruling, since, in Amazonian countries, similar rulings and their subsequent implementations have followed not only the letter of the law, but also its spirit.
The victory of the Kukama sisters is of enormous significance for the country, since it provides monumental inspiration for the struggles of the Amazonian peoples against the many extractive activities that are destroying their territories. For instance, on April 22, 2024, the Autonomous Territorial Government of the Wampis Nation mobilized for the first time in rejection of illegal mining and logging that are invading their territories, activities that are endorsed by the current Peruvian government. In this context, the commodification of Indigenous Peoples’ forest territories has become a daily practice, with differentiated impacts on the local population, especially women in all their diversities and youth.
It is also important to note that years of abuse and violations of the rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon by the oil industry, including murders of Indigenous leaders, have gone unpunished to date.
As this is not enough, in January 2024, the Peruvian government approved Law 31973, a modification of Forestry Law No. 29763 - the new law is a wolf in sheep's clothing, opening the door to intensive cattle ranching, monoculture plantations of oil palm and genetically modified soybeans, among others; which is promoted by large companies and conservative religious organizations such as the Mennonites.
The struggle for justice continues
Amazonian peoples’ organizations and environmental and human rights defenders have held massive national mobilizations against Law 31973. Under the slogan “La selva no se vende, se defiende”, (“The jungle is not for sale”, a famous slogan that emerged in one of the first Indigenous struggles against oil in 2009, known as Baguazo) Peruvians are continuing to fight for the repeal of this harmful law which threatens the ecosystems of the Amazon. However, the congressmen who promoted Law 31973 are not only turning a deaf ear to the people's demands, but are also trumpeting the benefits of the new law -supposedly- for small and medium illegal agricultural activities.
While the murders of Indigenous leaders and Amazon defenders remain unpunished and invisible, entire ecosystems of our forests are cut down and destroyed, water sources are polluted, and biodiversity is being preyed upon, the UN’s Green Climate Fund is shelling out nearly US$200 million for monocultures of oil palm, cocoa, and rubber, and unsustainable industrial cattle ranching in places like the Amazon. Agribusiness giants like the food processing company Marfrig of Brazil, which has been linked to illegal logging, “cattle laundering” and extensive deforestation for monoculture oil palm plantations, are the primary beneficiaries of these policies.
Legal victories like the Kukama women’s successful fight to defend the Marañón River are rare. This is because transnational corporations are empowered and protected by legislation like Peru’s “Anti-Forestry” Law 31973. In fact, powerful groups that wield influence in Peru’s current government are already trying to have the historic ruling overturned, arguing that an anthropocentric vision is a fundamental principle of the Peruvian Constitution, and that the rights of nature hold no value.
In light of these monumental challenges, the world’s ecofeminist, environmental, and climate justice movements must unite so that grassroots struggles like that of our Kukama sisters endure and do not fade away.
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COP 25 Protest Outside US Embassy Demands Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
Demonstrators urged the global community to "join our demands for the real action it will take to protect and respect Indigenous women."
Dec 09, 2019
While representatives from governments across the globe gathered in Madrid Tuesday for the ongoing COP 25 climate summit, dozens of activists demonstrated outside the U.S. Embassy in the Spanish capital to demand justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirits, as they highlighted the fossil fuel industry's connection to violence against them.
Casey Camp-Horinek of the Ponca Nation in Oklahoma explained that primarily male workers flock to regions near Indigenous lands for job opportunities in extractive industries and often end up living in so-called "man camps."
"Whether in rundown motels or pop-up camps, certain things hold true. There is an influx of transient workers who bring alcohol, drugs, and violence, such as rape, murder, and human trafficking," Camp-Horinek said.
Moneka De Oro of Guam participated in the protest, which Spanish police shut down "within minutes." She toldDemocracy Now! that "I see that my struggle to protect my land and waters from militarization and from the expansion of U.S. imperialism in my waters and in the whole region of Micronesia is very much connected to the violence and the assaults on the women across North and South America."
\u201cThis morning in #Madrid we stood in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and allies, demanding justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, two-spirits & girls. #IndigenousPeoples are the guardians of nature, territories, and the climate. #MMIW #COP25\u201d— Friends of the Earth International (@Friends of the Earth International) 1575995605
Protesters carried signs that read, "Protect Indigenous women, trans, girls, people" and "Protect Mother Earth." One unnamed demonstrator choked back tears while speaking to reporters about "women who have been sacrificed on the altar of the extractive industry" and explaining how the activists aim to bring visibility to the crisis with the protest Tuesday.
"We call on the global community and all peoples of the United States to join our call for action, to join our call for recognition, and to join our demands for the real action it will take to protect and respect Indigenous women," Ozawa Bineshi Albert, movement building coordinator with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), said in a statement.
"This is not a political issue that should be used to generate votes," she added. "It's a matter of life and death, of dignity, which is why all federal initiatives must include local Indigenous communities in positions of leadership that recognize and respect our sovereignty."
In June, the Canadian government's National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) released a report detailing the crisis. Late last month, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create the Operation Lady Justice Task Force, which is charged with reviewing unsolved cases and raising public awareness. However, both federal governments also have helped extractive industries continue to expand.
Addressing the connection between fossil fuel production and MMIWG, Albert told Sonali Kolhatkar that "if you think about what we're saying around eco-colonialism, it's the new generation of colonialism and the same sort of mindset that says the land can be exploited for our use, for profit, for exploitation--that that violence that happens on the earth, that same mindset creates the conditions that make it easy to see Indigenous women [as] lesser than or [as] resources to be consumed."
Albert stressed the need for significant improvements when it comes to law enforcement's response to the crisis and collecting data on those missing or killed. The Urban Indian Health Institute noted in a report (pdf) last year that according the National Crime Information Center, "in 2016, there were 5,712 reports of missing American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls, though the U.S. Department of Justice's federal missing persons database, NamUs, only logged 116 cases."
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