Reframing Indigenous Rights: The Right to Consultation and the Rights of Nature and Future Generations in the Sarayaku Legal Mobilization

in G. de Burca, ed. Legal Mobilization for Human Rights (Oxford Univ. Press), Forthcoming

NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 22-20

17 Pages Posted: 11 Apr 2022 Last revised: 1 Jun 2022

See all articles by César Rodríguez-Garavito

César Rodríguez-Garavito

New York University School of Law

Carlos Andrés Baquero-Díaz

New York University (NYU), School of Law

Date Written: May 4, 2021

Abstract

This chapter analyses the 30-year struggle of the Sarayaku Indigenous people against oil extraction in their territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon as a largely successful and iconic instance of transnational legal mobilization. We argue that a key factor underlying the evolution and impact of the campaign is the success of the Sarayaku coalition in contesting the narrow definition of the right to free, prior and informed consultation (FPIC) advanced by governments, corporations, and most inter-governmental agencies. We posit that the most impactful tactics of the Sarayaku people and other actors in the campaign can be construed as “framing” work. The Sarayaku’s framing tactics included (1) reframing the legal dispute in terms of the rights of Indigenous peoples to self-determination and the rights of nature, (2) communicating such frames in ways that resonate not only with courts but also with a broad global audience of environmentally conscious supporters, and (3) creating a bridge between the Indigenous rights frame and the emerging frame of global action against climate change.

Keywords: Indigenous rights, FPIC, Sarayaku people, transnational legal mobilization

Suggested Citation

Rodríguez-Garavito, César and Baquero-Díaz, Carlos, Reframing Indigenous Rights: The Right to Consultation and the Rights of Nature and Future Generations in the Sarayaku Legal Mobilization (May 4, 2021). in G. de Burca, ed. Legal Mobilization for Human Rights (Oxford Univ. Press), Forthcoming , NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 22-20, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4049329

César Rodríguez-Garavito (Contact Author)

New York University School of Law ( email )

40 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012-1099
United States

HOME PAGE: http://rb.gy/cs7y2i

Carlos Baquero-Díaz

New York University (NYU), School of Law ( email )

New York, NY
United States

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