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28/11/2019: This action is now closed, thank you to everyone who took action. The actions, along with over 100,000 from around the world were handed over to the Attorney General in Ecuador. Amnesty will continue to monitor the case. 

Margoth Escobar’s home was set on fire and destroyed in the fourth attack on Indigenous women in the Ecuadorian Amazon this year. Tell the Ecuadorian authorities to investigate this attack and protect Margoth and her family from further attacks.

Margoth is a member of the Amazon Women collective: a group of mostly Indigenous women who defend the the Ecuadorian Amazon. But on 29 September, Margoth’s home was intentionally set on fire, and despite evidence that the blaze was deliberate, no perpetrators have been identified or held to account.

This isn’t the first attack on the Amazon Women’s collective this year. Salomé Aranda has spoken out about the environmental impacts and  sexual abuse cases related to oil exploration in the Villano river basin. Her home was attacked by several people throwing rocks on 13 May 2018, and to date, there is no information about any investigation into the attackers.

Other members of the Amazon Women collective have also been targeted, being threatened at their homes, having rocks thrown at them, and receiving multiple death threats that the authorities have failed to investigate.

These  women are risking their own safety to protect their lands, livelihoods, and the precious biodiversity of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Call on authorities to investigate the attack on Margoth Escobar’s home, keep Margoth and her family safe from further attacks, and recognise the important work of environmental defenders in Ecuador.

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  Our Petition

 

Attorney General Diana Salazar

Dear Attorney General, 

Throughout 2018, Amnesty International has registered a series of attacks against human rights defenders Patricia Gualinga, Nema Grefa, Salomé Aranda and Margoth Escobar, all members of the Amazonian Women collective, in Ecuador.  The Attorney General’s Office has failed to effectively investigate these crimes and grant protection measures for the women. This has forced them to risk their lives and that of their families in order to continue their important work. As Attorney General of Ecuador, the power and responsibility to end this situation are in your hands.

For these reasons, we call you to:

  • Advance the investigations of the attacks and threats against Patricia Gualinga, Nema Grefa, Salome Aranda and Margoth Escobar promptly, exhaustively, independently and impartially.
  • Advance the investigations of the attacks and threats against Patricia Gualinga, Nema Grefa, Salome Aranda and Margoth Escobar promptly, exhaustively, independently and impartially.
  • Investigate the possibility that those attacks could have targeted them for their human rights work, identify everyone suspected of material or intellectual criminal responsibility, and bring them to justice.
  • Design and implement an Investigation Protocol for Crimes against Human Rights Defenders, in order to strengthen the coordination between mechanisms and authorities in charge of criminal investigation.

Yours sincerely,

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