Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies
From Jim Oldham
Director, Secoya Survival Project
<jboNS@hampshire.edu>

Thu, 18 Nov 1999

Dear Friends,

I write to share with you an important success in the struggle of the
Secoya Indigenous Organization of Ecuador (OISE) to defend their rights and
their territory as oil development encroaches on both. On the 29th of
October, in Quito Ecuador, leaders of OISE and top officers of Occidental
Exploration and Production Company (OEPC, subsidiary of Occidental
Petroleum Corporation, AKA OXY) signed a code of conduct that establishes
"principles, procedures, requirements, responsibilities, and obligations
with which OISE and OEPC must comply" during their "dialogue related to oil
activities of OEPC in territory of the Secoya Nation…" It is a document
dedicated to ensuring recognition of the Secoya's constitutional rights and
establishing for them a more equal relationship with the powerful
multinational oil company.

Much of Secoya territory lies within Block 15, an oil exploration
concession OEPC has contracted with the Ecuadorian government to develop.
Since 1995, OEPC has been intermittently active in Secoya territory, doing
seismic and topographic studies in various parts of the territory. To gain
Secoya permission to carry out these activities they have had a series of
negotiated agreements with OISE, but these negotiations and agreements have
been marked by misunderstandings, contradictions, and lack of Secoya access
to information or to independent advisors. This history culminated a year
ago in OISE's discovery and denunciation of a secret agreement between OEPC
and residents of one Secoya village allowing exploratory drilling in Secoya
territory. The rejection of this agreement by the
majority of the Secoya, and the renunciation of the agreement by the
minority who had signed, under pressure and without access to advisors or
information, led to annulment of the agreement. Since then, OISE has
worked--with support from the Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary
Studies, the Center for Economic and Social Rights, and other allies--to
establish a set of rules to govern their dialogue with OEPC.

OEPC's initial reaction was to argue that a code of conduct was
unnecessary but OISE's position that without a code their could be no
dialogue--no discussion of any proposed oil activities in Secoya
territory--forced them to modify this stance. After four months of
difficult negotiations over the wording of the code, it was finally
signed--in Spanish and Pai Coca, the language of the Secoya nation--at a
ceremony in Quito attended by 90 Secoya, several Ecuadorian Government
Ministers and sub-secretaries, international observers, and most of OEPC's
Quito based employees.

The Secoya fought for, and signed, the Code of Conduct with OEPC in order
to ensure:

1) an honest and transparent dialogue.

2) recognition and application of the Secoya Nation's right to
information, participation, consultation, and self-determination regarding
activities in their territory.

3) recognition of the Secoya Indigenous Organization of Ecuador--the
democratically elected governing organization of the Secoya Nation--as the
only Secoya representative in the dialogue with OEPC.

4) access to information about the possible environmental, social, and
cultural impacts of oil activities proposed for Secoya territory.

5) their right to choose, freely and without restrictions, the consultants
and advisors that they need to understand and respond to the proposals of
OEPC.

6) their right to make decisions according to Secoya norms and traditions,
without pressures of time or any other sort.

7) the principle that OEPC is responsible to provide all necessary
financing for full, informed OISE participation in the dialogue yet that
there be no implied or intended influence on or commitment by OISE as a
result of this financing.

The winning of the code has been a long and difficult process and it
represents only the beginning of a new phase in the dialogue between OISE
and OEPC. The oil company remains adamant that they are obliged by their
contract with the Ecuadorian government to drill three exploratory wells in
Secoya territory by the end of the year 2000. They hope to negotiate an
agreement permitting this work with OISE by March 31, 2000, at the latest.
Given this pressure, it will be at least as difficult for OISE to defend
the rights defined in the code as it was to win their recognition. We hope
that public knowledge, in the US and Ecuador, of the code along with
interest in the continuing process of the dialogue, will help ensure the
protection of Secoya rights as they consider decisions that could
permanently change their lives, their land, and their culture.

(Full copies of the code of Conduct between OISE and OEPC are available
electronically from ISIS in English as well as the two official languages.)

Jim Oldham
Director, Secoya Survival Project
Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies
893 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
USA
413-559-5692
Fax: 413-559-5404
email: joldham@hampshire.edu