Equitable Origin and the Coordinadora de las Organizaciones Indígenas de la Cuenca Amazónica (COICA) will be launching the E-learning course «The right to consultation and free, prior and informed consent» that will be offered through COICA’s continuing education platform.
The COICA virtual school was inaugurated in 2020 to strengthen Indigenous capacities for the defense of their territories, strengthening territorial self-governance and the benefit of the communities. “Lively Amazon, safe humanity” is the slogan of the strategy to strengthen Indigenous institutions.
Starting June 28, 2021, participants’ applications will be accepted. The course is scheduled to start on July 29, 2021, and will run until September 30, 2021.
A total of 21 leaders will be participating, representing the Confederación de Nacionalidades de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana (CONFENIAE), Asociacion Interetnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP), and in Mexico, the Consejo Regional Indigena y popular (CRIPX), and the Red Indígena de Turismos de México (RITA).
The course has been developed under the framework of the»Resource Hub to Strengthen Indigenous Rights» project (CEFO Indígena) implemented by Equitable Origin, COICA, RITA, and CRIPX.
Course Objectives
The course seeks to strengthen the knowledge of Indigenous participants so that they can guide their communities and organizations in consultation and consent processes on issues that affect their lives and territories. The course also aims to strengthen the defense of their rights, pointing out the national and international mechanisms available to file complaints of violations committed against them.
What topics will be discussed?
Module 1:
Instruments of the international system that establish the right to FPIC.
Module 2:
The right to free, prior, and informed consultation and consent.
Module 3:
National legal instruments that recognize the right to prior, free, prior, and informed consultation and consent in Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador.
Module 4:
Protection mechanisms in Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador: reports of violations.
Module 5:
International protection mechanisms.
Course Leads and Instructors:
Tabea Casique Coronado, Director of Education, Science, and Technology at COICA, will lead the course. It will also include the participation of other leading experts on Indigenous issues, detailed below:
- Alexis Tiouka – Specialist in Human Rights and Rights of Indigenous Peoples, represented the Indigenous Peoples of French Guiana during the negotiation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Raúl Lunasco 
Miguel Barboza
- Lía López Martínez – Specialist in the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with an emphasis on sustainable community development and biocultural relations. She has facilitated processes for the construction of Biocultural Community Protocols in Mexico.
- Rodrigo de la Cruz – Specialist in Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Traditional Knowledge has held important positions with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, among others.
- Yajaira Curipallo – Legal expert and delegate of the Ombudsman’s Office in Pastaza, Ecuador. She has worked in various processes for the defense of human rights and is part of various groups at the local and national level, for example, the Foundation for Human Rights and Nature’s “Equality in Diversity”.
- Martín Vásquez Flores- Lawyer specialized in environmental law, forest and wildlife law, human rights, and rights of Indigenous Peoples. He has led community development projects and participated in free, prior, and informed consultation processes.
- Lenín Sarzosa Santos – Trial Lawyer, strategic constitutional litigation, and in criminal matters defense of cases of criminalization of social leaders, and Human Rights defenders. Political legal collaborator of CONAIE, CONFENIAE and MICC.
- Max Silva Sánchez – Lawyer specialized in the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, works as AIDESEP’s legal specialist with an emphasis on community forest management issues and prior consultation processes.
- Elisa Cruz Rueda – Lawyer and university professor specialized in Indigenous Rights. She is part of the legal team that litigates the first Amparo filed against the Mayan Train, as a CRIPX plaintiff.
- Rubén Pinto Vargas – Specialist in the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and legal pluralism. He is a legal advisor to CIDOB and other indigenous organizations; in the request for precautionary measures and the presentation of petitions before the IACHR.
- Raúl Lunasco – Lawyer by profession, graduated in 2009 from the National University of Ucayali and graduated from the University of Huanuco; with specialization in the New Criminal Procedure Code (NCPP), and Oral Litigation, by Universidad Cesar Vallejo. He continued his work in the defense of Indigenous Peoples. He has experience working in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Belize, the United States, and Spain. In recent years he has been an advisor to the Aidespe Ucayali Regional Organization (ORAU), and the Inter-ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Jungle (AIDESEP).
- Miguel Barboza – Miguel has an LL.M in International Human Rights Law from Notre Dame University. He currently works for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation under the Rule of Law Program Latin America and is responsible for the area of Indigenous People and Business and Human Rights. Miguel is currently based in Colombia but has ample work experience in human rights work in Latin America.