On Friday, April 24, the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin – COICA – and Amnesty International held a virtual workshop for journalists and media workers on the human rights situation of indigenous peoples in the Amazon region in the context of COVID-19 with the following participants:
• José Gregorio Díaz Mirabal, pueblo Wakuenai Kurripaco – Venezuela / COICA General Coordinator
• Tuntiak Katan, pueblo Shuar – Ecuador / COICA Vice Coordinator.
• Tabea Casique Coronado, pueblo Asheninka – Perú / COICA Education Coordinator.
• Erika Guevara Rosas – Director for t the Americas, Amnesty International.
Topics for discussion will include: the particular risks faced by indigenous peoples in the Amazon and their specific needs in the face of the pandemic; challenges in accessing remote communities to information, health services and social assistance programs; and the continuation of incursions by private and extractivist actors in the territories of indigenous peoples, despite the quarantines, which carry risks of contagion and violations of their rights.