They Were Here First: Law Students Travel to the Amazon To Explore Indigenous Rights

Students in the Human Rights Study Project at the University of Virginia School of Law spent a week of their winter break in the Ecuadorian Amazon learning about the Indigenous rights movement.

The yearlong project, which began as a student-run organization before becoming a course for academic credit, offers participants a chance to research human rights in the field in a different country each year. The six students studied Ecuador and learned how Indigenous people engage in international activism, focusing on land rights, cultural preservation and environmental protection.

“The trip was a wonderful opportunity to learn how international legal systems interact with local ones,” second-year law student Caroline Fernandez said. “The more we learn about others, and their legal and cultural systems, the more we learn about ourselves and our own systems. This helps us become more informed lawyers.”

Group photo of UVA Law students with Vivian Idrovo

UVA Law students meet with professors at Universidad San Francisco de Quito and activist Vivian Idrovo, third from left. (Contributed photo)

Professor Camilo Sánchez, who directs the project and co-directs UVA Law’s Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program, said the visit provided students with insights about Indigenous rights advocacy and the protection and conservation of strategic natural resources, like those in the Amazon rainforest.

As part of the project, students learn about human rights research ethics and methodologies in the fall and delve into their selected topic of interest. Following the fieldwork abroad,  they will draft research papers this spring, concluding with a presentation to the Law School community.

According to Sánchez, Indigenous peoples’ global activism has led to notable achievements, such as the adoption of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007, and “influenced national policies and legal frameworks in various countries to promote the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in decision-making.”

A community of change makers. Where professional learners lead, Fairfax
A community of change makers. Where professional learners lead, Fairfax

To facilitate the fieldwork aspect of the course, the project collaborated with leaders of the Kichwa People of Sarayaku, who call the Ecuadorian Amazon home.

“The Sarayaku community has long been at the forefront of defending their lands and heritage,” Sánchez said. In 2012, they won a groundbreaking legal victory at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights against the Ecuadorian government, protecting their land from unauthorized oil exploration.

“Beyond legal battles, the Sarayaku continue their struggle to maintain autonomy amid the encroachment of extractive industries and the rapid acceleration of Amazon deforestation,” he said.

Group photo of UVA students with Camilo Sánchez and a Sarayaku community member in Ecuador

Students and professor Camilo Sánchez, right, gather with a Sarayaku community member, second from right. (Contributed photo)

The group’s first stop was the capital city of Quito, where they held meetings with academics and human rights defenders, learning how local advocates work to protect both human rights and the rights of nature.

The group then descended the slopes of the Andes to the city of Puyo for a day, hearing about local issues from Amazonian women in the Huaorani, Kichwa and Sapara Indigenous nations.

“Throughout the trip, there was a paradox of feeling both very surrounded by community and very far from the ‘Western civilization’ we know,” Fernandez said. “At periodic points, I would remember that I was in the middle of the jungle and, if left to my own devices, would not be able to make it back to Puyo.”

The next day, students traveled by truck and then motorized canoes in the Bobonaza River to reach Sarayaku. For the next four days, they lived alongside the Sarayaku community, “striving to ensure (our) presence was as unobtrusive as possible,” Sánchez said.

They participated in sacred “guayusa” tea ceremonies each morning beginning at 4 a.m., as well as various community activities such as a general assembly of the Sarayaku people, a work session on building a school and a collective fishing event.

Group photo of UVA students with local authorities of the Sarayaku People

The UVA group poses with local authorities in the Assembly House of the Sarayaku People. (Contributed photo)

“The Sarayaku people explained that the guayusa tea ceremonies are important for education since oral histories are told during that time and plans for ‘la lucha’ (in English, ‘the fight’) to protect their rights and community are discussed,” Ana Hallman, another second-year law student said. “I really appreciated having this time to learn more about the challenges they are facing, as well as the accomplishments they’ve won.”

One of the community’s most significant contributions to environmental protection is their Kawsak Sacha (meaning “living forest”) initiative, which aims to sustainably preserve and conserve territorial space, along with the material and spiritual relationships that native peoples establish with the forest and its inhabitants, Sánchez explained.

“It reflects their worldview – recognizing Kawsak Sacha as a conscious, living entity and a subject of rights. This concept prompted us to reflect quite a bit and is worth exploring further in the context of global activism against the climate crisis,” he said.

Media Contact

Josette Corazza

Communications Associate UVA School of Law