Centro Lianas
Para leer sobre Lianas en español, visite nuestra contraparte en Ecuador.

Donate Securely

Partnership with ECUARUNARI

Las Lianas collaborates with ECUARUNARI, the Organization of Kichwa Peoples of Ecuador, providing technical and legal assistance for several of that organization's initiatives:

1) Establish a 10-year strategic plan for ECUARUNARI.

2) Develop responses to government proposals, and counter-proposals, for laws with implications for indigenous rights.

3) Explore the concept of a plurinational state through the compilation and publication of essays and interviews with Ecuadorian and international thinkers, both indigenous and non-indigenous; draft a position paper on the subject.

A Plurinational State

Indigenous leaders participating in the Constitutional Assembly

Article 1 of Ecuador's constitution, approved by popular vote in 2008, establishes Ecuador as a "plurinational state." Indigenous peoples in Ecuador are advocating for government action to make this true in practice, while also taking steps on their own to exercise the rights and responsibilities this designation brings them.

Las Lianas provides legal assistance to indigenous groups working to strengthen their autonomy through the exercise of their constitutionally recognized collective rights. Expanding on our efforts to help our partners win title to ancestral lands and to gain formal recognition of indigenous legal systems, we are now supporting an ongoing collective process of defining and creating the plurinational state through new initiatives for indigenous self-governance and proposals for bringing national policies affecting indigenous nationalities into accord with the new constitution. This is an evolving program guided by the specific needs and grass roots decision making of each of the indigenous nationalities and organizations that we partner with. Las Lianas provides legal and organizational support for these efforts.