Indigenous peoples in Ecuador 

The indigenous population in Ecuador accounts for approximately 1.1 million people. Ecuador voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 and has ratified ILO Convention 169. However, the indigenous population does not have full guarantees of civil, political, cultural, and territorial rights, and are still facing a number of serious challenges, and there aren't any specific public policies in place to prevent and neutralise the risk of disappearance of Ecuador’s indigenous peoples.

Indigenous peoples in Ecuador 

The indigenous population of Ecuador represent around 1.1 million out of a total country population of 16,464,448 inhabitants. There are 14 indigenous nationalities living in the country, grouped into local, regional, and national organisations.

24.1% of the indigenous population live in the Amazon, divided into 10 nationalities. Of the Andean Kichwa population, 7.3% live in the Southern Mountains and 8.3% in the Coastal region and on the Galapagos Islands. The majority of indigenous people, that is 60.3%, live in the six provinces of the Central-North Mountains. Of these, 87.5% still live in rural areas and 21.5% in the urban sector.

The Shuar, who form a nationality of more than 100,000 people, have a strong presence in three provinces of the Amazonian Centre-South, where they account for between 8%and 79% of the total population. The rest are spread in small groups across the country.

There are different nationalities with very little populations that are in a highly vulnerable situation. In the Amazon, the A’i Cofán with 1,485 inhabitants, the Shiwiar with 1,198 inhabitants, the Siekopai with 689 inhabitants, the Siona with 611 inhabitants, and the Sapara with 559 inhabitants. On the coast, we can find the Épera with 546 inhabitants and the Manta with 311 inhabitants.

Main challenges for Ecuador’s indigenous peoples

The public policies ensuring automatic or full guarantees of indigenous rights in Ecuador, particularly civil and political, cultural and territorial, generally have not improved.

A key problem for the Waorani peoples revolves around the state’s persistent promotion of the exploitation of oil on their territory known as the Waorani Reserve and the Yasuní National Park. There is also an aggressive presence of large-scale mining on the Shuar territory.

Potential progress for indigenous peoples in Ecuador

A presidential call for a referendum to be held in February 2018 wants to ensure the support of the indigenous movement and environmental groups by including questions on banning extractive activities, for example, metal mining in ecologically fragile areas, and on limiting oil exploitation in Block 43 of the Yasun. National Park.