An amparo action also may be lodged against individuals when their conduct seriously and directly harms a community or collective interest or a general right [derecho difuso].20 60. Based on the information received by the Commission, the purpose of the domestic remedy filed by the affected parties was to prevent, impede, and put an end to activities or actions that, beginning in November 2002, were taking place in the ancestral territory of the Sarayaku community and, according to the petitioners, in contravention of international and domestic norms regarding the rights of indigenous peoples. 61. For its part, the remedies identified by the State, which in its opinion should have been exhausted by the petitioners, emanated from the oil concession contract signed in 1996, in other words, six years before the events that led to the action of amparo. 62. The Commission observes that the suitable remedy in Ecuadorian law applicable in this specific case is the remedy of amparo. The foregoing is based on the beginning of the events or actions that, according to the petitioners, affected the fundamental rights of the Kichwa indigenous people of the Sarayaku community and its members. 63. As stated earlier, the remedy of amparo is intended to put an end to, prevent the commission of, or immediately rectify the consequences of an illegal act or omission by a public authority, whether acting directly or through others in representation or by concession, that is violating or could violate any right enshrined in the Constitution or in an international treaty or covenant in force and threatens to cause imminent serious harm. 64. Based on Ecuadorian constitutional law, the remedy of amparo may be directed against individuals when their conduct seriously or directly harms a community or collective interest or a general right [derecho difuso]. In the case at hand, the remedy of amparo is based on Ecuadorian constitutional law and was filed against the CGC oil company, which by virtue of holding a concession contract, was acting in representation of the State. 65. Having established that the remedy of amparo was the adequate remedy to rectify the situation denounced, it is necessary to analyze the petitioner’s claim that they satisfied the requirement of exhaustion of domestic remedies. Article 46(2)(a) of the Convention establishes that this requirement shall not be applicable when: a. the domestic legislation of the state concerned does not afford due process of law for the protection of the right or rights that have allegedly been violated; b. the party alleging the violation of his rights has been denied access to the remedies under domestic law or has been prevented from exhausting them; or c. there has been an unwarranted delay in rendering a final judgment under the aforementioned remedies. 20 Article 95 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, paragraph 3. In this regard, Dr. Berenice Pólit Montes de Oca, assistant to the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court, in her article on “The Passive Legitimization of the Action of Amparo and the Protection of General and Collective Rights” states that under Article 95 of the Political Constitution of the Republic, the amparo remedy is admissible when companies, private organizations and even individuals affect or harm any of the collective rights contained in Articles 83 to 92 of the Constitution, and adds: “We also speak of passive legitimization when we refer to individuals acting in representation of or by concession of a public authority who commit the illegal act, when their actions are extensions of attributes that have been conceded or delegated and when they have failed to adhere to the lawful procedures and lack the proper motivation and basis.” Later she says, “When private entities (companies) abuse the rights of communities of indigenous peoples, blacks or afro-Ecuadorians, we are facing a violation of collective rights recognized in the Political Charter, (Art. 83 such as the right to identity, to inalienable ownership of community lands, the use, usufruct, and conservation of their lands, etc.; these rights also are enshrined in ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries which, in accordance with Art. 163 of the Constitution, are part of our Ecuadorian Law.” See: derechoecuador.com 12