From denouncing modern slavery in Ecuador to being recognized in Europe for its struggle

Ecuadorian activist Segundo Ordoñez.Vanessa Bósquez Salas

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"Furukawa has always been locking us up and exploiting us because we don't know how to do anything but work in the fields, we are peasants. And, as farmers, it's always been a struggle to move forward with our whole community." With these words, Segundo Ordóñez received the annual award of the NGO Front Line Defenders for human rights activists at risk, this Friday in Dublin (Ireland). Furukawa Plantaciones C.A., the Japanese company targeted by this 57-year-old Ecuadorian farmer, is one of the largest abaca-growing multinationals in the world and the only firm that has faced a trial for modern slavery in the country. Both the firm, based on Ecuador's Pacific coast, and the state have ongoing litigation. This award recognizes the trajectory of activists around the world who, in their struggle, risk their integrity.

The Japanese company arrived in the Latin American country six decades ago to dedicate itself to the cultivation of a plantation similar to that of bananas, from which paper money is manufactured and exported to the United States and Europe. Furukawa, with a net worth of around 18 million dollars, was sued in 2019 by 106 workers who denounced inhumane treatment. "Inside you could see everything: we were paid below the minimum wage, we kept up to 15 hours straight and, if someone was injured, nobody answered for one," this activist explained to America Futura in February. Today, from Dublin, Ireland, he smiles with the statuette in his right hand: "My community and I are very happy."

Segundo Ordoñez holds the statuette of the Front Line Defenders.Courtesy

The smile quickly fades when he thinks about "what's coming": "I'm worried about what may happen from now on. I just want these trials not to go unpunished, because we already have rights. We already know our rights. We have been in this fight for five years." Patricia Carrión, a lawyer from the Ecumenical Commission on Human Rights who accompanies him, believes that this can be a good opportunity to publicize "the violation of rights that happen in Ecuador, in companies, in the countryside, in agribusiness ...". And he adds, minutes after receiving the award: "It is a deep wake-up call to the State; has an obligation to ensure redress and justice."

The winners of the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk 2023, receiving their award in Dublin at @EPICMuseumCHQ:

Olivier Bahemuke Ndoole (DRC)@Hala_Deeb (Jordan)Digital Security Lab Ukraine
Jeany Rose Hayahay (Philippines)Segundo Ordóñez (Ecuador)

pic.twitter.com/wVB8M4iosp

— Front Line Defenders (@FrontLineHRD) May 26, 2023

Front Line Defenders has been awarding these awards since 2005 to honour the work of those who make an "outstanding and courageous" contribution to the defence and protection of human rights. Often, taking a very high risk. "This morning we celebrate five inspiring human rights defenders from around the world," Olive Moore, director of the organization, shared on her networks on Friday. "These activists are our best chance to resist, counter and address the enormous challenges we face globally." Moore also congratulated the other four awardees: Olivier Bahemuke Ndoole (Democratic Republic of Congo), Jeany 'Rose' Hayahay (Philippines), Digital Security Lab Ukraine and Hala Ahed (Jordan).

"We had no choice"

Ordóñez arrived at the plantations to stay with only 11 years. His mother had died three years earlier and was the youngest of 11 siblings with hardly any resources to eat. Let alone to go to school. "I gave him hours and hours every day, to earn 40 sucres [38 dollars a fortnight]," he said. "There are people who were paid less and, because they could neither read nor write, others were paid with a market." Leaving the plantations was also not an option. According to what a dozen plaintiffs narrated, the company locked the carriage door with a padlock from Monday to Monday. "We were there because we had no other choice," he said then.

One of the rooms in which Furukawa employees live in detention, in Tsachilas (Ecuador), on February 16, 2023.Ana Maria Buitron

The decision to sue a company on which much of the Afro-descendant community depended in Esmeraldas and Santo Domingo was not easy. The first stone was laid by the Ombudsman's Office when it detailed in 2019 "subhuman" housing conditions, child and adolescent labor and absolute absence of labor rights from a census of 1,244 people, carried out by the former Secretariat of Policy Management. Based on the report, the Prosecutor's Office investigates the company and representatives, whom it recently called to criminal trial. In this litigation, there are 106 people who joined the accusation against the company, among which was Ordóñez. The farmer said his "heart was pounding with joy" when he received the news that his lawsuit would be taken to trial. Today he has a similar feeling. Uncertainty also remains: "I hope they don't forget us. Hopefully they will do justice after so much."