Patricia Gualinga

Patricia Gualinga is a human rights and land rights defender from the Kichwa people of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Throughout her life, Patricia has dedicated herself to protecting her community from human rights violations caused primarily by oil exploration and militarization.

In 2012, she was a witness before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a landmark case filed in 2002 about the impacts of oil exploitation on her community, which concluded with the court ruling in favor of the Sarayaku people. In 2019, she received the Brote Activismo Medioambiental Award in Spain, in October 2021 the ALNOBA Courage and Leadership Award in the USA, December 2021 Al moumin Human Rights Award and recently the Olof Palme Human Rights Award 2022 for her leadership in the struggle to improve indigenous living conditions. She currently supports and leads the Mujeres Amazónicas collective dedicated to the protection of the environment, indigenous peoples, women’s rights and land rights.