Nema Grefa Ushigua
HRD & Leader
Sapara Nation
Nema Grefa Ushigua is a woman human rights defender in the province of Napo in the Ecuatorian Amazon. As a leader from the Sapara Nation, she has lead the struggle against the negative impacts of extractive activities to their people and territory, particularly in relation to oil explotation in their ancestral lands.
Human rights defenders have been victims of a wide range of violations in Ecuador, such as police brutality, judicial harassment, arbitrary detentions, smear campaigns, threats, harassment and the oppression of indigenous and campesino communities. Recent incidents have shown that the situation for human rights defenders in Ecuador is precarious.
