CERD/C/106/D/61/2017 Place and date of the ceremony: Lagunas de Kimsakocha during the full moon (Junda Killa) of 21 August of the Western year 2013. This certificate is also signed by Rosa Inés Guartambel Guinansaca who, in her capacity as grandmother and godmother to the minor children, … undertakes to lend her utmost support to ensure the children have the best comprehensive upbringing, inspired by the Allí Sumak Kawsay, in cooperation with and complement to the children’s father, in accordance with the law of the original peoples. This certificate is issued by the good community government on the basis of articles 1, 10, 11, 56, 57, 68 and 171 of the Constitution, articles 1–3, 5 and 8 of ILO Convention No. 169, articles 1–5, 9, 11, 33 and 34 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, articles 343 and 344 of the Organic Code of the Judiciary and the law of the ancient peoples. We proceed to the registration of this certificate of ancestral marriage in the Escaleras community register … and to its transmission to the Federación de Organizaciones Indígenas y Campesinas del Azuay and the Confederación de Pueblos de la Nacionalidad Kichwa del Ecuador.14 4.9 The Committee also notes that the ancestral marriage registers of both the Federación de Organizaciones Indígenas y Campesinas del Azuay and the Confederación de Pueblos de la Nacionalidad Kichwa del Ecuador certify in similar terms the ancestral marriage of the petitioner to Ms. Lavinas Picq, officiated by the Kichwa Kañari indigenous authorities of the Escaleras indigenous community. 4.10 The Committee notes that the traditional authorities of the Escaleras ancestral community who drew up the marriage certificate in accordance with their ancient customs verified the identity of the spouses, their age, their prior civil status, their address, the voluntary nature of their union and the date and place of the marriage – all in the presence of two witnesses. 4.11 The Committee also notes that the State party did not recognize the petitioner’s marriage because it was not officiated by State authorities established pursuant to the Civil Code and the Organic Act on Identity and Civil Data Management. It further notes that the State party requests the petitioner to hold another wedding before civil registry officials. The Committee is of the view that the above could contribute to jeopardizing cultural practices, which are a part of cultural heritage. In the present case, the State party’s refusal to recognize the petitioner’s marriage has meant that the petitioner was not able to enjoy a civil right that is associated with marriage, namely, the issuance a family reunification visa, thus undermining his right to respect of his family life. 4.12 The Committee recalls article XVII (1) of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which establishes that States must recognize, respect and protect the various indigenous forms of matrimonial union. It also recalls that, under articles 57 and 171 of the Constitution, indigenous peoples exercise judicial functions and their own forms of government based on their ancestral traditions and their distinct or customary laws. The Committee further recalls that, in accordance with the State party’s Organic Code of the Judiciary, rights must be interpreted from an intercultural perspective, taking into account cultural elements related to the customs, ancestral practices and norms or procedures of the distinct law of indigenous peoples (para 4.4). Accordingly, the Committee is of the view that, far from depriving the State party of its jurisdiction over civil law, the registration and recognition of the legal effects of marriages officiated by traditional indigenous authorities in keeping with their ancient customs actually serve to create the necessary cooperation and coordination that should be at the heart of the relationship between the ordinary system and the indigenous system – a system emanating not only from the constitutional framework that promotes interculturality and plurinationality, but also from the right of indigenous peoples to autonomy and self-government (para 4.6).15 14 15 GE.22-11683 Escaleras ancestral community, ancestral marriage register, Victoria del Portete parish, Tarqui, 21 August 2013. The Committee points out, by means of comparison, that traditional marriages officiated by the ancestral authorities of indigenous peoples are recognized in the laws of other countries, including Australia, Canada and Papua New Guinea. 9