The International Secretariat of Amnesty International publishes its own website, with country specific news and campaigns. Do check out the Ecuador page.
Significant Events from Newsletters 2025
April 2025
Amnesty has condemned a decision by Ecuador’s Constitutional Court to dismiss an extraordinary action for protection brought by the “Guerreras por la Amazonia” (Warriors for the Amazon). This group of activists, supported by others, won a court ruling in 2021 that ordered the elimination of gas flares in the Ecuadorian Amazon and reparation measures for violation of their rights to health and a healthy environment.
March 2025
Amnesty has issued a new Urgent Action calling on the Attorney General to undertake a search for 23 men whose whereabouts remain unknown following military operations carried out during 2024 and to investigate these events as possible cases of enforced disappearances.
January 2025
Amnesty has published an article about how the numerous collectives, social movements and communities in the city of Guayaquil and along the country’s coast of Ecuador have stepped up their activism in the face of the hostile environment created by the authorities in response to increased violence arising from confrontation between organised criminal groups. The government’s measures have led to allegations of human rights violations, including detentions with little transparency and without due process, stigmatisation and attacks against human rights defenders.
Amnesty’s 2023 report on Ecuador (published April 2024)
Amnesty’s 2023 report on Ecuador highlights the expansion of the powers of the armed forces as they were deployed in public security tasks. It also notes the increase in violence in the lead-up to the general elections; continued failure to punish human rights violations; the continued violation of Indigenous Peoples’ rights; the persistence of gas flaring during oil extraction; the failure to protect human rights defenders; poverty and inequality affecting much of the population; and the continued prevalence of gender-based violence.
Significant Events from Newsletters 2024
November 2024
On the eve of President Daniel Noboa’s first year in office and ahead of the UN Human Rights Committee’s review of Ecuador in Geneva, Amnesty issued a briefing setting out its concerns about the decline in human rights protections under the current administration. In the face of rising violence, the President has opted for a hardline approach to security policies, labelling drug-trafficking organizations as “terrorists”, declaring an “internal armed conflict” and continuously renewing states of emergency, as part of the so-called “Plan Fenix.”
September 2024
In a new report, “The Amazon is burning, the future is burning!” Young activists defending the Ecuadorian Amazon from gas flares that threaten rights now and in the future, Amnesty has revealed how the Ecuadorian state is failing in its duty to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by allowing the operation of gas flares in the Amazon. Despite a 2021 court ruling ordering the elimination of gas flaring, the Ecuadorian state continues to allow this harmful practice by the fossil fuel industry. Moreover, flaring is directly linked to global warming and the emission of super pollutants such as methane, thus threatening the enjoyment and guarantee of human rights now and in the future. Please sign the petition here.
August 2024
Human Rights Watch have released a new report calling on the Ecuadorian Government to accelerate measures to end sexual violence in schools. According to the report, measures to respond to sexual violence in schools have not progressed at the scale and pace needed to ensure that all children are safe. Despite commitments and measures by government institutions, sexual violence remains endemic in Ecuador’s schools and finding justice is often elusive for survivors.
July 2024
Amnesty has submitted a briefing to the UN Committee against Torture setting out its main concerns with regard to the current crisis within Ecuador’s prisons. The briefing states that, despite important recommendations made by the Committee in its previous review, the situation in Ecuador’s prisons is as concerning as ever, with few structural improvements and a sustained crisis of deaths in custody as well as multiple reports of torture and other ill treatment of persons deprived of liberty.
June 2024
Two months after the 14-year-old climate activist Leonela Moncayo and her family suffered an explosion outside their home, the authorities have not effectively investigated what happened and are conditioning her protection and that of the other eight girls and their families on stopping their activism. Amnesty is demanding that the Ecuadorian authorities effectively investigate what happened and protect Leonela, the other eight girls and their families without these conditions. The deadline for Urgent Action has been extended to 31 July.
May 2024
Amnesty has reported that detainees in at least five of the major prisons in Ecuador are at imminent risk of facing hunger and health issues, as prison authorities have halted the provision of food and medication since 24 April. It is calling on the National Service for Integral Attention of People Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) to restore access to food and medication immediately and to guarantee the rights to health, food, and physical integrity of all detainees in Ecuador. There is an Urgent Action here.