This group of 15 Amazonian activists, known as “Guerreras por la Amazonía” (“Warriors for the Amazon“), hails from the northern Amazon region of Ecuador. Ranging in age from 10 to 20, six of them are from Indigenous nationalities, including Siekopai, Siona, Kofan, Shuar, Waorani, and Kichwa. These young women and girls are united in their determination to combat the devastating effects of gas flares, which plague their communities daily with toxic emissions, overpowering smells, incessant noise and blinding flames. Their stories illustrate a profound commitment to protecting both their environment and their communities from the hazards posed by these harmful practices, as well as their commitment to climate justice.
In 2020, nine Amazonian girls and adolescent activists called “Guerreras por la Amazonía” (GxA), together with the organisation Unión de Afectados por Texaco” (UDAPT) and the collective ‘Eliminen los Mecheros, Enciendan la Vida’ (Eliminate the Gas Flares, Ignite Life), filed a protective action against the annual state authorisation that allows the operation of gas flares, used for oil extraction, in the northeastern Ecuadorian provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana. This practice emits several gases that have negative effects on the environment like air pollution and harm to biodiversity and people’s health, as well as contributing enormously to climate change, mainly due to the emission of the greenhouse gas methane. Several health studies were conducted in the region finding an alarming number of cancer cases. The studies found that families living closer to the flares or oil structures had higher rates of cancer.
Amnesty International has been able to verify that at least 52 gas flares are within 5 km of population centres, a distance that is potentially harmful to local communities and the environment.
The nine original members of the GxAs won a landmark ruling on 29 July 2021, ordering the elimination of all gas flares from the Ecuadorian Amazon because of the violations associated with them to the right to health and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and reparations to the communities. In 2024, six additional girls representing six Indigenous nationalities from the Ecuadorian Amazon (siekopai, siona, waorani, cofan, kiwcha and shuar), joined the nine plaintiffs as supporters of the actions to enforce compliance with the ruling.
Despite the ruling and constant activism from the GxA, UDAPT, the collective “Eliminen los Mecheros, Enciendan la Vida”, as well as different “fenceline” communities (communities who live near industrial infrastructure producing or transforming fossil fuels and directly experience the adverse impacts of pollution and environmental degradation emanating from extractive projects), the Ecuadorian state continues to allow the operations of the fossil fuel industry within this fragile ecosystem, which is essential for climate mitigation as a carbon sink.
In addition, some of the young women have been stigmatised by the former Minister of Energy and Mines of Ecuador and one of them, Leonela Moncayo, alongside her family, has faced violent intimidation and silencing. It is presumed that they are being targeted for their activism. Instead of investigating the serious allegations of intimidation or protecting the girls and their families, the Ecuadorian authorities declared they will only provide protection on the condition that they stop all their activism.
In general, the situation in which the GxA live represents a serious human rights crisis. As recognized by the court ruling of July 2021, continued operation of gas flares violates the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and infringes upon the right to health. Furthermore, targeting young environmental defenders and conditioning their protection on the cessation of their campaigning violates their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and freedom of association. It also undermines the right to defend human rights and the right to non-discrimination.
Gas Flaring and the Climate Crisis
The routine burning of gas in flares during oil extraction is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In theory, properly functioning flares burn so-called “natural” gas and transform it into various intermediate gases and eventually most of them are converted into carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. However, certain amounts of other gases, such as methane, but also carbon monoxide, hydrogen and hydrocarbons, escape as emissions. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that the world’s gas flares generate approximately 500 million tons CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) annually, equivalent to the emissions of an entire nation like the United Kingdom.
Methane emitted by gas flares is a GHG that has a warming potential up to 84 times greater than CO2 and is responsible for 30% of the increase in temperatures since the Industrial Revolution. For this reason, it is referred to by environmental organizations and even some states as a super climate pollutant. It is imperative to reduce methane emissions rapidly and sustainably to limit global heating in the short term.
Although there are multiple technological solutions and measures for the elimination of flares, many companies and oil-producing States refuse to eliminate this practice and generally maintain flaring operations in historically marginalised areas, creating pollution hotspots, also called “sacrifice” zones. Some pollutants emitted by gas flares are associated with cases of respiratory diseases, eye irritations, premature births, as well as increased risk of cancer. In addition, routine gas flaring causes serious damage to the environment and biodiversity in the surrounding areas. For example, due to gas flaring, millions of nocturnal insects die every day through incineration, attracted by the infrared wavelength produced by the light from the gas flares, causing imbalances in the food chain for thousands of animals. This practice also affects the bird populations and aquatic animals.
The Ecuadorian Amazon, due to the devastating consequences of environmental pollution resulting from the oil industry, coupled with the deep social inequality of the region, can be considered a “sacrifice zone”. Despite 52 years of oil extraction history, the provinces that make up the Ecuadorian Amazon region, where oil extraction is concentrated, have the highest national rates of income poverty, the lowest rate of adequate employment, as well as other alarming figures of chronic malnutrition of infants, illiteracy, environmental pollution or gender–based violence. The people living in the Ecuadorian Amazon, as well as the biodiversity of its ecosystems, have suffered the worst consequences of oil extraction in Ecuador.
Lawsuit
Seeing the serious problem that gas flaring represents for human rights and climate change in Ecuador, in 2020, “Guerreras por la Amazonía” (GxA), together with UDAPT filed a lawsuit against the operation of gas flares in the Amazonian provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana. In July 2021, the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbíos ruled that the Ecuadorian State had ignored the plaintiffs’ right to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, disregarded their right to health, and failed to comply with its international obligations related to climate change mitigation.
The Court ordered full reparation of the damage, ordering: i) the gradual and progressive elimination of the gas flares, with priority being given to the removal of those located near populated areas; ii) the development of studies on the health impact of the gas flares and the establishment of hospital care centres specialised in oncology; and iii) the necessary technological adaptation for the companies to dispense with the gas flares, considering that there are technological alternatives for the use of residual gas.
Despite the ruling, the Ecuadorian State continues to neglect the urgent elimination of gas flares. In January 2024, Amnesty International visited the same communities visited by an inter-institutional commission of delegates from the Ministries responsible for the implementation of the sentence (in the province of Orellana) and found that the gas flares continue to operate. According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Ecuador, the number of gas flares has increased from 457 in 2002 to 486 in June 2023. The World Bank, moreover, places Ecuador among the 30 countries with the highest gas flaring, between 2018 and 2022. Finally, according to estimates by the International Energy Agency, from 2012 to 2022, the volumes of gas flared in Ecuador increased by around 60%. Amnesty International has been able to verify that at least 52 gas flares are within 5km of population centres, a distance that is potentially harmful to local communities and the environment.
Instead of implementing the provisions of the judgment and complying with its commitments to eliminate routine gas flaring established in its plan for climate action, the Ecuadorian State and its institutions regarding the oil industry have so far only generated actions that benefit the maintenance of oil production at any cost, avoiding implementing concrete and ambitious actions for the elimination of gas flaring, as well as transitioning to a decarbonized economy.
Human Rights Defenders and Intimidation Tactics
On 21 February 2024, four of the Guerreras (Leonela Moncayo, Denisse Nuñez, Jamileth Jurado and Kerly Herrera) attended a session in the National Assembly’s Biodiversity Commission to audit the government’s compliance with the ruling. Former Minister of Energy and Mines, Andrea Arrobo, claimed the government had “eliminated 2 flares”, implying that they had complied with the ruling. She dismissed the significance of the ongoing problem, underestimating the scale of the issue, and insinuated that the young activists were being “manipulated”. In response, the four GxAs took the microphone and refuted the minister’s claims, citing reports from the Ombudsman’s Office showing that the number of gas flares had increased. Leonela Moncayo, moved to tears, told the minister and parliamentarians that the government’s response was “a pittance, a mockery.”
Just five days later, on 26 February, an explosion from an improvised explosive device made of quadua cane, paper and a tube made of carion occurred outside Leonela’s home (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr28/7775/2024/en/), with concerns that the attack was in retaliation for her activism and the group’s appearance at the National Assembly. The local prosecution has been tasked with investigating the attack, but there is no progress in the investigation. Authorities have also offered protection to the young activists, but under the condition that they cease speaking out on the issue (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr28/8024/2024/en/ ), an offer that contravenes international human rights obligations.
The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders makes it clear that states have the primary responsibility to “protect, promote and implement all human rights and fundamental freedoms”. This necessarily implies ensuring “the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights” related to the defence of human rights. States have the obligation to ensure that human rights defenders have a safe and enabling environment in which to carry out their work. The same language is used in the Escazú Agreement about the rights of environmental defenders.
26 July 2025