The International Observation and Solidarity Mission, made up of seven international human rights organizations, presented a report Thursday denouncing the advance of repression, militarization and extractivism in Ecuador, along with an “accelerated deterioration” of the conditions for defending human rights under the right-wing government of Daniel Noboa.
The document, titled “Attacks and criminalization against civil society in a context of militarization and extractivism in Ecuador,” warns that since 2024, far from resolving the underlying security problem, recurring states of emergency, declarations of internal armed conflict and the expansion of the Armed Forces’ role in citizen security have alarmingly increased violent deaths and serious human rights violations in militarized areas.
It identifies patterns of violent repression against peaceful protests led by Indigenous movements, detailing the criminalization, stigmatization and persecutory use of administrative, financial and legal measures against human rights defenders and civil society organizations since 2025.
According to the report, Ecuador reached “alarming figures of 9,216 intentional homicides in 2025, equivalent to a rate of 50.91 per 100,000 inhabitants.” Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí and El Oro were among the hardest-hit provinces, even though several remained under states of emergency for more than 550 days.
The report also concluded that the expansion of extractivist activities has weakened guarantees of participation and communities’ right to decide freely and in an informed manner about their territories, in addition to affecting their ways of life.
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The research was conducted by FIDH, the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Front Line Defenders (FLD), CIVICUS, the international solidarity coalition 11.11.11, Peace Brigades International (PBI) and AJUFIDH. It summarizes an observation visit in March 2026 during which the organizations met with Indigenous and peasant communities in various parts of the country, human rights defenders and public authorities.
It further notes attacks on the Constitutional Court, questioning of judicial independence, delays in the administration of justice and compliance with rulings, as well as an insufficient response from the Ombudsman’s Office to the criminalization and blocking of defenders’ accounts.
“The current militaristic security approach, far from resolving the country’s problems, is generating new human rights violations. If urgent measures are not taken, Ecuador could move toward a situation in which fundamental freedoms and the rule of law are profoundly compromised,” said Natalia Yaya of FIDH, who added that the findings “are not isolated cases; they are worrying trends.”
Manabí contabiliza 21 masacres en lo que va de 2026. En la más reciente, una niña de apenas 12 años fue asesinada.
Que el llanto de su madre persiga a quienes hicieron de la violencia una rutina y a quienes, teniendo la obligación de detenerla, siguen permitiendo que la tragedia… https://t.co/VHzTiW8vnU
— Elena Rodríguez Yánez (@ElenaDeQuito) September 8, 2026
Soraya Gutiérrez, secretary general of FIDH, said during a press conference in Quito that Ecuador “is at a crossroads: either it strengthens the rule of law or it deepens the crisis.” She added that exceptional measures cannot become the new normal, that socio-environmental conflicts cannot be resolved through militarization, and that a security policy must address the multidimensional causes of violence and be subject to international law.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Marenco of CIVICUS said the violent repression of the 2025 strike, along with increased threats and attacks against journalists and administrative and financial sanctions against civil society organizations, has left “an increasingly hostile scenario for the exercise of civic freedoms.”
On that line, Álvaro Gómez del Valle, Americas advocacy officer at Front Line Defenders, said defending human rights and nature is not a crime, as Ecuador’s own Constitution recognizes, and called for the immediate cessation of criminalization, stigmatization and attacks against defenders. “The State has the obligation to protect those who defend the rights of their communities, not to persecute them,” he said.
Carla Mocoso of 11.11.11 said what is at stake is “who decides over territories, which ways of life are protected and who bears the social and environmental costs of conflicts, against certain views or categories of national interest, strategic security or strategic sectors.”
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