Amnesty International on Aug. 20 called on [8] Ecuadorian authorities to drop all legal and financial penalties against activists behind the 2023 Yasuní Referendum [9], warning that the looming fines are part of a broader crackdown on civic space and dissent in the country.
The Yasuní Referendum was a national ballot initiative to bar oil drilling within Yasuní National Park, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The park is said to be one of the most biologically diverse places on earth, and home to a number of uncontacted indigenous tribes—as well as an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil.
Commenting on the importance of defending environmental activists from state retaliation, Ana Piquer, Amnesty International's Americas director, stated:
Three years ago, millions of people made history by voting to protect Yasuní. Today, those who dedicated years of their lives to securing the park's protection are facing fines of $18,000. This is clear harassment of civil society.
The fate of Yasuní National Park has been hanging in the balance for nearly 20 years. In 2007, Ecuador launched the Yasuní-ITT Initiative [13], an appeal to the international community for $3.6 billion in return for barring oil extraction within the reserve. The effort failed, and in 2016 oil drilling began.
However, following a campaign by indigenous communities and civil society organizations, most crucially the coalition YASunidos [14], the Yasuní Referendum was held, resulting in an overwhelming majority of citizens voting to end oil extraction in the reserve within a year. This result was celebrated across the world and hailed as one of Latin America's most important victories in the fight against climate change.
But the victory has proved an empty one. Since the vote, oil drilling has continued uninterrupted [10], and in 2025 Ecuadorian election authorities launched proceedings [15] against YASunidos over the financing of their campaign and a 39-cent discrepancy in their finance records. A total of $18,000 in fines has been levied against the organization. YASunidos has challenged the fines [16] before Ecuador's Constitutional Court.
Amnesty International is pressing President Daniel Noboa to restore full legal protections for NGOs and respect the mandate of the Referendum, calling it a non-negotiable test of democratic integrity [11].
From JURIST [17], Aug. 13. Used with permission.
