Video still from the “CANSEC is Global” promotional video for the CANSEC arms show in Ottawa. “We’ve had the Ecuadorean minister on our booth.”
Canal 8 Mar del Plata (in Argentina) reports that there will be a public presentation of the report “Attacks and criminalization against civil society in a context of militarization and extractivism in Ecuador” on September 10.
That article adds: “The mission presented in the report is made up of organisations such as CIVICUS, Front Line Defenders, Peace Brigades International, OMCT-FIDH and other international entities dedicated to the monitoring and protection of human rights defenders. The meeting in Quito will seek to discuss the consequences of the advance of security policies and exploitation of resources on social organizations, communities and human rights defenders in Ecuador.”
Deutsche Welle has previously reported that Peace Brigades International, Front Line Defenders, the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), Civicus, 11.11.11, and other international human rights organizations participated in an observation mission in Ecuador that took place from March 2-5, 2026.
DW highlights this excerpt of the statement (on March 6) from the mission: “The implementation of a security-type policy and the normalization of states of emergency and surveillance, as well as militarization, under the argument of facing a serious structural security crisis, is part of the deeply worrying panorama that we observe.”
Threats against human rights defenders
Global Witness has documented the murders of land and environmental defenders in Ecuador including Alberto Quiñónez, Didson De la Cruz and Alejandro Lapo Tandazo (in 2024), Eduardo Mendúa (in 2023), Alba Bermeo Puin (in 2022) and Andrés Durazno, Nange Yeti and Víctor Enrique Guaillas Gutama (in 2021).
Notably, CIVICUS has noted: “On 5th October 2024, EHRD [environmental human rights defender] Alejandro Lapo Tandazo was gunned down in Patria Nueva, Sucumbíos province, Ecuador. Lapo, who worked with the Scalabrinian Mission and belonged to the community platform opposing the operations of the Canadian company Gran Tierra Energy, had denounced the company’s non-compliance with agreements and defended environmental and community rights.”
Canada and Ecuador
CBC News has reported: “There are 15 Canadian mining companies operating in Ecuador, with some facing allegations of abuses and working in ecologically sensitive areas, according to Mining Watch Canada.”
And Aidan Gilchrist-Blackwood of the Canadian Network for Corporate Accountability commented in May 2026: “Canadian mining and oil companies in Ecuador are linked to serious human rights violations, including poisoning freshwater sources and trampling Indigenous rights.”
On July 24, 2026, Canada and Ecuador signed the Canada-Ecuador Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that will be implemented following domestic ratification processes.
That same month, MiningWatch Canada commented: “Canada and Ecuador have negotiated a free trade agreement that is fiercely opposed by Indigenous Peoples, trade justice advocates, water defenders and human rights and environmental justice organizations in Ecuador.”
Accompaniment
Peace Brigades International and the other groups in the observation mission pledged to “continue to accompany, monitor and raise awareness internationally about the situation of human rights and the rights of nature in Ecuador.”
We continue to follow this.
Additional reading
–After PBI-Colombia visits Ecuador with observation mission, human rights complaint filed at the UN against military helicopter attack on farmhouse (PBI-Canada, April 26, 2026)
–PBI expresses concern about the repression of human rights defenders in Ecuador, Canadian groups call for “Voices at Risk” to be implemented (PBI-Canada, March 11, 2026)
–Indigenous land defenders from Ecuador face the risk of reprisal after speaking against Canadian mining companies (PBI-Canada, October 4, 2024)
–Despite human rights violations against Indigenous peoples and journalists, CANSEC promotes participation of Ecuadorean military at arms show (PBI-Canada, May 28, 2023).
