YASunidos emergency relief: Protecting Ecuador’s rainforest is not a crime

Who are YASunidos?

Founded in 2013, this citizens’ initiative aims to protect the Amazon rainforest in Yasuní National Park – one of the most biodiverse places on Earth – and keep the oil beneath it, in the ITT concession block, in the ground forever. Yasuní is also home to Indigenous peoples, including groups living in voluntary isolation.

YASunidos faces institutional persecution and criminalization by the government, like dozens of other organizations and individuals.

Ecuador: Stop criminalizing environmental defenders!

In Ecuador, those who oppose mining risk frozen accounts, blocked livelihoods, and punishment without proof.

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Members of the initiative were targeted with a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) for exercising their right to participate in public decision-making and for defending public interests such as rainforest protection and human rights. This is despite the fact that Ecuador’s constitution is the first in the world to enshrine the rights of nature. 

The Ecuadorian government had already tried to block YASunidos’ work in the past. Opposing oil drilling in Yasuní National Park, YASunidos collected 756,000 signatures for a public referendum so that the Ecuadorian people could decide.

The government blocked the referendum for ten years, claiming that many of the signatures were invalid. It was not until 2023 that YASunidos succeeded in forcing it through the Constitutional Court.

The result was overwhelming: a large majority of the country’s citizens voted to protect the rainforest and halt oil extraction in Yasuní.

This decision is unlike any other in the world, with significance for the whole planet. Yet the government refuses to carry out the will of the people and end oil drilling in Yasuní. That is why YASunidos continues to apply public pressure – and is now facing a new attack.

The conviction is linked to YASunidos’ public campaign for the referendum and its successful outcome. In YASunidos’ view, the ruling does not reflect due process; it is a disproportionate and absurd criminalization of civic participation. The court is applying rules intended for the illegal financing of political parties and for money laundering. 

After the case against YASunidos was dismissed at first instance, the Electoral Litigation Court (Tribunal Contencioso Electoral - TCE) imposed fines totaling USD 18,000 on two YASunidos members at second instance on April 7, 2026. Their alleged offense was an omission that violated electoral law.

The court’s ruling relies on absurd arguments:

• 39 cents were allegedly recorded incorrectly.
• A missing bank statement showing a zero balance, which the bank does not issue for an account closed long ago.
• A notarized copy of a USD 100 donation is said to be missing, even though the law does not require one.

YASunidos is not a political party, but a group of volunteers – a citizens’ initiative that launched the first national referendum in Ecuador’s history to protect nature. The material costs of its campaigns are financed through donations, including from Rainforest Rescue.

YASunidos wants to challenge the ruling before Ecuador’s Constitutional Court and needs donations to do so.

We must not allow action to protect the environment to be criminalized!

Every contribution, large or small, helps protect democracy and nature in Ecuador.

Further information (in Spanish):

Teleamazonas, April 8, 2026. Política - TCE sanciona a Yasunidos con multa de USD 18 000, colectivo acudirá a la Corte