Ecuador: Government Defies Court-Ordered Oil Ban

(Quito) – Ecuador is failing to comply with key provisions of an Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling to protect the Tagaeri and Taromenane Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights Watch said today. The groups live in voluntary isolation near oil facilities inside Yasuní National Park.  
On March 14, 2025, the court ordered Ecuador to take measures to protect the Indigenous groups, including by immediately stopping oil operations in an area of Yasuní National Park called Block 43. Ecuador’s government was already obliged to stop oil production in Block 43 based on a 2023 national referendum. Despite a court-ordered deadline of March 2026 to improve protective measures and monitoring, the government has produced few results.