In Ecuador, a country grappling with debt and austerity, grassroots movements are leading the fight for justice. At the forefront of this struggle is the Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES), an organization defending the material living conditions necessary for the realization of human rights.
In this edition of Key Voices, we speak with one of CESR’s long-term partners, Eva Martínez-Acosta, lawyer and Economic Justice and Gender Program Coordinator at CDES. From landmark legal victories against modern slavery to advocating for Indigenous rights in global economic forums, CDES is proving that organized communities can challenge unjust systems and drive systemic change.
In Ecuador’s Amazon, women are leading efforts to reclaim economic and political power. Despite facing systemic discrimination, environmental destruction, and economic precarity, Indigenous and rural women are organizing to build alternatives rooted in community resilience. CDES, originally a CESR sister organization, branched off in 1997 to become an independent organization with local staff and an international board. Since then, it has played a crucial role in defending economic and social rights, combining legal advocacy, research, and grassroots organizing.
“We work primarily on economic and environmental justice with marginalized communities,” Eva explains.
CDES has collaborated with CESR and other international partners to analyze the impact of IMF-imposed austerity measures. As part of a submission to the UN’s Independent Expert on Foreign Debt, the organization has helped document how debt and structural adjustments have exacerbated inequality across Ecuador, Tunisia, and South Africa.
One of CDES’ key initiatives is supporting Amazonian women through community economy and political advocacy programs. Across three provinces—Pastaza, Napo, and Sucumbíos—the organization has established schools for economic empowerment, where over 150 women have strengthened their leadership and collective organizing skills over the past four years.
Another groundbreaking effort has been CDES’ role in the Furukawa case, where Ecuador’s Constitutional Court ruled in favor of victims of modern slavery.
“This ruling was a milestone, not only for the workers but also for Ecuador and Latin America. It is one of the few cases in which a Constitutional Court has recognized modern slavery, due to the country’s extreme vulnerability and structural racism,” says Eva.
Beyond legal battles, CDES has also been at the forefront of challenging Ecuador’s unsustainable debt policies, particularly in cases where debt restructuring has prioritized foreign interests over local needs. A recent example is the Galápagos debt-for-nature swap, where CDES played a crucial role in ensuring that local communities had a say in how conservation funds were managed.
“Ecuador spends so much on debt repayment that it is failing to invest in public policies,” Eva warns.
Authoritarianism, economic crisis, and the role of Indigenous movements
Eva describes how the government of Daniel Noboa has used states of emergency, military interventions, and mass detentions to consolidate power and suppress dissent.
Meanwhile, organized crime has taken hold of key economic sectors. “Drug trafficking now represents between 3% and 6% of Ecuador’s GDP,” she explains.
Despite this grim context, Indigenous movements have emerged as a crucial force for change. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE) has led large-scale mobilizations advocating for financial sovereignty, tax justice, and a just ecological transition.
CDES has worked closely with CONAIE, supporting their advocacy in national and international spaces, including the COP29 climate conference and the Pan-Amazonian Social Forum.
Debt and austerity: direct attacks on human rights
For Eva, the deepening social and economic crisis in Ecuador cannot be separated from the country’s growing debt burden and the austerity policies imposed by international lenders.
“Ecuador is one of the most indebted countries in Latin America. To pay off these debts, the government is slashing investments in public services—education, healthcare, and even security,” she explains.
As CDES works to expose the human costs of these policies, it has drawn on participatory research methods to ensure that affected communities are at the center of the fight for economic justice. “One of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned from CESR is how to use participatory research methods in our activism,” says Eva. “We’ve applied the OPERA Framework in our work with Indigenous movements, making economic justice more accessible and actionable at the community level.” OPERA is the framework that guides our Decoding Injustice research approach. By integrating evidence, policy analysis, and rights-based advocacy, Decoding Injustice helps uncover how economic policies fuel inequality—and how they can be transformed to uphold human rights.
Hope in collective resistance
Despite the mounting challenges, Eva finds hope in the strength of the communities she works with. “Amazonian women are organizing their own community-based economic initiatives, constantly training themselves while also seeking national and international markets for their businesses. They are some of the strongest people I have ever met,” she says.
The impact of these efforts is clear. Recently, women from CDES’s training schools gained access to a capacity-building program on public procurement and credit access mechanisms with the UN International Trade Centre, following an advocacy process with the government.
As Eva explains, “When our initial project with them ended, they told us they would miss the workshops—the spaces where they could share, learn, and focus on something beyond their daily struggles. Their determination keeps me motivated to find more funding and create new opportunities with them.”
Looking ahead
CDES continues to work on key initiatives, including the Jubilee Campaign for Debt Cancellation, the United Nations Framework Convention on Tax Cooperation, and supporting communities in demanding accountability for public debt agreements.
“We need structural change. Ecuador cannot keep going down this path,” Eva states.
At CESR, we are proud to stand alongside organizations like CDES, working to amplify Global South movements and push for economic systems that prioritize people over profits. As Eva reminds us, “what happens in global economic policy has a direct impact on local communities. Ensuring that these communities have a voice in these spaces is more urgent than ever.”