IACHR takes to Inter-American Court case concerning Ecuador about the failure to investigate the disappearance and murder of a trade union leader

December 29, 2025

Washington, DC—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed an application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on September 27, 2025, in Case 12,802, with regard to Ecuador. The case concerns the disappearance and subsequent murder of Saúl Filormo Cañar Pauta, a trade union leader, and the State of Ecuador’s failure to investigate those events with due diligence.

The petition that was submitted to the IACHR in April 2003 concerns Cañar, who had faced threats and harassment based on his work as a trade union leader and was abducted by armed men in November 1998 following a meeting with authorities at the Ministry of Social Welfare. He was reported missing, and his body was found days later in the Cunuyacu River.

Initial investigations were marked by serious irregularities, insufficient action, and delays and contradictions in police reports, while the victim’s clothing was only handed over to the judicial police 45 days after his body was found. Almost nine years after the start of proceedings, a domestic court closed the case without having identified or punished the people responsible for Cañar’s death.

In Merits Report 142/21, the IACHR found that the State of Ecuador had failed to comply with its obligation to investigate these events with due diligence, both initially and in later stages of these proceedings. The investigation failed to exhaust the relevant lines of inquiry, including the possibility that officers of the State or members of paramilitary or other armed organizations might have been involved in Cañar’s killing due to his work as a trade union leader. Further, the drawn-out proceedings and the fact that delays were never adequately justified enabled impunity, as well as causing additional suffering and having an added psychological impact on his family.

The IACHR therefore concluded that the State of Ecuador was liable for violations of Cañar’s rights to life, personal integrity, personal liberty, freedom of association, judicial guarantees, and judicial protection held in Articles 4.1, 5.1, 7.1, 16, 8.1, and 25.1 of the American Convention on Human Rights, concerning the obligations held in Article 1.1 of that instrument. The IACHR further concluded that the State of Ecuador was liable for violations of the rights to judicial guarantees and judicial protection with regard to Cañar’s family.

The IACHR asked the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to demand that the State take the following redress measures:

1. Provide comprehensive reparations for human rights violations, including financial and other compensation for material and immaterial damage
2.  Immediately take any measures necessary to ensure that Cañar’s family has access to comprehensive healthcare, in keeping with the applicable international standards
3. Conduct an impartial, thorough, and swift judicial investigation that exhausts all relevant lines of inquiry, as well as punishing the perpetrators and masterminds for any wrongdoing
4. Take measures of non-recurrence, including immediate response protocols for disappearances and measures to increase the capacity to investigate deaths of human rights defenders and trade union leaders, as well as providing training for various authorities about inter-American standards

The IACHR is an autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS) whose mandate is based on the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. Its mission is to promote and defend human rights throughout the Americas and to serve as an advisory body to the OAS in this area. The IACHR consists of seven independent members elected by the OAS General Assembly who serve in a personal capacity and do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 285/25

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