A/HRC/41/35/Add.1 65. It is important to note that Executive Decree No. 16 of 2013 (later amended by Executive Decree No. 739 of 2015), which established the regulations for the unified information system for social organizations, resulted in the dissolution of Fundación Pachamama, in 2013, and of the national teachers union, in 2016. The organization Fundamedios was subjected to two attempts to dissolve it, and Acción Ecológica to one. The Special Rapporteurs recognize that there was a progressive and substantial turnaround in this situation with the arrival of the current President, and that in October 2017, through Executive Decree No. 193, President Moreno repealed Executive Decrees 16 and 739. Nevertheless, the Special Rapporteurs note that this decree still poses several problems and that civil society organizations have reported that it remains a cause for concern, especially with regard to defining when the Government can dissolve an organization. In particular, they stated that it maintained a wide margin of discretion by providing that departure from the aims and objectives for which an organization was established, and reducing the number of members to less than the minimum established, are grounds for an organization’s dissolution. I. Social protest and demonstrations 66. The Special Rapporteurs were informed that numerous cases involving the criminalization of human rights activists were reported during the tenure of the previous Government in the context of social protests and demonstrations, relating both to the content of their criticism of the Government and the forms of protest they used. According to the Office of the Ombudsperson, between 2007 and 2017, 841 people were subjected to criminal action in relation to 98 documented protests. Of those cases, 90 per cent were initiated by the State. 67. The Special Rapporteurs observe that in spite of the marked decrease in the number of cases of criminalization of social protest since 2017, excessive use of force by the security forces against demonstrators has been reported in specific cases. For instance, the Special Rapporteurs received reports of police repression against Alianza País activists sympathetic to former President Correa, and assaults on demonstrators during a sit-in outside the Judicial Unit of Cuenca where a hearing was being held to seek protection against extractive activity in indigenous territory. 68. Civil society organizations additionally reported that, until the entry into force of the current Criminal Code in 2014, several criminal offences whose statutory definitions were drafted in a manner inconsistent with the principle of strict legality had been used to criminalize social protest. These included the crimes of illegally obstructing roadways, sabotage, advocating crime, terrorism, promotion of unauthorized parades or public demonstrations, conspiracy against the security of the State, and offences against public officials, among other crimes. It is of concern to the Special Rapporteurs that, while certain offences that contributed to greater criminalization were eliminated in the new Criminal Code, new, equally open-ended punitive provisions have been incorporated to include crimes such as conspiracy, attack or resistance, incitement to public discord, and the blocking of public services, which have allowed for the continued repression of social protest. 69. Finally, the Special Rapporteurs were informed about the request for a new proposal to provide amnesty for the activists who had been criminally prosecuted for mobilizing, protesting or resisting during the tenure of the previous Government. The activists acknowledged that President Moreno had granted seven pardons, but noted that the National Assembly seemed unable to make progress in granting amnesties to all those affected. According to reports, some 177 individuals had reportedly been subjected to criminal prosecution in those contexts. This information was reported by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador through a request made in June 2018 to the Office of the Ombudsperson and the Public Defender Service to pursue the amnesty processes in the legislature. The Special Rapporteurs note that, in response to this request, a technical committee was set up to process applications for amnesty. They also note that, in order to expedite the granting of such applications, regulations for the admission and processing of applications for amnesties submitted to the National Assembly in cases of the 14