Amnesty International Report 1999 - Ecuador

ECUADOR

Torture and ill-treatment by members of the security forces continued to be reported. At least one person was shot dead in circumstances suggesting an extrajudicial execution. Although the authorities accepted full responsibility for two prominent cases in which three victims were tortured, "disappeared" and killed in the 1980s, the vast majority of human rights cases documented in previous years remained unresolved.

In August Jamil Mahuad Witt took office as President. In his inaugural speech he promised to respect human rights. The promise followed Congress' adoption in March of a National Plan for Human Rights. Clashes in November between the security forces and demonstrators protesting at the new government's economic measures left two civilians dead.

A new Constitution which came into effect in August asserted, as a "fundamental principle", that one of the "primary responsibilities of the State is to ensure that human rights are applied". Ecuador's new Constitution includes a number of human rights guarantees, including the right to life and personal integrity. It prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. It also states that those responsible for crimes of genocide, torture, enforced disappearance, abduction or homicide may not benefit from an amnesty or be pardoned and that international treaties, including those designed to protect human rights, once approved by the National Congress and published in the Official Gazette, are deemed to be part of domestic law. The death penalty remained abolished.

In July, following its examination of Ecuador's fourth periodic report, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about the human rights situation in the country, including delays in bringing imprisoned criminal suspects to trial. In a move designed to resolve this particular issue, the new Constitution made provision for judges to order the immediate release of all prisoners who had not been convicted and who had been detained for more than a year, without prejudicing the continuation of criminal proceedings against them. By the end of the year, of at least 2,100 prisoners reportedly entitled to the provision, some 600 had been released.

In October, following examination of Ecuador's initial report, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern about disparities between international provision for the protection of children's rights and domestic practices, including the failure by the authorities to only deprive children of their liberty "as a measure of last resort".

In April Ecuador ratified the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty.

Reports of torture and ill-treatment by members of the security forces continued. In January a young indigenous girl alleged that she had been raped by several marines at a riverside naval base in Puerto de Francisco de Orellana, Napo province. Despite threats to her life if she reported the matter, the girl informed the local police. However, the marines refused to cooperate with the police investigation. By the end of the year those responsible had apparently not been brought to justice. In late November, Saúl Filormo Cañar Pauta, a prominent trade union leader, was abducted in Quito, the capital, by eight men travelling in vehicles of a type reportedly used by the military. His body, bearing injuries consistent with his having been tortured, was found in December on a rubbish dump near the town of Latacunga.

In September the Constitutional Court issued a ruling which effectively meant that the case involving the death in police custody of Aníbal Aguas in 1997 should remain under the jurisdiction of a police court (see Amnesty International Report 1998). By the end of the year, a judge attached to the police court had yet to consider a prosecutor's recommendation that the case be closed.

At least one person was shot dead in circumstances suggesting an extrajudicial execution. In June, four policemen in Buena Fe, Milagro, El Oro province, entered a brothel and, according to witnesses, arrested Leonardo Pita García, took him to a nearby spot and shot him dead. The commander of District iv of the National Police acknowledged that Leonardo Pita had been shot by a policeman, and an officer implicated in the killing was detained. The case was referred to the jurisdiction of a police rather than an independent court.

The authorities accepted full responsibility for two prominent cases of gross human rights violations in the 1980s. In June Ecuador recognized before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that its agents were responsible for the "arrest, illegal detention, torture and murder" of Consuelo Benavides in December 1985 (see previous Amnesty International Reports). Ecuador awarded compensation to her parents and agreed to take the necessary measures to bring all those responsible for Consuelo Benavides' death to justice. Also in June, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights noted Ecuador's "recognition of its international responsibility" for the fate of Consuelo Benavides and asked the government to continue investigations with a view to bringing those responsible to justice.

In May the government admitted responsibility for the "disappearance", torture and killing, in January 1988, of the brothers Carlos Santiago and Pedro Andrés Restrepo (see Amnesty International Reports 1992 to 1996). The government awarded compensation to the family and agreed to take measures to locate the brothers' remains and bring all those responsible to justice.

Scores of other human rights cases documented in previous years remained unresolved. These included allegations about the "disappearance" of five men and the extrajudicial execution of a further six in 1997 (see Amnesty International Report 1998), and of hundreds of cases of torture, "disappearance", and extrajudicial executions brought to the attention of two human rights commissions, established in 1996 by the executive and legislature respectively, which failed to publish their findings (see Amnesty International Reports 1997 and 1998).

In February the organization published Amnesty International's concerns in Ecuador. The report addressed concerns about the torture and ill-treatment of detainees and prisoners in the custody of the National Police, the military and the prison authorities; deaths resulting from the use of firearms by the security forces; "disappearances"; and the practice of institutionalized impunity. The organization concluded that the protection of human rights in Ecuador was in need of an urgent and thorough review and recommended that the authorities bring legislative, administrative, and judicial measures into line with international and regional human rights standards.

In May Amnesty International wrote to the Minister of Government and Police requesting that the necessary steps be taken to ensure those members of the security forces accused of human rights violations, including the death in police custody of Aníbal Aguas, be investigated and brought to justice before the ordinary courts. In December the organization recommended that the authorities conduct a full and independent investigation into the death of trade union leader Saúl Cañar Pauta.