Global Integrity Report

Ecuador Home

Facts

Timeline

Notebook

Integrity Scorecard

2007 Assessment

Ecuador: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Ecuador: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Rule of Law
Indicators		Score
74	Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?	67
75	In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?	50
76	In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?	50
77	Is the judiciary able to act independently?	81
78	Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?	100
79	Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?	71

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?

74a: In law, there is a general right of appeal.

Score:

YES

Comments: The Constitution consecrates the right to defense and therefore to appeal. This is decreed in an International Treaty ratified by Ecuador and, therefore, has supra-constitutional rank. The doctrine also indicates the inconvenience to have a single instance and therefore a single opinion.

References: Article 163 National Constitution of Ecuador

74b: In practice, appeals are resolved within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments: The time in which the common citizen can carry out the judicial process is far from the ideal. More than 40 percent of cases are not resolved. The principal barriers are: the obsolescence in the different stages in the judicial process and the congestion.

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

74c: In practice, citizens can use the appeals mechanism at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments: It is important to say that there are not judicial rates in cases of social sensibility like food and labor judgments.

One of the problems is related to the "Tasa de Amparo de Pobreza," this rate is too insignificant that even the indigent people cannot benefit.

In general terms the common citizen can access to judicial process.

Finally, there are costs of the judicial process, especially in mercantile and civil branches but they are in accordance with the value of the demand.

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

Peer Review Comments: A problem faced by middle-class citizens who wish to appeal criminal judgments is the long process that has to be followed. The recent case of the death of Paúl Guañuna, a teenager allegedly killed by police agents, has shown that without the support of a CSO, citizens acting on their own face great difficulties in filing such appeals. Appeals are definitely not affordable to those who live in poverty. Ecuador has an alarming level of poverty. Appeals involving criminal judgments against law enforcement officials are particularly complicated.

In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

75: In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

76: In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

Score:

100

Comments: In general terms, once the judge has made a decision it is executed.

The problem is the slowness of the Judicial System. Additionally the system has bad practices, thwarting the execution of a judges resolution.

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

Peer Review Comments: Many areas of law are systematically ignored by the State. One example is the mandate to issue a judgment within a specific period. The judicial system's lack of capacity to pass sentence has led to a national crisis in the prison system, which has reached alarming levels in recent months.

Is the judiciary able to act independently?

77a: In law, the independence of the judiciary is guaranteed.

Score:

YES

Comments: It is a branch of the state, with autonomy and independence recognized in the Law of the Judicial Function (Ley Orgánica de la Función Judicial).

References: National Constitution: Article 198-199.

77b: In practice, national-level judges are protected from political interference.

Score:

100

Comments: The Judicial System has increased its Independence especially on the internal level. On the external level it still is vulnerable. The Judicial System will be independent if the other actors let them act with independence. This can happen if the Judicial System is legitimized by the citizens.

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

Peer Review Comments: Judges are commonly influenced by political or economic interests. A possible source of information to clarify the frail independence of national level judges is the Esquel Foundation, an Ecuadorean SCO.

Peer Review Comments: Th Supreme Court was summarily fired two years ago. The newly appointed Court is expected to be likewise fired after the new constitution has taken effect.

77c: In law, there is a transparent and objective system for distributing cases to national-level judges.

Score:

YES

Comments: The Civil Procedure Code grants to the judges the competent jurisdiction so that it is clear the cases that are within its established jurisdiction.

Article 23 grants the absence of predisposition within Judicial Function toward random selection.

References: Article 23, Ley orgánica de la función judicial.

Código Civil

77d: In law, national-level judges are protected from removal without relevant justification.

Score:

YES

Comments: The judges cannot be removed without process, this right is established in the Law of the Judicial Function (Ley Orgánica de la Función Judicial).

The procedure of removal is outlined in the judicial law.

References: National Constitution: Article 23, No.27 and Article 24, No.13

Article 71, Regulation of Judicial Race

Peer Review Comments: This is the case only in law, not in reality.

Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?

78a: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been physically harmed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

Comments: There are no reported cases.

References: No reported cases.

Peer Review Comments: Blanca Cando, an assistant to a judge investigating a case involving the drug trade, was killed in December 2006.

78b: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been killed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

$Scoring Criteria :: YES: A YES score is earned if there were no documented cases of judges being killed related to their involvement in a corruption case during the study period. YES is a positive score. NO: A NO score is earned if there were any documented cases where a judge was killed because of his/her participation in a corruption trial. The relationship between a mysterious death and a judge\'s involvement in a case may not be clear, however the burden of proof here is low. If it is a reasonable assumption that a judge was killed in relation to his or her work on corruption issues, then the indicator is scored as a NO. Corruption is defined broadly to include any abuses of power, not just the passing of bribes.$

Comments: There are no reported cases.

References: No reported cases.

Peer Review Comments: Blanca Cando, an assistant of a judge investigating a case involving the drug trade, was killed in December 2006.

Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?

79a: In practice, judicial decisions are not affected by racial or ethnic bias.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

Peer Review Comments: Afro-Ecuadoreans and indigenous people are frequently affected by racial and ethnic bias that permeates all Ecuadoean society. A possible source of information is the Ecumenical Committee of Human Rights (CEDHU, Comité Ecuménico de Derechos Humanos).

79b: In practice, women have full access to the judicial system.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

79c: In law, the state provides legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

YES

Comments: The state gives the right to a defense in cases in which citizens with judicial problems do not have resources to pay for it.

The citizens with judicial problem can use this option, because the government grants a public defense.

Ecuador has recognized several International Treaties too.

References: National Constitution: Article 24, No.5; Article 163, International Treaties recognizes a supra legal character

Article 55 No. 2 literal c) Statute of Rome of the Penal Court International

79d: In practice, the state provides adequate legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

100

Comments: In practice, there is not legal counsel for people who cannot afford the cost. Ecuador has only 32 Public Defenders , it is should have at least 3,000 public defenders.

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

79e: In practice, citizens earning the median yearly income can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments: In general terms the judicial charges are adequate.

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

79f: In practice, a typical small retail business can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia) USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006

79g: In practice, all citizens have access to a court of law, regardless of geographic location.

Score:

100

Comments: Ecuador has a problem in geographical access to justice.

For example, Ecuador has only six judges per 100.000 person, compared to the average of 14 judges per 100.000 people in Latin America.

At the sub-national levels (provincial) the situation could be dramatic, some judges could have a lot of cases, but others could have only a few cases.

There are citizens (depending where they are located) could take hours or days to arrive to a Justices Tribunal.

References: Interview with Dr.Gustavo Jalk (Projusticia)

USAID, Auditoría de la Democracia, Ecuador 2006