UN Special Rapporteur gives press statement following mission to Ecuador

Today, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions completed his 10 day fact-finding mission to Ecuador. He investigated hired killings, killings by police, insecurity and killings at the Colombia-Ecuador border by armed actors, lynchings, indigenous justice, social cleansing, and impunity for killings. Among the preliminary recommendations the Special Rapporteur made was the adoption of a national strategy to combat hired killings, the establishment of an independent police oversight entity and expansion of the witness protection program to address the high level of impunity for killings, and governmental follow-up on the work of Ecuador's Truth Commission.


Press release - Spanish and English included.



SPANISH

COMUNICADO DE PRENSA

El relator independiente de la ONU considera “asombrosamente altas las tasas de impunidad por muertes en el Ecuador”

Quito, 15 de Julio de 2010

El grado de impunidad por muertes en Ecuador es asombrosamente alto, según el Relator Especial de la ONU para las ejecuciones extrajudiciales. “El número de asesinatos cometidos por sicarios, pandillas de delincuentes y otros actores está aumentando constantemente, y sin embargo, atrapan a un número de responsables cada vez menor”, dijo el experto, el profesor Philip Alston.  “Por cuenta de este círculo vicioso de impunidad, los ecuatorianos sienten que hay cada vez más inseguridad”.

“A un sicario pueden pagarle desde tan solo $20 para ‘resolver’ un problema, y como el sistema de justicia penal funciona tan mal, éste se sale tranquilamente con la suya después de cometer un asesinato,” dijo Alston. “Se trata de unos servicios de policía que muy rara vez emprenden investigaciones serias y continuadas de las muertes ocurridas, unos servicios de fiscalía que parecen más preocupados por las relaciones públicas que por sentenciar a los grandes delincuentes, y un sistema judicial al que prácticamente todo el mundo condena por su ineficiencia y sus malos manejos. Estos problemas se complican aun más con alegaciones de corrupción prácticamente a todo nivel”.

Alston dio sus conclusiones preliminares respecto de una misión de investigación al Ecuador, realizada por invitación del gobierno. Él encomió al gobierno del Presidente Rafael Correa por sus reformas de largo alcance en el ámbito constitucional y en materia de derechos humanos. No obstante, señaló que la tasa de homicidios en Ecuador se ha duplicado desde 1990, a 20 muertos por cada 100,000 habitantes. En algunas áreas esta tasa es cinco veces más alta.

Alston también expresó preocupación por la situación de la zona de la frontera norte con Colombia. “El conflicto en Colombia está pasando cada vez más hacia el Ecuador y los civiles quedan atrapados entre las FARC, los ex paramilitares, los narcotraficantes, y las fuerzas armadas del Ecuador y de Colombia”, dijo.  “Los ciudadanos se ven forzados a cooperar con un grupo armado, y luego viene otro grupo rival, que abusa de ellos y los mata. El ejército ecuatoriano no está bien equipado para hacer frente a la situación, y como sus relaciones con la ciudadanía se han deteriorado, su dependencia de tácticas abusivas para la obtención de información es cada vez mayor”.

“El nivel de impunidad por todo tipo de muertes en el Ecuador es espeluznante. Por cada 100 muertes, se condena apenas a un perpetrador. Además de las falencias del proceso investigativo de la policía, parece que a menudo, si han llegado a la conclusión de que la muerte fue producto de un ‘ajuste de cuentas’, definida como  violencia entre pandillas u otro tipo de violencia criminal, ni siquiera se molestan en iniciar una investigación seria” dijo. “Parecería que esta categoría se hubiera diseñado más que todo para justificar el que la policía no se moleste en investigar una gran proporción de las muertes ocurridas, y se justifican ante el público diciendo que los involucrados eran unos simples sinvergüenzas. Con frecuencia se trata de un razonamiento erróneo, pero la peor parte es que deja a los asesinos en libertad para volver a matar, e impide la captura de grupos criminales organizados. Asimismo proporciona un encubrimiento fácil para policías que estén directamente involucrados en alguna muerte”.

A ojos de Alston, el informe que publicó recientemente la Comisión de la Verdad del Ecuador es un paso importante hacia la rendición de cuentas en conexión con muchas muertes del pasado. Él hizo un llamado al gobierno para que se asegure de que los casos documentados por la Comisión se sometan a investigaciones penales eficaces y para que los familiares de las víctimas reciban las formas adecuadas de compensación.

También señaló que no tenía constancia alguna de que la justicia indígena hubiera tenido como consecuencia ejecuciones extrajudiciales, y recalcó que es completamente improcedente confundir los linchamientos por parte de multitudes con la justicia indígena. 

*   *   *

El texto completo de la declaración del Relator Especial se encuentra en el sitio www.ohchr.org. Su informe final sobre el Ecuador se publicará este año. Para obtener más información por favor contactar a Philip Alston en la dirección sarah.knuckey@nyu.edu.

El Profesor Alston fue nombrado Relator Especial sobre ejecuciones extrajudiciales en 2004 e informa al Consejo de Derechos Humanos de Naciones Unidas y a la Asamblea General. El profesor Alston tiene amplia experiencia en el campo de los derechos humanos. Durante 8 años fue Presidente del Comité de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, fue el principal asesor jurídico de Unicef para la elaboración de la Convención sobre los Derechos de los niños y niñas y fue asesor especial de la Alta Comisionada para los Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas. Philip Alston es profesor de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Nueva York y es el director del Centro de Derechos Humanos y Justicia Global de la misma Universidad.

PRESS STATEMENT

Statement by Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions

Mission to Ecuador: 5-15 July 2010

Quito, 15 July 2010

I visited Ecuador, at the invitation of the Government, from 5-15 July 2010 to investigate issues relating to extrajudicial executions.  I traveled to Quito (Pichincha), Lago Agrio (Sucumbíos), and Guayaquil (Guayas). 

In order to obtain a full and balanced picture of the situation, I met with officials at all levels, including the Minister and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Justice, the Minister for the Coordination of Internal and External Security, the Minister of Government, Police and Culture, the Vice Minister of Defence, many members of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Attorney-General, the President and members of the National Assembly, the Chief of Police and police throughout the country, the Police Inspector-General, the Chief of the Joint Command of the military and commanders in Sucumbíos, the Ombudsman, members of the Constitutional Court, the National Court of Justice and provincial criminal judges, the Mayors of Guayaquil and Lago Agrio, the Governor of Guayas, and members of the Truth Commission.  Equally important were my meetings with the representatives of various human rights and humanitarian organizations, the UN country team, members of the diplomatic community, religious leaders, police association representatives, witnesses, victims, scholars, and other independent experts.  I am deeply grateful to all of these individuals, as well as to the UN’s Human Rights Adviser in Quito and his superb staff.

Government representatives were exceptionally helpful and cooperated comprehensively in the organization and conduct of my mission.  In this regard, Ecuador showed itself to be an exemplary member of the UN Human Rights Council.

The overall picture that emerged from my mission is mixed.  The Government of President Rafael Correa has undertaken far-reaching reforms in terms of constitutional renewal, the protection of human rights, the reform of key institutions, the expansion of justice sector spending, prison reform, and a range of social and economic initiatives aimed at improving the situation of the worst off.  The Government’s commitment to a greatly enhanced justice system seems clear.

At the same time, however, citizen insecurity is increasing, the homicide rate is growing, and impunity for killings has reached astonishing levels.  Problems such as an increase in hired killings, lynchings by lawless mobs, rising drug-related and other organized criminal activity, insecurity and large-scale killings along the border with Colombia, and the intimidation and assassination of human rights defenders are all compounded by a largely dysfunctional criminal justice system.  It consists of a police service that all too rarely undertakes serious and sustained investigations of killings, a prosecution service which seems more concerned with public relations than with convicting major criminals, and a judicial system which is almost universally condemned for its inefficiency and mismanagement.  These problems are compounded by allegations of corruption at most levels.

The problem of impunity and the role of the Truth Commission

The homicide rate in Ecuador has doubled in the last 20 years.  It was 10.3 killings per 100,000 inhabitants in 1990; in 2009 it was 18.7; and estimates so far for 2010 suggest an increase to 20.  Yet estimates by senior Government officials indicate that only 1.3% of the killings reported to the police actually lead to a conviction.  And this rate is almost certainly an over-estimate, as illustrated by intelligence estimates that the police in Sucumbíos are probably notified of only one of every three or four killings in the province.  This would take the overall rate to less than 1% and give Ecuador one of the lowest conviction rates for killing I have encountered in any country.  The bottom line is that the chances of being convicted for killing someone in Ecuador today are extraordinarily low.  I return below to consider the reasons for this impunity and what might be done about it.

The Government’s most important initiative to combat past impunity is the Truth Commission.  On 7 June 2010, it published a report of almost 3,000 pages on human rights abuses committed between 1984-2008, based on witness testimony and its own investigations. It obtained access to many declassified police, military, intelligence, and foreign government documents of great importance.  The report presents evidence of 116 unlawful incidents, including 68 extrajudicial executions, and names 458 alleged perpetrators.

While the Commission’s work has received high praise from many commentators, some past and present officials informed me that its composition and structure had undermined its independence and impartiality, that alleged perpetrators were not adequately heard, and that the report’s findings were one-sided because inadequate account was taken of the security threats faced by Ecuador at the time.  Other interlocutors stated that the report focused too heavily on abuses committed between 1984-1988, at the expense of more recent cases, including the large number of alleged killings in Sucumbíos.

While there may be merit to some of these concerns, the report provides a critically important starting point for addressing impunity for past abuses.  The report does not purport to be a judicial document and it is not designed to provide a definitive history of the events dealt with, but it does record many serious allegations in considerable detail and helps to lay the groundwork for the steps that must come next.  It is therefore imperative that the work of the commission be judged not on any flaws that might be identified in its membership or methodology but on the substance of the factual record it has generated.  I met with many witnesses and families of victims who testified before the Truth Commission, including those related to the Fybeca case, and the cases of Luis Fernando Garcia Garcia, Elias Lopez Pita, Carlos Aristide Lara Silva, and David Delgado Galarza.  It is clear that many of the killings have yet to be properly investigated, and that a program of compensation or reparations must be adopted as soon as possible.

Killings on the Colombia-Ecuador border

The Colombian conflict has clearly spilled over into Ecuador, as my visit to Sucumbíos showed.  In Esmeraldas and Sucumbíos, civilians are subjected to pressure and abuses from all sides – from illegal armed groups (IAGs), including the FARC, Colombian ex-paramilitaries, and narco-traffickers; and also from the Ecuadorean and Colombian security forces.

Although the border areas of Sucumbíos were previously heavily infiltrated by the FARC, ex-paramilitaries have entered Ecuador in increasing numbers over the past 6-8 months.  Ecuador’s military has greatly increased its border presence since Colombia’s airstrike on a FARC base in Sucumbíos in March 2008.  Those living along the San Miguel and Putumayo rivers in Sucumbíos have become trapped between the demands of competing armed groups.  As Colombian armed forces have pushed IAGs into remote areas, refugee flows to Ecuador have also increased.

Illegal armed groups enter Ecuador to obtain food, goods and health services; to traffic drugs and weapons; to conduct combat training; and to escape the conflict in Colombia.  They harass and intimidate the civilian population and force them to “cooperate” in providing food, shelter, or information.  In some areas, they exact taxes on goods sold, provide “law and order” (through intimidation and violence), and engage in forced recruitment, including of minors, as well as killings of civilians.

These groups (especially ex-paramilitaries) have also engaged in “social cleansing”, which has at times been linked with their efforts to control key transport routes.  I was provided copies of social cleansing notices, in which the groups promised to murder sex workers, and “drug dealers, thieves, carjackers, kidnappers, and young drug users”, and asked the general public for forgiveness for any “innocents” killed.  In the last 4-6 weeks, an estimated 30 bodies (each with clear signs of having been tortured) were found along a main road in Putumayo, Sucumbíos, which had been known for frequent robberies on buses.  The road is also an important route for trafficking drugs and weapons, and the FARC and paramilitaries have continuously fought each other for its control.

Officials informed me of shockingly high murder rates in some border towns in Esmeraldas and Sucumbíos, which at times have exceeded 100 killings per 100,000 inhabitants. Police statistics indicate that these two provinces have the highest homicide rates in the country.  Many interlocutors also mentioned the small town of Puerto el Carmen on the Putumayo River as especially dangerous.  For the past few years, the town of just 4,000 people has experienced 1 to 3 assassinations per week.  Interlocutors could not explain why basic security could not be achieved despite the presence of police, a large nearby army battalion, and the navy.  Although the number of IAG “clandestine installations” discovered by the armed forces has risen dramatically (18 in 2005, 53 in 2007, and 183 in 2009), the fact that only a handful  of IAG members have been killed or detained seems very difficult to reconcile with the need for a major effort to ensure the protection of citizens from IAG violence.

I was also informed of abuses committed by the Ecuadorean military.  Abuses include frequent intimidation and harassment of civilians, together with cases of forced entries into homes and the stealing of food and other goods.  Some cases of sexual violence, public humiliation, torture and killings have also occurred.  Problems have increased since mid-2009.  Various reasons were offered.  Troop numbers in Sucumbíos more than quadrupled from 2007 to 2009, and the number of military operations increased from 22 in 2007, to 234 in 2008, and 250 in 2009.  Troops are not considered to be sufficiently trained to provide security to a vulnerable civilian population in circumstances involving sophisticated criminal gang violence and insurgent activity.  A comprehensive change of military leadership in Sucumbíos in mid-2009 was also cited as damaging military-civilian relations.  Cooperation with civil society and humanitarian actors decreased, obstruction at checkpoints has grown, individual activists have been harassed, and raids have been conducted on properties used by NGOs.  Military relationships with communities have also soured, inhibiting military intelligence capacity, and increasing their reliance on abusive tactics to obtain information on IAG activity.

While I received reports of a number of cases of abuses by security forces, the killing by the Ecuadorean army on 18 January 2010 of three people traveling in a piragua (river boat) is emblematic.  Originally the military had claimed that the three were guerillas dressed in camouflage uniforms and had opened fire on a military patrol.  The military defended themselves, and shot back, but the piragua sped off.  The military later discovered that the alleged guerillas had all been killed in the “confrontation”.  But according to testimony from others, the three were not uniformed, were not engaging in any suspicious activity, and had not fired at the military.  The military did not attempt to chase the boat or recover the bodies.  Locals assisted the driver of the piragua, but he died on route to medical care.  The military’s failure to conduct an objective investigation, to recover the boat, or to find the alleged weapon(s) all shed doubt on the validity of their explanation.  In addition, many community members have since received threats to keep quiet.

Hired killers

Ecuadoreans are all too aware of the phenomenon of hired killings.  A killer can be hired for as little as $20 – hitmen are easy to find, some advertise their “services” openly or are known to be available for hire at local venues, and many seem to operate with impunity.  Although some media may have exaggerated the problem, there have been significant increases in the number of hired killings over the past three years.  Today, it is estimated that 11-14 percent of homicides (some 450 deaths) in Ecuador are by hired killers, with the highest incidence being in Guayas and Esmeraldas.

A distinction can be drawn between killings for personal or professional motives.  The personal include intra-familial conflicts or conflicts over land or other issues.  Relatively inexpensive and inexperienced killers can be hired to “resolve” such cases.  In other cases, highly professionalized hired killers may be used – for example, by sophisticated organized crime groups.  “Loan sharks” are widely considered to be prime employers of hired killers.  Individuals who cannot obtain loans from banks and other institutions resort to loans from individuals who may be laundering drug proceeds and charge up to 10% interest per day.  When repayment proves difficult, the loan sharks arrange for the debtor’s violent punishment or death, sometimes by using minors as “debt collectors”.  Other professional killings appear to have a political motivation, such as the killing of the Mayor of Palestina (Guayas), Carlos Alberto Olvera Olvera, during my mission, on 11 July 2010.

This year, the Government has taken a number of important steps designed to reduce hired killings.  Information on the geographic spread of such killings is being gathered systematically in Guayaquil and other cities, and police patrols have been increased in vulnerable areas.  Advice has been sought from French and Colombian experts, and a special police intelligence group has been established.  In Guayaquil, efforts have been made to register all motorcycles, restrict the availability of alcohol, and the prosecutor’s office and the police have set up a special unit to address these cases.

However, few cases of hired killings are ever resolved.  Because of the clandestine and sometimes sophisticated methods employed by hired killers, they are clearly difficult crimes to investigate.  Nevertheless, impunity for such killings is also due to failures in the criminal justice system, which I describe below.  A major cause of impunity is a lack of will, on the part of many of those within the criminal justice system, to investigate and prosecute these killings.  But failure to do so denies justice to the victim’s family, leaves the perpetrator free to kill again, and prevents police from obtaining information on criminal networks which would facilitate more effective organized crime prosecutions.  Further, the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators spreads the message to others that they can easily get away with murder.  Becoming a hired killer thus becomes an attractive career choice, especially for those with few other options.

Killings by police

I did not receive evidence to suggest that unlawful killings by police in Ecuador are pervasive or systematic.  However, they do occur – individuals have been tortured to death, shot during law enforcement operations, suspected criminals and others have been murdered by police when they could have been arrested, and police have been implicated in hired killings cases.  The Ministry of Government provided information that 27 individuals had been killed by the police between 2000 and 2009.  The Inspector-General of the police provided information that 104 persons had been killed by the police from 2005 to present, although information was not provided on what proportion of these were unlawful killings.  One NGO estimated 164 extrajudicial killings between 2000 and 2006.

National police authorities assured me that police killings are never covered up and that any police responsible for abuses face appropriate disciplinary and criminal proceedings.  But there is little to indicate that the Internal Affairs section of the police could in fact operate effectively or independently in investigating serious allegations of misconduct by senior officers.  While the Inspector-General has recently introduced various reforms to develop a professional system for the first time in Ecuador, there is a need for a genuinely independent capacity to investigate serious allegations against the police.

The confusion between cases of lynching and indigenous justice

Press coverage of lynchings, as well as statements by some officials, have confused the problem of lynching with the entirely separate issue of indigenous justice. It is essential that this confusion be dispelled.

Lynchings are attacks or killings by private actors, often by a group of citizens against a suspected wrongdoer.  In Ecuador, victims are generally beaten, stabbed, or burnt to death, often in public.  Such actions involve no legal or judicial process – just violent punishment or revenge.  One NGO documented 33 lynching cases in 2009, especially in the provinces of Pichincha, Los Rios, Guayas, Azuay, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo.  Officials have estimated 153 lynching killings between 1994 and 2008.  Lynchings are generally a consequence of the absence of effective law and order, thus driving or enabling citizens to take the law into their own hands.

Such cases must be distinguished from the very separate issue of indigenous justice.  Where lynchings occur in rural or indigenous communities, they are often reported by officials or the press to be examples of “indigenous justice”.  Indigenous justice in Ecuador varies from community to community, but it follows a process, and is not the arbitrary application of violence.  I was provided no reliable evidence of any cases where actual indigenous justice procedures led to a death.  There are very important and complex issues for the Government and indigenous communities to address with respect to the functioning, jurisdiction, and scope of the lawful application of indigenous justice in Ecuador.  Statements by officials that indigenous justice is “savage”, and confusing it with lynching, are not helpful contributions to the dialogue which must take place in order to further develop the rules governing the relationship between indigenous justice and ordinary justice.

Rural juntas

Juntas de Defensa del Campesinado are rural groups set up by local residents to, ostensibly, promote rural development and prevent cattle rustling in areas with minimal state security presence.  However, I was provided significant information that the juntas have committed serious abuses against the communities they were intended to represent and protect.

Rural juntas are prevalent in the Sierra provinces (especially Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Chimborazo, Bolivar), but are also found in Los Rios.  They are organized by parish, with a President for each local area.  The juntas are part of a nationwide junta federation, in which there are at least 20,000 members.  Officials provided various answers to my questions about the role of the juntas.  Some stated that they were simply rural development or socio-economic organisations, or small community groups.  Others stated that they served a “neighborhood watch” type function – providing information to the police on criminality.  Some police officials indicated that juntas had at times been provided uniforms, and that they were involved in “rural security”, sometimes working with the police.  Other police denied that juntas had any connection to the police at all.  One senior official stated that juntas did systematically use force up until 2006, but that since then, there had been a transformation and abuses were isolated.  Intelligence sources provided information that the juntas are well-organised, and apply their own parallel “justice” and punishments.

Civil society and witnesses and victims provided information that the rural juntas play a key role in rural law and order, carrying out, in effect, the functions of the police and the justice system – but using intimidation and violence to do so.  Individuals accused of crimes can be beaten, kidnapped, have their goods or land taken, or, in some cases, killed by junta members.  Victims are generally poor, or with interests (e.g. in land) that are at odds with those of local junta members.  I spoke with victims of junta violence, who were kidnapped, beaten, and forced out of their towns under the threat of death, or whose family members were murdered.  In some cases, police worked with the juntas.  Those working to document abuses by the juntas have also been threatened.  Numerous ongoing legal cases against junta members and leaders appear not to have progressed in the judicial system.

Human rights defenders

I received many reports of intimidation and threats against human rights defenders, humanitarian actors, union activists, and social movement and indigenous leaders.  These ranged from attempts to bribe activists to stop their work in particular cases, warnings that continuing to work would result in “problems”, attempts to obstruct their work, as well as physical attacks.  Individuals working for women’s rights groups on the northern border, for example, have received threats to burn them alive, and LGBT activists have received social cleansing notices.  Some individuals opposed to the actions of extractive companies have also received threats, including Polivio Perez, Esther Landetta Chica, Etelvina de Jesus Misacango, Joel Vicente Zhunio Samanieg, members of the Sarayaku community, and Santagio Escobar.  Excessively harsh official rhetoric to describe activists whose positions are not favoured by the Government also exacerbates the precarious position in which many human rights defenders find themselves.

Activists have also been murdered.  In one especially grave case, a well-known union and labor rights lawyer, Mr. Ivan Muela, was murdered in the street on 21 January 2010 by two hitmen on a motorcycle.  Another deeply disturbing case is the killing, described below, of Dr Germán Antonio Ramírez Herrera during my mission. 

Vicious circle of impunity

Why is impunity so widespread in Ecuador?

Witness fear and protection

In part, impunity is due to witness fears in reporting and testifying.  Nearly every witness and victim with whom I spoke feared for his or her life.  In Sucumbíos especially, victims were certain that they would be punished or killed by armed actors if they were known to have reported their cases.  In fact, it was necessary to restrict my investigations in some areas because the risk to witnesses would have been too great.  The fears are justified.  Many of those who made complaints to the police or prosecutor about abuses had received death threats and intimidation to keep quiet.  As detailed above, many of those working to expose abuses have been threatened, and some have been killed.  Police, prosecutor, and judicial authorities are also under strong pressure from perpetrators, including death threats.

 

Ecuador’s witness protection program has recently been significantly expanded – its budget was increased this year from $90,000 to nearly $1 million.  While it provides varying degrees of protection to some 3,625 individuals (20% of which relate to killings cases), it is far from able to provide real security to many of those in need.  Many victims I spoke with are not aware that it even exists; others – including those under serious threat – told me that they see it as too close to the police and prosecutors and do not trust it.  The program does have its own specialized protection police, but its director acknowledged witness perceptions of insufficient autonomy.  Inadequate attempts have thus far been made by the program to reach out to victims, and to clearly secure its independence from other institutions.  

Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo)

The Ombudsman’s Office is trusted and is generally thought to be performing its functions of receiving complaints, acting on behalf of victims, forwarding complaints to officials, and following-up on cases very well.  The office performs an important human rights function.  However, it has little power to force authorities to carry out investigations or to respond to its requests.   

Poor police and prosecutor investigations

While there are very many honest and dedicated police and prosecutors, their respective services as a whole were criticized by many of my interlocutors for their corruption, links to narco-trafficking and IAGs in northern regions, inefficiency, lack of technical capacity and training, and staff hiring based on personal connections rather than merit.  In Sucumbíos, all interlocutors referred to the general lack of willingness of the provincial authorities to carry out even basic functions, such as registering complaints or investigating allegations.

Across the country, the technical ability to carry out fruitful investigations into killings was roundly criticised. Ballistic capacity, for example, has only been recently introduced.  Police in regional areas indicated that autopsies were often poorly done, and the capacity for DNA analysis is only now being introduced in Quito.  The lack of independent forensics laboratories is also a problem, especially where officials may be implicated in abuses.  In Sucumbíos, the prosecutor’s office has only one (part-time) forensic doctor in Lago Agrio, and – while this was denied by the authorities – victims are often forced to pay for forensic services.  Requested fees – ranging from $40-$180 – are prohibitive for most victims.  In addition, I was provided strong evidence of faked medical reports in sensitive cases that implicated authorities. 

Courts

The courts were criticized for their excessive slowness in hearing and deciding cases – delays of many years were reported to me.  Interlocutors, including officials, also noted their susceptibility to bribery and pressure, especially in relation to cases involving officials, organized crime, hired killers or narco-traffickers.

Settling accounts

A major flaw in the criminal justice system is the extensive use of the “settlement of accounts” category to describe the nature of far too many killings.  According to senior officials, the term is generally used to describe homicides occurring between persons with criminal records, and which are undertaken for motives such as revenge, disputes over the distribution of the proceeds of crime, gang turf wars, or a fights relating to drug deals.  There are a number of serious problems with the use of this category.  First, it is vague and ill-defined and thus readily open to abuse.  Second, it gives inordinate importance not only to the existence of a criminal record (a conviction), but of a police record (which can exist for multiple reasons, apart from involvement in a crime).  Third, it cannot be confidently asserted that the killer in such situations has a police record in the absence of a proper investigation, but this lack of evidence apparently does not prevent such a presumption often being made.  Fourth, there is a presumption that cases involving such a settling of accounts are less deserving of sustained investigation than other cases.  While some officials strenuously denied this, I received strong confirmation of its reality from a range of sources.  In Guayaquil, for example, where the problem of hired killers is especially serious, officials stressed to me that the majority of victims had criminal records, and were thus presumed to have been killed in a settling of accounts.  It is clear that once this determination was made, police and prosecutors rarely conducted serious in-depth investigations. 

A fifth flaw is that the category provides a perfect cover for police not to pursue cases in which they or other officials might themselves have been responsible for killings.  This is relevant to allegations I received of police links to hired killings in Los Rios, as well as to the killing of a 23 year-old man in Lago Agrio on 8 March 2010.  An even more dramatic illustration is the killing of Germán Antonio Ramírez Herrera, a forensic doctor specializing in torture and extrajudicial executions cases.  On 6 July 2010, he was kidnapped and then shot and killed.  He had received various threats because of his work in documenting and testifying about prisoner injuries following a police raid on the Quevedo prison.  A press report on the incident simply notes without comment that the police suspect the case to be a settling of accounts.[1]

Recommendations

1.  The Government should establish a high-level expert commission to evaluate the performance of the police service, and to propose structural and operational reforms to enhance its capacity to respond effectively to the challenge of rising rates of serious crime, including extrajudicial executions.  The commission should also be asked to consider whether there is a need for an independent forensics unit, and for a separate Police Ministry to ensure stronger civilian oversight of the Police.

2.  A national strategy to combat hired killings should be adopted.  The Government should build on recent initiatives in this regard in order to achieve a real concertation of efforts between the police and the Prosecutor’s Office.  Cases should no longer be classified as involving a “settlement of accounts”, and the police should be required to investigate thoroughly all cases of hired killings. 

3.  The Government is to be commended for its efforts to achieve judicial reform by promoting greater efficiency.  There is also a need for more judges and more systematic efforts to protect judges from threats and intimidation, especially in remote areas.

4.  The Government and the National Assembly should follow-up on the work of the Truth Commission, including by (a) ensuring that relevant cases are re-opened and that effective criminal investigations are undertaken by experts who are entirely independent of the various actors involved, (b) providing appropriate forms of compensation to the family members of victims, (c) creating an archive of the commission’s documentation.  The Truth Commission should also ensure the wide dissemination of a brief summary of its report, designed for a popular audience and translated into appropriate languages.

5.  The days of police investigating themselves should come to an end.  The Government should create a new entity which can investigate alleged police involvement in killings in a credible, independent, effective, and prompt manner.

6.  The witness protection program should be expanded to increase its capacity, enhance its credibility, and secure its independence from other actors.  Consideration should be given to establishing a program that is administered independently of the police and prosecution service.

7.  Members of the Armed Forces operating on the border should be given more extensive and comprehensive training to enable them to deal with both the complex policing and military functions that they are being called upon to perform.  This would include training in how to work closely and constructively with the civilian population, how to apply and distinguish between human rights and international humanitarian law standards, and how to deal humanely with displaced persons and those fleeing from other countries.

8. Ecuador is not on the radar screen of many regional or international human rights and humanitarian organizations.  The problems I have identified clearly show the need for greater international attention to human rights issues in Ecuador, including through monitoring, humanitarian assistance, and cooperation with domestic NGOs.

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[1] http://www.diario-extra.com/ediciones/2010/07/07/provincias/ejecutan-a-doctor-de-carcel-de-quevedo/