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.

Ecuador: Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, Gulnara Shahinian

The present report examines the situation of human rights in Ecuador with a focus on the persistence of contemporary forms of slavery. The report presents the legal framework pertaining to the prohibition and eradication of contemporary forms of slavery at the international, inter-American and national levels, underscoring some gaps in the implementation of existing laws, and noting policies which should benefit from a human rights approach. The Special Rapporteur presents major challenges, highlights good practices of cooperation among stakeholders and makes recommendations. Major challenges addressed in the report include the implementation and knowledge gap, child exploitation for economic purposes, the situation of migrants asylum-seekers and refugees, worst forms of child labour, domestic servitude and labour exploitation in slavery-like situations.


Read report.