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Summary: General overview of Ecuador's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.
National laws on children's rights
Status of CRC in national law
Under the Ecuadorian Constitution, ratified international treaties and conventions including the CRC stand as the supreme law alongside the Constitution itself. Within legislation, basic laws that protect fundamental rights prevail over ordinary laws.
Constitution: The Constitution of Ecuador includes a number of provisions that directly address the rights of children:
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Article 23 prohibits discrimination on, among other things, the grounds of age.
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Articles 47 and 50 establish the government's obligation to protect children and adolescents, especially in precarious situations such as armed conflict.
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Article 48 establishes that it is the duty of the government, society and the family to give the highest priority to the comprehensive development of children and adolescents, to ensure the full exercise of their rights, and to give priority to the best interest of children in every possible case.
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Article 49 guarantees children and adolescents the right to social participation, to respect for their freedom and dignity and to be consulted on matters affecting them.
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Article 50 mandates that the government take measures to guarantee preferential treatment to children and adolescents with disabilities.
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Article 52 establishes the Decentralized National System of Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents.
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Articles 66 through 79 guarantee the inalienable right to education and place a duty on the government to provide for it.
Legislation: Ecuador's Childhood and Adolescence Code is the most comprehensive law addressing children's rights. Provisions relating to children's rights also appear throughout a number of other general legislative codes including the Criminal Code and the Labour Code. Other laws relevant to children's rights include, but are by no means limited to:
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Law on Education for Democracy
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Organic Law on Health
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Law on Free Maternity and Child Care
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Special Education Regulations
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Executive Decree No. 179 on the Comprehensive protection of the rights of children and adolescents
Legal Research
The National Assembly of Ecuador (Asamblea Nacional) maintains an official website in Spanish (http://www.asambleanacional.gov.ec/) offering the text of both laws that have been approved and pending legislation. The GlobaLex initiative at New York University has published a guide to legal research in Ecuador (http://www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/Ecuador.htm), which includes links to English translations of prominent Ecuadorian laws. The U.S. Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations/ecuador.php) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/catalog/2512.html) have also assembled a selection of relevant government and legal links.
Case law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Case Law Research
The Guatemalan judicial system maintains an official website in Spanish (http://www.oj.gob.gt/), which includes a comprehensive legal database (http://www.oj.gob.gt/index.php/leyes).
The Supreme Court maintains an official website in Spanish (http://www.cortesuprema.gov.ec/cn/index.php) and makes the full text of its recent decisions available online (http://www.cortesuprema.gov.ec/cn/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=304). Derecho Ecuador's Revista Judicial also offers a searchable database of Ecaudorian case law (http://www.derechoecuador.com/index.php?Itemid=490&id=4607&option=com_content&task=view).
Compliance with the CRC
The Committee on the Rights of the Child commended improvements and progress in Ecuador's legislative review process, in particular the new Constitution's establishment of human rights as fundamental. The Committee was also, however, " very concerned that in the legislative reform, the specific rights of children may become subordinated to more general issues and/or disappear under broader structures" and further noted "that national legislation is not entirely in conformity with the Convention, for instance in relation to corporal punishment and the minimum age for marriage."
In depth analysis:
Exploitation and abuse of children are issues that arise throughout the CRC's most 2010 Concluding Observations. With the 2009 reform of the Code on Children and Adolescents and the 2005 reform of the Penal Code, relevant legislation is largely in compliance with Convention rights and principles. In practice, however, sex tourism, the trafficking and abduction of children, and the sexual abuse of girls in schools are commonplace and rarely prosecuted. There is also no explicit prohibition on corporal punishment, and the practice remains common as a disciplinary measure in the penal system, schools and the home.
The 2008 Constitution instituted a new specialised system of justice for children in conflict with the law, while the draft Code on Criminal Guarantees (CCG), among other things, guarantees a maximum term of four years imprisonment for offences committed by children. The CRC has expressed concern, however, about some reforms under the draft CCG, noting that they tend to move away from a specialised system of justice for children.
Discrimination remains a notable feature of Ecuadorian society, with the Committee remarking that "persons belonging to the indigenous peoples and Afro-Ecuadorian communities continue to suffer in practice from racism and racial discrimination". While discrimination is largely in practice rather than law, areas such as the minimum age for marriage remain discriminatory, with girls able to marry at 12 and boys at 14. The Committee has recommended that this law be amended to require children to reach the age of 18 before being able to contract for marriage.
Current legal reform projects
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any current legal reform projects.