The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, has concluded his official visit to Ecuador with a series of recommendations and warnings, including the «worrying» situation of the prison system and the «deterioration» of the security context due to the upsurge of organized crime in certain areas.
Turk has recognized the «challenges» of Ecuador in terms of human rights and has offered to collaborate to overcome them. On prison matters, the UN has on several occasions expressed its concern about the various massacres that have taken place in recent years and has proposed technical assistance to develop the Government’s Public Policy for Social Rehabilitation, approved in 2022.
«The real challenge is the implementation» of that policy, Turk has pointed out, in a warning that he extends also to the law on the use of force that was also adopted last year and that, well applied, «could become an example for other countries in the region.»
In the case of the use of the Armed Forces for public security tasks, he stressed that this potential deployment «must be exceptional, of limited duration, subordinate and complementary to the work of civilian corporations and accountable to civilian authorities», among other criteria.
The UN analyses include in the list of challenges gender violence, the impact of extractive industries on social and environmental issues or the insecurity faced by activists. They also questioned «the general situation of profound socioeconomic inequality», aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic and which is felt in terms of malnutrition and, mainly, in rural areas and areas with indigenous or Afro-descendant populations.
The Human Rights chief, who met with the main authorities of Ecuador – including President Guillermo Lasso – also praised the role of the South American country in defending multilateralism and «receiving and integrating refugees and migrants from various countries in the region».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
