ECUADOR CASE OF CONTROL BY FEAR What worries of Ecuador is the lack of freedom of expression. This removes the basis of other freedoms such as free organization, assembly, thought; in Ecuador everyone feels threatened, he told DW Elsie Monge few days ago during a meeting in Brussels NGOs defending human rights. Monge, missionary and anthropologist sister, chairs the Ecumenical Commission of Human Rights and is vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights, which brings together 180 organizations worldwide. Although there has been progress in areas such as health and education, in terms of freedoms we find a setback. Since the new Communications Act considered a public service, is regulated and controlled by the state, said Monge, who has been for decades a leading figure in the defense of human rights in Latin America. It also continues, the secretariat of communication have punitive powers, as a parallel justice, which restricts the right to expression, especially independent journalists, and citizens who do not share the official version. Hostile Climate In the midst of a hostile climate, self-censorship is one of the most alarming realities of the Ecuadorian press: the editorial lines of diaries even independents, bow to the deterrent effect of criminal trials that threaten minimum critical. Of course, self-censorship is applied. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) does not consider silence as a form of truce in the confrontation between the media and the authorities, it said in a report RSF, issued a year after the entry into force of the Communications Act . However, in its annual report 2014, places the country in a better position than last year. It is in the 95th, worrying is the situation in countries that fall from the place a hundred, he told DW Rafael Maturana, secretary general of the RSF in Spain. However, one must observe. Regulation, intervention, control The media law unfortunately confuses regulation must exist from the State intervention in the scope of the media. Thats dangerous because, depending on the structure of institutional design could serve to be handling the press through various channels, confirms DW Santiago Basabe-Serrano, professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and researcher German Institute for Global Studies (GIGA). In Ecuador, along with other law control instances that are managed by people close to the government were created. Thus, the law combined with these other bodies, such as the superintendent of communication now are responsible not only for the government to persecute opponents but also to generate self-censorship of the people, says the researcher. ¿Deficit Justice? Besides, continues Monge decades of work pro-whose human rights have been awarded in numerous occasions, the Executive has -for say the least interference in the legislature and the judiciary. With the new laws anyone who believes differently can go to jail. There have been cases of rural leaders that-claim the right to its territory, the water- are being prosecuted for terrorism. They are waiting for the judgment to go to jail . Indeed, the study The Supreme Court of Ecuador in the democratic period (1979-2013): between institutional instability and partisan influence, published by the University of Salamanca, Basabe-Serrano notes for the entire period and handling partisan influence in the Courts of Justice of the country. However, since 2008 the performances of Ecuador on other key issues such as judicial corruption and internal judicial independence have more deficits than those seen in the past results. Does the same opinion or silence? At this time, there is only one possible position, an atmosphere of dialogue to hear other opinions is not granted, says Monge that detects the tendency to generalize one of the most damaging government mechanisms: According to President Correa, all journalists are corrupt and all non-governmental organizations representing foreign interests linked to the right that wants to destabilize the government. In this regard, says Basabe-Serrano on Ecuador: fewer democracy increasingly authoritarian ... with elections, article in the journal Political Science published by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile: By executive order of 2013 he retired the legal status to the environmental Foundation Pachamama. This third sector organization protest demands raised in the Amazon and the government had a contrary position. The official argument was that the organization did not meet the objectives for which it was created. So, CEDHU own, especially now working with farmers and indigenous people affected by large mining projects, has been attacked on Saturday programs moderated by the Ecuadorian president himself, to lie. The situation continues to deteriorate, says activist whose decades of work pro human rights have resulted in several international awards. Moreover, he concludes, since the state is the main employer, no one dares to speak his mind because he loses his job. And it has the support of two million families receiving $ 50 monthly as bonus development ... Although there are good things, the high point is the lack of freedom of expression in Ecuador, this is a case control by fear .
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 06:59:52 +0000
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