Organized Crime and Human Rights in Ecuador: Legal Analysis of Executive Decree 111 of 2024

Abstract

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46296/rc.v8i16.0387

ABSTRACT

The analysis of Executive Decree No. 111, issued in Ecuador in January 2024, focuses on the state's response to the rise in violence linked to organized crime through the declaration of an internal armed conflict and the authorization of military intervention in conjunction with the National Police. This decree has generated debates regarding its constitutionality, consistency with the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code, and respect for human rights, especially in relation to the broad and ambiguous definition of terrorism, which could lead to indiscriminate criminalization and violations of due process. The study assesses the decree's compliance with the 2008 Constitution, which protects inalienable rights and strictly regulates states of emergency, as well as with international standards such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights. The legal validity of declaring an internal armed conflict and its implications for fundamental rights and procedural guarantees are analyzed. The investigation applies a dogmatic and critical legal approach, reviewing doctrine, jurisprudence, and national and international standards, concluding that while the measure responds to a legitimate need to control public order, it has excesses that could compromise the validity of the constitutional rule of law, generating risks of excessive militarization and infringement of fundamental rights without adequate democratic controls.

Keywords: Constitution, Human Rights, Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, State of Emergency, Public Security, Terrorism.