Tougher penalties have not proven effective in combating insecurity and will worsen the prison system’s conditions.

On Tuesday, Ecuador’s National Assembly approved the Public Integrity Law, which includes measures to toughen penalties for minors. The law, promoted by President Daniel Noboa, passed with 84 votes in favor, 62 against and two abstentions.

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The legislation addresses four key areas: public contracting; institutional strengthening of the public sector; overall public management; and the eradication of criminal networks. To achieve the last objective, the law imposes prison sentences of up to 15 years for minors who commit serious crimes linked to organized crime.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expressed concern over the move, stating that the new law includes regressive reforms to the juvenile justice system that severely affect adolescents.

“Following the approval of the Public Integrity Law, UNICEF is concerned about the inclusion of regressive reforms to the juvenile justice system that seriously harm adolescents,” the U.N. agency stated.

“UNICEF emphasizes that such measures have not proven effective in combating insecurity and violate both Ecuador’s Constitution and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Ecuador has ratified. They could even worsen the prison system’s conditions and hinder adolescents’ reintegration. UNICEF urges state authorities to effectively guarantee the rights of children and adolescents,” it added.

The text reads, “At the start of 2006, Ecuador had a homicide rate of 15.74. Moreno takes power and unleashes chaos, then watch the rate skyrocket under Lasso and reach astonishing levels under Noboa. They spend US$3.87 billion on repression. They invest 57 times less in education and healthcare. Geniuses!”

Over the past eight years, coinciding with the rule of right-wing leaders, international drug trafficking networks have expanded in the Andean country by recruiting teenagers into criminal gangs.

Earlier in 2024, Noboa declared “war” on criminal groups but has so far failed to reduce the surge in violence nationwide. In 2024 alone, more than 3,500 minors were detained as part of security forces’ operations against criminal gangs, according to Interior Minister John Reimberg.

The law also reforms 19 existing regulations, introducing changes such as a 40-year ban on re-entry for foreigners expelled from Ecuador after serving prison sentences of more than five years. If they violate this rule, foreigners could be declared military targets if Noboa’s declared “internal armed conflict” against criminal gangs remains in effect.

The law approved also grants the Ecuadorian president the power to dissolve certain public institutions and shifts credit unions from the “popular and solidarity economy” system to the private financial system.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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