UNITED NATIONS EXPERT CONCERNED OVER REMOVAL OF HIGH-COURT JUDGES IN ECUADOR

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 23 March (UN Information Service) -- The Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Leandro Despouy, ended a one-week visit to Ecuador on 18 March.  The following note from the Special Rapporteur is a summary of a news briefing held in Quito to provide local media with his preliminary observations:

The Special Rapporteur thanked the Government and all the authorities and sectors of the civil society that cooperated very openly in making the visit possible and for having provided valuable information, as well as the United Nations Office for its precious assistance.

In Quito, the Special Rapporteur met with the President of the Republic and other authorities of the State, including the President of the National Congress and a number congressman, the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, both the newly-designated and the recently dismissed ones.  He also met with the members of the National Council for the Judiciary, the Mayor and the members of the Council of the Metropolitan District of Quito, representatives of the Catholic Church, the Andean Parliament, judges and judicial officials’ associations, non-governmental organizations, as well as renowned Ecuadorian jurists.  He maintained constant contacts with the press throughout the visit.

In view of the urgency of the judicial crisis the country is undergoing, the Special Rapporteur considered it necessary to make a number of preliminary observations.  The Special Rapporteur identified a number of serious irregularities in the measures adopted by the National Congress concerning both the removal of the previous magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and the designation of the new ones.

The Special Rapporteur ended the news briefing by indicating some preliminary recommendations:

-- It is urgent and imperative to re-establish entirely the rule of law in Ecuador;

-- It is the duty of the National Congress, as the organ that adopted the key measures of removal and designation which provoked the current crisis, to take measures to rectify the situation;

-- The formula for the establishment of the Supreme Court of Justice should include the following elements:  the independence of the judges, a procedure by which vacant posts are filled through an election by the rest of the judges of the Court, a system of designation of judges which guarantees their capability and probity and includes a transparent process allowing for the participation of citizens;

-- After having solved the problems affecting the Supreme Court of Justice, as well as the ones relating to the Constitutional Tribunal and the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, a number of other issues relating to the functioning of the entire judicial system will have to be addressed.

The Special Rapporteur will present his preliminary recommendations in an addendum to his general report to the sixty-first session of the Commission on Human Rights at the beginning of April 2005.  His final findings, conclusions and recommendations will be included in a report to be submitted to the Commission’s sixty-second session.

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