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Uneven gains in Equador under new leadership

Ecuador (2nd quartile) made major gains in terms of official attitudes to media freedom, making key breaks with the former leadership, but failed to stem the waves of violence perpetrated against HRDs in rural areas.

Ecuador has seen strong advances in its expression scores over the last decade, and 2018 was some of their biggest progress. Over the past year, Ecuador has made notable leaps in Civic Space scores. 

Figure 14: 

President Lenín Moreno took office in May 2017, and has demonstrated a remarkably different leadership style to his predecessor, Rafael Correa. The change in leadership has caused a change in atmosphere in the country, with fewer verbal threats being made against media workers and less polarisation between media outlets.[1]

Moreno has formed a less combative relationship with the country’s media than Correa, fostering a more tolerant editorial line in state outlets and abolishing Supercom – a regulator that had been notoriously over-zealous in fining and sanctioning outlets.[2]

However, 2018 also saw ongoing attacks on women human rights defenders (WHRDs) from the Amazonian Women’s Collective – attacks the state has not sufficiently investigated. National protection measures are also proving inadequate and ill-suited to the specific needs and exceptional risks facing Amazonian Women, who are defending the land, territory, and environment in contexts of conflict with political and financial interests linked to large-scale economic projects.[3]

Three Ecuadorian journalists were kidnapped and murdered near the border with Colombia in March .

 

[1] Fundamedios, Primer año de Lenín: Reducción de las agresiones contra la prensa, reformas en marcha y nuevos retos después del asesinato de tres periodistas, 21 May 2018, available at http://www.fundamedios.org/primer-ano-de-lenin-reduccion-de-las-agresiones-contra-la-prensa-reformas-en-marcha-y-nuevos-retos-despues-del-asesinato-de-tres-periodistas/

[2] Fundamedios, Primer año de Lenín: Reducción de las agresiones contra la prensa, reformas en marcha y nuevos retos después del asesinato de tres periodistas, 21 May 2018, available at http://www.fundamedios.org/primer-ano-de-lenin-reduccion-de-las-agresiones-contra-la-prensa-reformas-en-marcha-y-nuevos-retos-despues-del-asesinato-de-tres-periodistas/

[3] Amnesty International, Ecuador: Justice and Protection for Amazonian Women, Defenders of the Land, Territory and Environment, 30 April 2019, available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr28/0039/2019/en/