Ecuador

Ecuador is facing a sharp increase of crime and gang violence. Overcrowding and lack of state control in prisons have enabled detained gang members to commit several massacres. In recent years, longstanding and unaddressed structural problems impacting Indigenous communities and households in poverty have led to protests , sometimes repressed with excessive force by security forces. Democratic institutions remain fragile, amid allegations of corruption, interference in the appointment of authorities, and politically motivated removals. Reports of trial delays, lack of due process and improper pressure on courts continued, as well as restrictions on women’s and girls’ access to reproductive health care, and limited protection of children and LGBT people.