Statement on the Constitutional Court’s Admission of Case 86-25-IN

The undersigned organizations welcome the decision of Ecuador’s Constitutional Court to admit case 86-25-IN, which challenges the constitutionality of several articles of the Organic Law on Intelligence and its General Regulations. This ruling, which includes the provisional suspension of more than 20 legal provisions, warns of a risk of imminent and possibly irreversible harm to several fundamental rights.

The Court has acted in line with its constitutional mandate to protect rights, finding that sufficient arguments were presented to presume that there may be a normative incompatibility between the challenged articles and the rights to legal certainty, privacy, personal data protection, inviolability of correspondence, access to public information and due process.

We once again denounce that this Law

1. Violates the right to privacy and due process: by allowing access to personal data and communications without a court order, it enables mass, unconstitutional surveillance of the population.
2. Grants impunity to intelligence agents: it exempts those who commit abuses in the course of their duties from criminal, civil and administrative liability, creating a parallel system outside the rule of law.
3. Imposes mandatory handover of information without safeguards: it forces institutions, companies and individuals to hand over data under legal threat, with no confidentiality protection and no possibility of objecting.
4. Legalizes the use of unaudited discretionary funds: it allows public resources to be used as “reserved expenses” with no independent controls or external audits, recreating the same conditions that enabled corruption and political espionage scandals in the past (as with the now-defunct SENAIN).
5. Allows the political use of the intelligence system: with a governing body appointed directly by the President and no autonomous oversight mechanisms, the system can easily be used to persecute critics, opponents, journalists, human rights defenders and even economic rivals.
6. Weakens transparency and democracy: the arbitrary classification of information as “secret” or “top secret” limits access by citizens and journalists, eroding accountability and fueling institutional opacity.
7. Fails to meet international human rights standards on intelligence: it disregards the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling in Cajar v. Colombia and the Tshwane Principles, which, among other things, require the protection of personal data in intelligence systems and guarantee rights such as deletion, correction and updating, recognizing informational self-determination.

In Ecuador, intelligence systems have been used to spy on journalists, attack and harass political opponents, criminalize social protest and violate the rights of Indigenous peoples and grassroots movements. The Court’s admission of this case is an important step toward stopping these persecutory, corrupt and abusive practices.

We demand

In line with the claims set out in the lawsuit admitted by the Court:

1. That the challenged provisions be declared unconstitutional, as they are contrary to the Constitution, the American Convention on Human Rights and international standards on intelligence, privacy, due process, freedom of expression and access to information, and that they therefore be removed from Ecuador’s legal system.
2. A guarantee that no further legislation will be passed on this matter without participatory processes and a rights-based approach.
3. The opening of a public and technical debate, open to citizens, human rights defenders, journalists, peoples and nationalities, social organizations and experts in security and constitutional law, so that a democratic intelligence policy with safeguards can be built from society.
4. The complete elimination of any form of reserved expenses without independent oversight, as they are incompatible with the principles of transparency, control and accountability established in the Constitution.
5. Clear limits and effective accountability for the actions of intelligence agents, including the elimination of any authorization to use fictitious identities (art. 41) and the introduction of a system of administrative, civil and criminal sanctions in accordance with Article 233 of the Constitution, guaranteeing accountability for any abuse or violation of rights.
6. The strengthening of citizen and judicial oversight mechanisms to ensure that any intelligence system operates under the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality, independent oversight and unrestricted respect for fundamental rights.

Ecuador’s recent history has shown that uncontrolled intelligence systems are tools for espionage, political persecution, censorship and corruption. We cannot repeat that cycle. Security cannot be used as an excuse to perpetuate corruption, abuse and impunity, or to violate the rights of all people.

We also express our concern about the President’s recent call for a referendum, and especially about question 6, which clearly seeks to undermine the work of constitutional judges who, as in the case referred to in this statement, have made technical and legal decisions in response to the possible violation of rights brought about by the Executive’s bills.

Finally, we reject the government’s recent statements and its stance against the Court’s decision to suspend several articles of this and other laws that we consider unconstitutional, as well as the march called by President Daniel Noboa. All of these are actions that seek to discredit the technical and legal work of the Constitutional Court and undermine its functions.

We remain vigilant as the public actions of unconstitutionality admitted by the Constitutional Court proceed, in particular case No. 86-25-IN, and we demand respect for the autonomy and integrity of that institution.