Rejection of the Draft Organic Law on Intelligence, Strategic Intelligence and Counterintelligence

The undersigned organizations express our categorical rejection of the Draft Organic Law on Intelligence, Strategic Intelligence and Counterintelligence, which is now being debated in the National Assembly. This legislative proposal does not respond to the urgent need to strengthen security in the country; instead, it lays the foundations for an opaque, authoritarian system that is deeply harmful to human rights. It is a bill that has been developed amid media silence and in the shadows.

In a context where insecurity, organized crime and corruption call for comprehensive, coordinated and democratic responses, this bill offers no real solutions. On the contrary, it institutionalizes impunity, concentrates power in the Executive and reduces citizen and judicial oversight mechanisms to a minimum.

We denounce that the bill

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 and rights defenders.
6. Weakens transparency and democracy: the arbitrary classification of information as “secret” limits access by citizens and journalists, eroding accountability and fueling institutional opacity.
7. Fails to meet international human rights standards: it disregards the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling in Cajar v. Colombia, which requires the protection of personal data in intelligence systems and guarantees rights such as deletion, correction and updating, recognizing informational self-determination.

This bill does not fight insecurity: it deepens it

Setting up an intelligence apparatus without guarantees of oversight, transparency or respect for fundamental rights does not fight violence or organized crime. All it ensures is more power for the President and the state apparatus, less citizen oversight and more tools for abuse.

Ecuador’s recent history shows that the concentration of power and opacity in intelligence systems do not improve security; instead, they fuel illegal espionage, political persecution and corruption.

We demand

• The immediate shelving of the bill.
• The opening of a public, participatory debate with human rights organizations, journalists, security experts and civil society.
• The development of an intelligence policy based on democratic oversight, transparency and unrestricted respect for fundamental rights.
• The establishment of effective oversight and accountability mechanisms, including the elimination of reserved expenses without external audits.
• An urgent statement from the Superintendency for the Protection of Personal Data on the content of this bill, which seeks excessive, non-consensual access to personal data.