WUNRN
COHRE Ecuador
COHRE - Centre on Housing Rights
& Evictions
3 October 2008: Ecuador recently ratified a
new Constitution including the right to housing, the right to the city, and the
right to water and sanitation.
As a result, Ecuador now has the first Constitution in the world to
recognise a) the right to adequate and dignified housing, b) a secure and healthy
habitat, c) the right to the city and d) the right to water and sanitation.
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LINK to new ECUADOR CONSTITUTION 2008 in SPANISH:
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"The new Ecuador
Constitution also proposes the development of specific policies to
eradicate inequality and discrimination towards women, including the valuation
of non-paid work in the home and universal social security."
Change
Triumphs in Ecuador's Constitutional Referendum
Eduardo
Tamayo G. and Helga Serrano Narváez
Ecuador's new Constitution
was approved with 64% voting "yes" on Sept. 28. "No" won
28% of the votes, 7% were invalid and 0.7% left blank, according to the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal.
The results of the referendum reflect the high expectations for change that the
majority of Ecuadorians are feeling, and which they have ratified with their
votes in the last four elections. This desire for a profound transformation
also extends to the immigrants that have left for the United States and Europe, who have been
hit by the economic crisis. People voted for a more participative democracy and
for the ability to intercede actively in political life.
The Constitution combines a series of progressive traits that overcome some of
Ecuador's current inequalities, discrimination and injustices, such as the
following: the balanced living concept (sumak kawsay), which implies living in harmony with oneself,
society and nature; nature's right to assure "the maintenance and
regeneration of its vital cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary
processes"; national diversity and collective
rights; the right to water and the prohibition of its
privatization; food sovereignty and the permanent right to secure food sources;
the right to communication and access to public, private and community media.
The Constitution also has articles that are significant in terms of sovereignty
and the prohibition of foreign military bases, as Article 5 states: "Ecuador is a
peaceful territory. We will not permit the establishment of foreign military
bases nor foreign facilities with military aims. It is prohibited to cede
national military bases to foreign armed or security forces." Ecuador
defines itself as a country that promotes peace, universal disarmament,
condemns the use of weapons of mass destruction and the imposition of bases or
facilities with military purposes of some states in the territory of other
nations. (Article 416, 4). This is a victory not only for Ecuadorian
organizations, but also for continental and worldwide networks that have
struggled to abolish foreign military bases.
Rethinking the Economic Model
The new Constitution also has a chapter on the
prioritization of national production in its economy. In regards to
development, it recognizes the "group of economic, political, social,
cultural and environmental systems that guarantee the realization of the
balanced life, sumak kawsay." This means that economic growth is not the
only priority as a means to reach development, instead, it is considered an
integrated vision. It proposes, among other things, "to build a fair,
democratic, productive, solidarity-based and sustainable economic system
founded on the equitable distribution of development benefits, means of
production and the generation of dignified and stable work." (Article 276)
The Constitution recovers the role of the State in participatory development
planning in areas such as health care, education, housing and water supply,
among other things. Some of these had been turned over to the private sector
during years of neoliberal implementation. Now the State will maintain control
of the financial sector and develop policies to avoid the concentration or
hoarding of means of production.
It also proposes the development of specific policies to eradicate inequality
and discrimination towards women, including the valuation of non-paid work in
the home and universal social security.
Strategic sectors are recognized in the new Constitution, such as all forms of energy, telecommunications,
non-renewable natural resources, transportation and refining of hydrocarbons,
biodiversity, genetic heritage and water.
The State reserves the right to "administer, regulate, control and
manage" these sectors because of their decisive economic, social,
political or environmental influence.
Though this is fundamental, concern also exists in some sectors that a door has
been left open in terms of exploitation of protected areas, if the National
Assembly should chose to do so. The indigenous movement proposed that the
policy of "previous informed consent" be used, as in the Universal
Declaration of the Rights of Native Peoples, but the Constitutional Assembly
approved the "previous informed consultation" policy, which is now
part of the Constitution.
Despite this limitation, Humberto Cholango, indigenous director of ECUARUNARI,
the largest organization of the Confederation
of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, celebrated the approval of the
Constitution and its inclusion of the diverse nationalities that make up the
nation, which "is of historical importance, because it has been proposed
as such since the first indigenous uprising 18 years ago," according to
Cholango.
A key player in the "yes" decision was without a doubt President Rafael Correa,
whose administration stands out for its reorientation of public investment away
from the usual elite classes, and instead towards health, education and public
works. This has been favored by the high price of oil and increased tax revenue
collection, as many businesspeople have been forced to pay.
Foreign Military Forces Sent Home
Another positive element is the defense of national sovereignty, expressed as a
rejection of the warmongering politics of the government of Colombia and President Alvaro Uribe. It also puts
an end to the agreement with the United States that allowed it to have a
military base "for the drug war" in Manta,
Ecuador. In reality this base was used for other purposes
such as the interception of boats transporting migrants and also for Plan Colombia.
American military personal will leave Ecuador next year.
Another important theme was the impulse towards political, economic and social integration into Latin America as a region, with
emphasis on the Union of South American Nations
(UNASUR).
Although some of the proposals initiated by the government have been questioned
by the indigenous and environmental movements—such as oil exploration, mining, agricultural policies
based on agrochemicals and agrofuels—the organizations recognize that this can
be limited through the use of the Constitution to ensure the defense of natural
resources, life and biodiversity.
It's important to recognize that the Constitution compiles varied aspirations
from diverse social sectors that have fought for
more than a decade against neoliberalism and policies that assured the payment
of external debt to the detriment of
social programs.
The Constitutional Assembly and the triumph of President Correa are the result
of social struggles against the successive governments that opted to govern on
the side of economic interests and not of the people. Many mobilizations have
caused the ousting of president after president that deceived the people, which
was the reason Ecuador had seven presidents between 1995 and 2005.
Citizen Participation and Who Voted 'No'
Thousands of organizations took part in the Assembly in order to present their
proposals (3,500 in all) and dozens of forums were held on topics such as
water, food sovereignty, heath, etc. Citizen demands were incorporated into the
444 articles that make up the Constitution. This was a participatory process,
but it also had contradictions, precisely because of the different positions of
the political parties in the Assembly and "Acuerdo Pais."
This process, as well as the thousands of forums and debates in neighborhoods,
schools, universities, and communities prior to the Referendum, allowed the people to
take ownership of the Constitution's content.
Those that bet on "no" votes were those who didn't want to lose their
privileges and maintain the neoliberal policies that have deepened poverty,
inequality and the concentration of wealth. According to sociologist Mario
Unda, the real losers were from the right, that has been reduced to the city of
Guayaquil, massive media outlets
that did an open "vote no" campaign, as well as the hierarchy of the
Catholic Church that led the opposition from the pulpits, spreading lies about
the new Constitution being pro-abortion and gay marriage.
This referendum has ended a phase that began with the second round of the 2006
election when Correa won by a significant margin over banana magnate Alvaro
Noboa. The old elites that had monopolized the economy and politics and had
once run things were defeated at the ballot
box. A new era is beginning while the new balance of power adjusts and new
actors define their new policies and strategies.
The institutional transition period starts with the provisional delay of the
Constitutional Assembly, in order to create several laws and name the National
Electoral Commission and the Electoral Tribunal, which will convene a new
general election in 30 days. The election is predicted for January or February
2009. Correa will most likely run for his second four-year term.
This will be a time of intense struggle, during which the character of the
government will be defined—it now has the option to shift its positions to the
left according to the demand of the majority of Ecuadorians. They're gaining
traction on a new road paved with hope.
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