Alianza PAIS rejects latest allegations from Human Rights Watch

11 November 2015
Alianza PAIS categorically rejects the latest political intervention against the government of Ecuador by the US-based organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) in its report released on 10 November 2015.
This organization repeatedly ignores the unprecedented advances in human rights that have occurred in Ecuador while manipulating the human rights discourse to unjustly attack the nation’s elected government. It is not the first time HRW releases partisan reports against Latin America’s progressive governments.
In its latest report, focusing on anti-government protests in Ecuador in August 2015, HRW once again takes a one-sided approach with, for example, basic misrepresentations over the size of those demonstrations.
Its report minimizes the violence carried out by opponents of the government – including injuries to 100 police officials with one police officer held against his will – while making no mention of the repeated anti-democratic demands of the marches for the ousting of the elected government of Rafael Correa. The report even manages to misrepresent the Ecuadorian government’s decisions to declare a “State of emergency” – following increased activity of the Cotopaxi volcano (one of the world’s highest and situated next to the capital city) – by linking this to the alleged repression of demonstrators.
The sources of HRW’s funding, including corporate funding, contributes to its political bias while its board members and advisers have links with the financial, military and political sectors, the latter criticized by significant figures including Nobel laureates.
In its report HRW criticizes the government for not providing it with what it claims is sufficient evidence about the criminal cases underway against those accused of carrying out the violence in August. Ecuador is a sovereign country and has no responsibility to provide every piece of evidence demanded by foreign based organizations with a political agenda.
The release of this report, timed to coincide with another wave of opposition marches launched today, is a clear political intervention with the aim of discrediting the government in wider public opinion at a time when Ecuadorians are debating amendments to their constitution.
Best regards,
Guillaume Long
President of the International Relations Commission
Alianza PAIS