The Constitutional Court of Ecuador has ruled against the state of emergency declared by President Daniel Noboa, which he referred to as the “second phase of the war” against organized crime gangs. With a majority vote, the court declared decree 275 unconstitutional, which imposed a state of emergency in seven provinces and a municipality in an eighth province, citing an “internal armed conflict.”
This decision comes after the court had previously invalidated a similar state of emergency that covered five provinces. The court found that the suspension of the right to inviolability of the home in several provinces was unconstitutional as the circumstances cited did not meet the criteria for an internal armed conflict.
Despite striking down the state of emergency, the Court recognized the serious acts of violence and complex circumstances facing Ecuador. It emphasized that this decision does not impact the Executive’s ability to deploy the Armed Forces in coordination with the Police to combat organized crime, as approved by a referendum.
In recent rulings,
