Ecuador’s Judicial Council and the EU Programme, EL PAcCTO organised a working day to learn about international experiences in order to determine the profile and define the selection process of the judges who will work in the Specialised Judicial Units in the Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime . Experiences were also shared on the crimes known to these specialised jurisdictions in Costa Rica, Peru, Italy and Spain.

The creation of these units in Ecuador was proposed by the Judicial Council. It was included in the reforms to the Organic Code of the Judicial Function, approved by the National Assembly in 2020.

During the opening speech, the president of the Judicial Council, María del Carmen Maldonado, indicated that these units represent a milestone for the Judicial Function. “ We provide the Ecuadorian State with a tool for the prevention, combating and punishment of corruption and organised crime. They will be based on the specialisation of justice operators and the granting of specific competencies. In this way, they will be able to act effectively in the prosecution of these crimes,” she said.

The fight against corruption, a challenge for the future

Dr. Maldonado said that the fight against organised crime implies a specialised and coordinated management. In this context, the support of EL PAcCTO stood out. In 2019, the “Seminar on the fight against corruption and organised crime” was held. In addition, a general guide was launched to deal with this problem. “One of the main conclusions was the need for agencies specialised in the field,” she recalled.

For his part, the coordinator of the EL PAcCTO Justice Systems component, Antonio Roma, highlighted the fact that Ecuador will have units specialised in the fight against corruption and organised crime since the trend on a planetary scale is going in that direction.

Along the same lines, the head of Cooperation of the European Union in Ecuador, Andrea Ferrari-Bravo, highlighted the efforts of the country and the justice system to guarantee efficiency and transparency in the justice service. 

In their speeches, Spanish National Court Judge Juan Ramón Sáez Valcárcel and Italian Liaison Judge Galileo D´Agostino spoke about the specialised jurisdictions that exist in their countries. Also on how they work and how they deal with organised crime.  The president of the National Specialised Superior Court of Peru , César Sahuanay, and Costa Rica Supreme Court Judge Sandra Zúñiga also participated in the working session.