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Ecuador joins OAS Network of Cooperation in Matters of Criminal Justice

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and the President of the National Court of Justice of Ecuador, Carlos Ramírez Romero, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the South American country's participation in the Hemispheric Information Exchange Network for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition

"For the OAS General Secretariat the signing of the agreement with the National Court of Justice of Ecuador is of particular importance, since to some extent we have been witnesses to the restructuring process of justice in this country, with the creation of this highest jurisdictional court one of its most important results," said the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza.

The Hemispheric Information Exchange Network for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and Extradition, known as “the Network,” was launched in 2000, when the Third Meeting of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA III) decided to increase and improve the exchange of information between Member States of the OAS in the area of ​​mutual assistance in criminal matters.

Secretary General Insulza said that the "linkage of the National Court of Justice on extradition issues joins the participation that Ecuador has already undertaken, through the Attorney General’s office, in all matters relating to cooperation in mutual criminal assistance." "In this way,” continued the OAS Secretary General, “the National Court of Justice joins the more than 30 institutions and entities of the Member States that currently comprise our network."

The leader of the OAS highlighted the use of technological advances by the network, which has been cited as a model by the United Nations. "Today the secure electronic communication component of the Network includes more than a hundred users connected daily from the 30 participating States and, with great satisfaction, we completed the pilot phase of the secure video conferencing system, which a group of six countries has been using and which we hope to extend to the entire region."

For his part, President of the National Court of Justice of Ecuador said that "the great evils of mankind are drug trafficking, corruption, organized crime, terrorism and cyber crimes." "Ecuador, as a member of the international community must take action to fight these evils, and help ensure that these crimes are not perpetuated, and this is what is being done with the signing of this agreement," said Court President Ramírez Romero.

The signing ceremony was held in the context of the Ninth Meeting of Ministers of Justice or Other Ministers or Attorneys General of the Americas (REMJA IX).

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-431/12