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Deputy Minister of Ecuador Spoke at the OAS Permanent Council on Integral Security Policy of his Country

The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) today received the Deputy Minister of Security Coordination of Ecuador, Stalin Basantes, who spoke about the "Comprehensive Security Policy" of his country, in a special meeting convened for the member states as part of a dialogue within the Organization on the effectiveness of the Declaration on Security in the Americas, that celebrates this year a decade since its signing.

In his presentation, Deputy Minister Basantes said security is a fundamental right of the citizens in the Americas, and improving it represents is a serious challenge in the region. "We can no longer talk about security with reductionist views that criminalize poverty, it is time to take on the problem of insecurity as a global phenomenon that has different means of expression," said the Ecuadorian official to the Permanent Council.

In a meeting chaired by the Vice Chair of the Council, the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda, Ambassador Deborah-Mae Lovell, Deputy Minister Basantes said "our policy is based on integral security, reflected in an institutional architecture that supports the correlation between the various security agencies in the country." In this regard, he said that "in the revolutionary process in Ecuador, the security paradigm of the Cold War is left aside and we’ve begun the policy of 'living well,' which comes from the worldview of the pre-Columbian indigenous cultures. It is a vision of the cosmos as a unified whole, operating under the principles of the exercise of the common good, complementarities, co-operatives and self-management."

The "National Plan of living well," he continued, has dedicated one of the national objectives to integral security. In this context, the public administration structure designed by the government of President Rafael Correa has six organs of strategic coordination, among which is the Ministry of Security Coordination.

The Deputy Minister said that the political process in Ecuador went from "an isolated vision of national security to a participatory security, where all the action of the State revolves around the axis of the human being." "We also went from a concept of security based on the police and the military to a security that can mainstream human rights and the co-responsible participation of the citizenry," he added, explaining that this vision was embodied in the National Security Plan.

The senior Ecuadorian official said the security policy of his country prioritizes “territorial police services," which aim to bring the police to the community, "so that the police are involved in the daily activities of each neighborhood and become the ally of the community in fighting crime." He also mentioned the importance that the government assigns to "social rehabilitation centers" that, based on respect for human rights, allow for the social integration of inmates.

The representative of the Government of Ecuador said that, as a result of these policies, and together with other measures such as controls on arms sales, the consumption of alcohol and public spaces by the state, there has been a sustained reduction in homicides. Regarding illicit drugs, he said the seizures have increased.

During the Council meeting the representatives of El Salvador, Ecuador, Bolivia, Trinidad and Tobago (on behalf of CARICOM), the United States, Argentina, Peru, Mexico and Colombia all took the floor.

The special meeting of the Council was held in the framework of the meetings to be held this year as part of the dialogue on the effectiveness of the implementation of the Declaration on Security in the Americas, which will culminate in November in a formal ceremony in Mexico to affirm the continued validity of the Declaration.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The video of the event is available here.

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

Reference: E-273/13