Institutional and legal framework for the implementation of the human right to the water in Ecuador

Abstract

The paper describes the institutional and legal framework of the human right to water in Ecuador. The intention is to provide the qualitative basis to design a methodology to measure its implementation. It analyzes the circumstances that lead to the formal recognition of this right and the strategies required for its efficient guarantee.

        The research applies the Organization of American States report about implementing the human right to water in Central American countries to the Ecuadorian background and people in vulnerable conditions. Moreover, the paper uses an exegetic focus and makes a historical description of the water law protection in Ecuador. It identifies the congress people's real intention in the records of the Constituent Assembly of 2008. The study results are presented according to the variables defined by the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation.

        The paper concludes that the normative recognition of the human right to water is developed in different Ecuadorian laws. However, the country presents institutional weakness, which negatively influences its effective implementation.