Anti-discrimination law in two legal cases in multicultural Ecuador: Afro-Ecuadorian organizations and individuals versus Bonil/El Universo, and Michael Arce and Liliana Mendez versus Lieutenant Fernando Encalada/Escuela Superior Militar Eloy Alfaro (ESMIL)

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the spirit of the multiculturalism enshrined in the 2008 constitution, a number of legal instruments to fight discrimination were adopted in Ecuador and have been at the disposal of Ecuadorian socio-political actors, organizations, and state agencies. This article zeroes in on two of these legal instruments: 1) the 2009 insertion of the classification and definition of ‘hate crimes’ and ‘discrimination’ in the Código Integral Penal, and 2) the 2013 Ley Orgánica de Comunicación (Communications Law), which was an administrative law especially directed to those who publish written and visual texts in the media. Above and beyond illustrating how anti-discrimination legal instruments are actually applied in Ecuador to remedy anti-black racism in the field of everyday life, the two legal cases are approached within the multiplicity of fields of meaning they have relevance within. Both cases reveal contemporary race relations in a historically racist society in which the state has openly been instrumental for the reproduction of racist stereotypes that contribute to the making of Afro-Ecuadorians as second-class citizens. They uncover how much involved and why the relatively new, mostly urban-based, Afro-Ecuadorian middle-class has been in fighting anti-black racism. The article also points to the many limitations of contemporary legal instruments to end discrimination.