Declaration of a Non-International Armed Conflict as a strategy to address Transnational Organized Crime in Ecuador

Abstract

Since 2017, Ecuador has faced escalating violence due to organized crime, leading to its worst prison crisis and weakening national security. President Daniel Noboa Azin declared twenty-two groups as non- state belligerent actors, invoking norms of International Humanitarian Law. This research aims to determine if this "crime wave" constitutes a non-international armed conflict (NIAC). Criteria of IHL will be analyzed, examining the Ecuadorian situation and the declaration of internal armed conflict. It will assess if groups meet the organizational and intensity thresholds set by international jurisprudence. The methodology will be deductive, starting with an analysis of the security crisis and declaration of internal armed conflict. The study will conclude whether current violence in Ecuador fits within the framework of a non-international armed conflict.