1. The most important human rights; are they respected in Ecuador?
What are the human rights?
Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of
residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status.
We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. The rights are all
interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of
treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international
law. International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain
ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and
fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
Ecuador is a member of the United Nations from December 21st 1945 and the rest of Latin
America are members almost at the same time.
Where do we have the human rights?
Constitution and human rights. Ecuador’s constitution defines respect, defense, and
promotion of human rights as the highest duty of the state. Accordingly, and in the context
of international human rights conventions ratified by Ecuador, the government has called
for implementation of the National Human Rights Plan of June 24, 1998. The plan was
developed in a joint effort of the government and civil society, based on a detailed analysis
of the human rights established in the national constitution and the international

2. declarations and treaties ratified by Ecuador. The National Human Rights Plan is intended
to prevent, eradicate, and sanction human rights violations in Ecuador through
institutionalization of policies that facilitate identification of impediments to full exercise of
human rights; permit execution of juridical, political, administrative, economic, social,
cultural, and environmental proposals promoting implementation of the plan; and promote
and disseminate human rights principles in the media. The plan includes four strategic
areas for definition of human rights: national and international legislation; civil and political
rights; economic, social, and cultural rights; and collective rights including human rights
and the environment and the rights of specific subgroups. The Office of the High
Commission on Human Rights in late 1999 held an international seminar in Ecuador on
promotion and protection of human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean to provide
technical assistance and encourage regional cooperation in implementation of human
rights policy.

3. The Human Rights in Ecuador are respected, but there are people who violence the rights
of the people, specially poor people, and there are some cases in Ecuador that the law
should be strict with them.
For example, Banana workers in Ecuador are the victims of serious human rights abuses,
there are children as young as eight work on banana plantations in hazardous conditions.
The use of harmful child labor is widespread in Ecuador's banana sector. Child labor and
obstacles to organizing on Ecuador's Banana Plantations, the children began working
between the ages of eight and thirteen, most starting at ages ten or eleven. Their average
workday lasted twelve hours, and fewer than 40 percent of the children were still in school
by the time they turned fourteen. In the course of their work, they were exposed to toxic
pesticides, used sharp knives and machetes, houled heavey loads of bananas, drank
unsanitary water, and some were sexually harassed. Roughly 90 percent of the children
continued working while toxic fungicides were sprayed from airplanes flying overhead. For
their efots, the children arned an average of $3,50 per day, approximaely 60 percent of the
legal minimum wage for banana workers.
Ecuadorian law fails to protect effectively the right to freedom of association, and
employers take advantage of the weak law and even weaker enforcement to impede
worker organizing.
Workers illegally fired for union activity have no right to reinstatement. Instead, in the
unlikely event that the offending emplyers are found responsible, they must pay only a
negligible fine often less than $400,00.

4. The organization of the human rights, urged Ecuador to guarantee children's right to
educations by ensuring, as required by the country's own law, that all children under fifteen
have access to free schooling.
There are some testimonies that can explain that some people does not respect other
people abuses in their work, this companies use toxics and they do not use protection,
workers abuse sexually of children, there was a case where three young girls described
that their boss touched them, with these examples I think that there are many people who
do not respect.
That is why I think there are many laws to protect Human Rights, but there are cases that
powerfull people can abuse poor people.

5. Ecuadorians take their customs, traditions, and music for granted. How can they be
encouraged not to prefer foreign ones?
Ecuador has the biggest biodiversity per area in the world and many ethnic or indigenous
groups, for that reason our culture is the richest around the world.
The richness of Ecuador lies in its diversity, both natural and cultural. Ecuador has 4
diverse and unique regions: The Amazon Rain Forest, The Highland Andes, The Coast,
and the Galapagos Archipelago. These four regions are subdivided into provinces.
Besides its exuberant biodiversity, Ecuador is home to an impressive variety of ethnic
groups, including communities who still practice ancient cultural traditions.
The first language is Spanish, however, most of the indigenous poulation speaks Quichua,
There are 18 different languages among native communities.
Ecuadorians are losing their customs. Nowadays, we have influence of the other countries
specially europe and north america. There are many people who travel abrod and they
learn and see new things there, and if they come back, they do not have the same live in
Ecuador.
For example marriage and family, these are the most important topics for families, when a
girl reaches age 15, a catholic ceremony officially presents her to society. It the family can
afford it, a party with food, drinks and dancing follows the ceremony. Woman usually
marry by age 23, and as young as 14 in some rural areas, while men marry around age
25. Families often emphasize that young people should complete their education before
marrying. Many urban couples do not live together before their curch wedding, even if

6. they have already been married by law. Common-law relationships, referred to as estilo
manabita, are usual in rural, coastal areas, largely because people cannot afford the
expense of a formal wedding. They are accepted as legal marriages, even though no
ceremony has been performed. Nowadays we can see that people specially women can
get married after they finish their carreers.
Elderly members of the family are respected, and several generations may live under the
same roof. Many families lead a simple life in small homes or rented aparments. While
traditional roles are followed in most families, urban families are changing as more women
work aoutside the home and more men share household duties. Other traditions are
changing as will. For example, children used to live with their parents until they got
married, but now they often leave to get an education, to work or simply to be
independent. A young woman would traditionally go directly from her parents' home to her
husband's but more women are experiencing independence before marriage. Families are
also getting smaller, particulary in urban areas.
Ecuadorians celebrate the new year by burning effigies of the old year in the streets on
New Year's Eve (31 December). Carnaval takes place in February or March. Easter,
Labor Day (1 Mayo), and the Battle of Pichincha (24 May), which marks Ecuador's
liberation, are all national holidays. But the most important national holiday is
Independence Day (10 August), commemorating the day in 109 when efforts were first
made to become independent from Spain. When a new president is elected, he takes the
oath of office on 10 August.
Ecuador people have their own hollidays, wich are celebrated with jubilation and traditional
things, the hollidays are very important in Ecuador, and we have our way to celebrate it.

7. I think that Ecuador has different kind of music around it. Coastal Region, Highland
Region and Amazon Rain Forest, it is traditional and typical, special at the cost the music
is really nice with differents instruments created by the musics. They are wind
instruments, marimba and guitarrs. In this area, the music is very funny, people can enjoy
dancing it. Highland Region, the most important group in this area is the indigenous, wieht
wind instruments too, but the music is more sentimental, speak about love hurts, but some
songs are possible to dance too. In the Amazon region, the music is specially, shamanes
uses special instruments to stand for their music. It usually happen in rural areas,
because in the urban areas people prefer to listen foreign music it depends on develop in
this area.
Ecuadorians have too much influce from the foreign countries, for example clothes, music,
programs, activities and ways of thinking through television, news and magazines.
But there are many people, special groups who decide to mantein their customs, but they
are criticized for the society, because people who have a lot of money know many things,
because they have had the opportunity to travel abrod and that help them to learn different
things. But that is not good, because we have to mantein our culture, music and traditions,
only we have to think how we can manage events to develop and improve our traditional
festivities.
We have everything in Ecuador: music, own festivities, handicrafts and special traditions
that only in our country exists.

8. How can parents teach teenagers the diference between freedom and
licentiousness?
First of all, I think that there is not difference between freedom and licentiousness,
because both of them are not the same. We will check some concepts about freedom and
licentiousness to try investigating about which are the diferences between freedom and
licentiousness.
Freedom means, the idea of being free, is a broad concept that has been given numerous
interpretations by philosophies and schools of thought. The protections of interpersonal
freedom can be the object of a social and political investigation, while the metaphysical
foundation of inner freedom is a philosophical and psychological question.
Licentiousness means, it is the quality of being lewd and lascivious. Immorality the quality
of not being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. The inmmorality of basing
the defense of the west on the treat of mutual assured destruction.
It means the excess in action and immoderate indulgence of bodly appetites, especially in
passion or indulgence; the intemperance of their language.
I think there are many differents between of them:
Freedom is a right that Everybody has. For example we can check some of the rights we
have:
free asociation, free circulation, free education, free of enterpris, free expresion, free de

9. prensa, free intelectual, free religious.
Licentiousness is a bad thing, because it means that you do not respect other people, or
when people have a lot of many, they spend the money in
Trying to learn our children the difference between of them is difficult, but the comunication
will be the best way to teach them the good and bad things that the live has, but we have
to keep a really good comunication with teenagers, because Teenagers can not
understand the difference between the licentiouness and freedom.
People can choose the best thing for them. Think about to have a freedom life or a
licentiousness life.

10. Main problems at public schools and how to improve education in Ecuador
There are some problems with the public education in Ecuador, but I think there are ways
to improve education, that depends on us. There are many important projects, they are
managed by foreing people, and I will explain about this project, maybe it will be a good
example to follow, we have the skills in our hands, but only we have to think about what we
can do to improve and develop our contry and education.
In the Amazon region of Ecuador, poverty, environmental degradation and poor quality of
public education are all inextricably linked. Thirty percent of elementary school children in
the Amazon region do not finish the 6th grade. Only 15% finish secondary schooling.
Students drop out because they feel the current public education available in their remote
communities is impractical and irrelevant to their everyday lives. There is an important
project in the Amazon Rain Forest wich opened a Technical High School to benefit high
school-age indigenous and mestizo students who live in remote rural communities in
Ecuador's Amazon region. Meaningful education is the key to reversing generations of
poverty, raising environmental awareness and ensuring the sustainable use of the region's
natural resources.
With the proper preparation, Amazon youth can become good stewards of their land,
leaders within their communities and ambassadors for the Amazon. They can learn how to
be successful entrepreneurs, gain the tools to improve their standard of living, and create
environmentally sound employment possibilities in the rainforest.
This High School is a non-traditional technical school providing a practical and relevant
experiential learning approach. It is forging a new generation of green leaders and

11. entrepreneurs and is sparking students' interest and desire to continue their education.
The program is promoting conservation of the Amazon's biodiversity through teaching
sustainable use of natural resources, providing professional skills to improve employability,
and mentoring management of student-run ecological enterprises. Subjects include eco-
tourism, sustainable agriculture, forest and wildlife management and environmentally
sustainable micro-enterprises. While the education is relevant and practical, there is still
the problem of a digital divide between the rural Amazon students and the rest of the
world. In early 2006, the High School internet center began to operate. Equipped with a
2,000 watt solar array and an innovative hydroelectric system, high speed satellite
communication and the latest in solar powered wireless mesh-box repeater technology,
the internet center is providing an opportunity for the students of the high school to have
access to information and to communicate with students and others throughout the world.
The Foundation is constantly looking for solutions to problems we incur living and working
in the rainforest environment. Therefore, we developed the Yachana E2 solid state
computer. This little CPU only uses 8 watts of power and has no moving parts. All the
compute is made up of component parts so if any part dies, it can be replaced and you
don't loose the entire computer. 20 of these computers are in operation for the students.
Young people from the Amazon region of Ecuador have traditionally learned by "doing",
not sitting in classrooms. The Yachana Foundation is providing an extensive "campus" of
4,300 acres (1,700 hectares) of land and infrastructure worth 1.3 million dollars for the
students to use in this learning process. The Amazon High School students learn by being
actively involved in all aspects of the Foundation's on going development and eco-tourism
projects. The approach is different because the Yachana Foundation and Yachana Lodge

12. are giving students access and participation in adult level operations, financial
management, dealing with tourists, training in accounting, and participation with visiting
international students and volunteers. An innovative scheduling divides the students into
two groups in a residential setting, each group present for 28 days that reflects the realities
of the region. The high school runs for 365 days per year.
One of the unique features of the Yachana High School is that its operation is designed to
be as close to self-sustaining as possible. Initially, large sums of support are needed for
salaries, operations and the construction of infrastructure. Our goal is to have the school
self-sustaining in a short period of time. Our innovative combination of support from
Yachana Lodge, Yachana Gourmet and micro-enterprises run by the students, will ensure
this goal in a few years.
This is an example, the problem is not the goverment, the problem is that we do not use
our skills and we do not try to develop our education by ourselves, we only wait that our
teachers do all the work and students only seat and listen the classes but if we try to
change how to teach our students, this will be the best way, we have to give the students
the material and they have to develop the project.
Nowadays, people from the amazon have developed many projects and they are people
who does not receive attention by the goverment. They are the disadvantage group in our
country, but they really develop their dreams, they really want to study and they try to
improve their lives in the far away region.

13. Which articles of our constitution do you think should be changed because they
hold up our economic progress, political stability and social peace?
Ecuador has a new constitution from September 29th 2008, there are many new laws, they
speak about a lot of rights that we will have in this constitution, some laws have 2 or 3
meanings to understand them.
There are some articles which explain about education, these articles said a lot beneficts
that ecuadorians will receved with the new constitution, but my question is how we can
support the education, if ecuador has not a lot of money and for the moment we do not
produce our own products. I do not know how the goverment can support it.
I agree if we have public education free, but what kind of education we will have, if
schools, universities need enough money to support their structure.