Under a new migration bill presented to the Ecuadorean National Assembly Thursday, “No human being will be considered illegal,” lawmaker Esteban Melo explained Thursday.
Members of the National Assembly representing Ecuadoreans abroad formally presented their bill to the president of the assembly, Gabriela Rivadeneira.
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The Organic Law for Human Mobility, as the bill is known, is designed to respect the principle of universal citizenship and the right of people to migrate.
The bill contains provisions to specifically address the particular needs of refugees and victims of human trafficking.
"For the first time, 11 categories of vulnerability of migrants have identified and based on these, mechanisms of care and protection are established," said lawmaker Ximena Peña.
The bill is aimed at updating the country's migration laws and bringing them in line with the 2008 constitution, one of the first major achievements of the leftist government of Rafael Correa.
Article 40 of Ecuador's Constitution specifies, “The right to migrate of persons is recognized. No human being shall be identified or considered as illegal because of his/her migratory status,” as well as detailing a list of obligations of the state towards migrants.
As a result of political and economic instability before the arrival of the current government, Ecuador experienced a major exodus of people.
According to Rivadeneira, there are more than 2 million Ecuadoreans living outside the country. The bill also contains measures to attend to the special needs of this population and, particularly, those who are returning to the country after having lived abroad.
National Assembly President Rivadeneira said that this bill will be given added importance “as it is part of the historical debt of the country,” while adding that “this transformation the homeland is going through is inclusive and that our migrants cannot be left out.”
The bill will be subject to debate and is expected to be approved in late 2015 or early 2016.
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