Migration Policy in the New Ecuadorean Constitution

Abstract

Ecuador's new constitution, approved in 2008, establishes the basis for a new model of the nation-state, characterized as progressively transnational, that attempts to protect both Ecuadoreans living abroad and foreigners residing in the country. It recognizes the right to migrate and the transnational family and advocates universal citizenship, the free movement of all inhabitants of the planet, and the eventual end of the status of foreigner as an element of the transformation of unequal relations between countries.En la nueva constitución de la República del Ecuador, probada en el año 2008, se sienta las bases de un nuevo modelo de Estado-Nación de carácter cada vez más transnacional que intenta velar por las y los ecuatorianos radicados en el exterior, así como por las personas extranjeras residentes en el país. Reconoce el derecho a migrar, la familia transnacional, ciudadanía universal, la libre movilidad de todos los habitantes del planeta y el progresivo fin de la condición de extranjero como elemento transformador de las relaciones desiguales entre los países.

The Value of Illegality: Venezuelan Migrants in Ecuador and the (Re)Entrenchment of Neoliberal Capitalism

“…6 Correa put forward the idea of “universal citizenship,” stated that all persons have the right to international mobility, and declared, “We are on a campaign to dismantle that twentieth-century invention of passports and visas” (Hiemstra 2012, 22; Arcarazo and Freier 2015; Margheritis 2011). In 2008, Correa removed visa requirements for foreign visitors, and Ecuador adopted a new Constitution that (among other progressive changes) affirmed the rights to migrate and asylum, and disallowed discrimination based on nationality or legal status (Arcarazo and Freier 2015; Margheritis 2011; Ramírez 2016). 7 In 2009–2010, Ecuador worked with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to register nearly 30,000 Colombians as refugees (almost 50 percent of those in Ecuador at the time) (Herrera and Gálvez 2019; Pugh, Jiménez and Latuff 2020), and the country was praised as host to the most refugees in the region.…”

Long Voyage: African Migration through Latin America to the US

“…It included an "open door" policy for foreigners traveling to the country and recognized the right to migrate and the free movement of all inhabitants of the planet. In addition, the government lifted all visa requirements for tourists and visitors (Freier, 2013;Ramírez, 2015). As a result of these initiatives, the country became a highly attractive destination for extracontinental migrants that wanted to move onward to the US.…”