The action for protection as a mechanism for the effective protection of fundamental rights in Ecuador: jurisprudential analysis, admissibility issues, and the distortion of the guarantee

Abstract

The action for protection constitutes one of the main jurisdictional guarantees established in the 2008 Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador for the immediate defense of fundamental rights within the framework of the constitutional state of rights and justice. Its purpose is to ensure effective judicial protection against acts or omissions by public authorities or private individuals that violate constitutional rights. However, Ecuadorian judicial practice has revealed several difficulties related to its admissibility, interpretation, and application, which has generated doctrinal and jurisprudential debates regarding its scope and the processes of distortion of this constitutional guarantee. This article aims to analyze the action for protection as a mechanism for the effective protection of fundamental rights in Ecuador, addressing the jurisprudential development of the Constitutional Court, the issues related to the admissibility of this guarantee, and the phenomena of distortion resulting from its improper use. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach of a legal-dogmatic and jurisprudential nature, based on the analysis of the Constitution, the Organic Law of Jurisdictional Guarantees and Constitutional Control, as well as relevant rulings of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador. The findings show that although this guarantee has enabled effective protection of rights in numerous cases, its misuse of resolving matters of mere legality has generated legal uncertainty and procedural overload within the judicial system. It is concluded that strengthening jurisprudential criteria, judicial training, and legal education for citizens is necessary.