11
illness while the State of Ecuador prides itself on protecting the rule of law and protecting
children, which makes me ask perhaps I’m not a human being, perhaps I’m not a girl or an
Ecuadorian, but nobody answers me, while my sad life goes on but nobody takes pity on me.
Someday, someone will describe my sad life, since I can’t tell you everything, since it is very
drawn out and very sad. Once we had a single loaf of bread somebody gave us, we divided it
into three, my mother, brother and myself and we had it with a glass of water from the
faucet, that was many times our lunch or at night heating a liter of water and putting some
vegetation we found by the wayside in there and serving it to ward off hunger; however
many times we went to somebody or some institution asking for help, the simple answer we
got was that I should leave because they are afraid, while the State of Ecuador gives bonds
and other help to many people who are healthy. However I have not even been given a
poverty bond as a reprisal for this claim.45
(…)
E.
Regarding the Red Cross of Ecuador and the Blood Bank y regulation of the health
entities
46. On November 14, 1910, Gen. Ely Alfaro legally acknowledged the institution through Legislative
Decree published in the Official Gazette No.1392, in which it states: “Art. 1. It is hereby decreed that the Red
Cross of Ecuador, a Charitable Institution of Public Benefit, is hereby granted exemption from the payment of
all State or Municipal taxes (…)”46.
47. In August 1922, the first statutes of the Red Cross of Ecuador were promulgated. This contributed
to its recognition at the international level by the League of Societies of the Red Cross (now the International
Federation of Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent) in 1923. 47 These statutes establish that:
Art. 1.- The bases on which the National Society of the Red Cross of Ecuador is founded are
as follows:
FIRST. – The Red Cross of Ecuador is constituted by national organs and Provincial, Canton,
and Local Councils, in accordance with the resolutions of the International Conference of
Geneva of 1864 and with the Principles of the Geneva Convention of 1906. In conformity
with the peace mission given to the Institution of the Red Cross, this was founded in the city
of Guayaquil on April 22, 1910, its constitution was ratified by an Act of the National
Congress of the Republic of Ecuador on October 20, 1910 and published in the Official
Gazette No.1392, on November 14 of the same year. The Red Cross of Ecuador was
recognized by the Government of Ecuador and by the International Committee of the Red
Cross on April 10, 1923, and was accepted as a member of the International Federation of
Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent on June 9, 1923. The Red Cross of Ecuador is
recognized by the Government of Ecuador, as a voluntary aid organization, supplementary to
the public powers in the humanitarian field, in accordance with the provisions of the 1949
Geneva Conventions and as the sole Red Cross society in Ecuador.
SECOND. – The National Society of the Red Cross of Ecuador is governed by its founding law,
and by the conventions and international treaties lawfully ratified by Ecuador and by these
Statutes. It is a private law, non-profit institution, with its own legal personality. Its legal,
judicial and extrajudicial functions, at national level, shall be exercised by the National
Annex 3. Letter addressed by TGGL to the IACHR, dated June 4, 2013.
See. http://www.cruzroja.org.ec/plantilla_texto.php?id_submenu1=2&id_menu=2
47 See. http://www.cruzroja.org.ec/plantilla_texto.php?id_submenu1=2&id_menu=2
45
46