Legal analysis of international cooperation for the enforcement of child support obligations with the ecuadorian State

Abstract

In a context of increasing human mobility, in which thousands of Ecuadorian citizens migrate to countries such as Colombia, Peru, Spain and, to a greater extent, the United States, significant legal challenges arise when the child support obligor is located outside the national territory. In response to this issue, the research adopted a mixed methodology that combined normative analysis of international instruments and domestic legislation with the systematization of surveys administered to Ecuadorian judges and lawyers specialized in children and adolescents' rights. The general objective was to analyze the legal mechanisms and procedures available for the international enforcement of child support obligations in favor of Ecuadorian children and adolescents. The results show that Ecuador is a party to international conventions such as the 1956 New York Convention and the 2007 Hague Convention; however, these instruments have not been incorporated into the Organic General Code of Procedures (COGEP) nor into the Code of Childhood and Adolescence (CONA), generating procedural gaps and practical difficulties for international judicial cooperation. Consequently, the need for legislative reform harmonizing Ecuadorian law with the international treaties in force is identified. Based on this, a procedural model is proposed to ensure effective judicial protection and the safeguarding of the right to child support in transnational contexts.