Case History: Paulina Muñoz Samaniego
On 30 July 2015, human rights defender Ms Paulina Muñoz Samaniego filed a criminal complaint concerning the continuing intimidation she has been subjected to for the past eight months. Among the incidents that motivated the human rights defender to file the complaint were a series of threatening notes sent to her house, a warning phone call made to her father and the hacking of her work e-mail and her organisation's facebook page.
Paulina Muñoz Samaniego is a women's rights defender and has been working at the Colectivo de Mujeres Acción Política since 2000. She has also been active in raising awareness about the impact of free trade agreements on vulnerable groups in Ecuador. She is a member of the network of social organisations called Ecuador Decide, which opposes the current negotiations of a free trade agreement between Ecuador and the European Union (EU).
On 30 July 2015, human rights defender Ms Paulina Muñoz Samaniego filed a criminal complaint concerning the continuing intimidation she has been subjected to for the past eight months. Among the incidents that motivated the human rights defender to file the complaint were a series of threatening notes sent to her house, a warning phone call made to her father and the hacking of her work e-mail and her organisation's facebook page.
The human rights defender has been the victim of an ongoing intimidation campaign for the past eight months. On 27 October 2014, Paulina Muñoz received the first of a series of intimidatory notes to her home in which it warned her that she was under surveillance. Following that episode, Paulina Muñoz started to receive alerts from her email provider of unusual activity and remote access to her Ecuador Decide e-mail. In November 2014, she also became aware that Ecuador Decide's facebook page had been hacked and offensive messages were being sent from that page by unknown individuals.
On 28 February 2015, the human rights defender attended a conference organised by Confederación Kichwa del Ecuador (ECUARUNARI), during which she denounced the possible negative consequences that the adoption of a free trade agreement between Ecuador and the EU, in its current format, could have for local communities. Three days after the event, she received an anonymous note referring to her intervention at the conference and saying “Aun tienes oportunidad, solo avísanos, sabes a quien dirigirte, arregla tu vida, tu economía, la de tu padre, de tu familia” (“while you still have the opportunity, just let us know, you know who to reach out to, fix your life, your finances, those of your father and your family”).
Following the conference, Paulina Muñoz Samaniego decided to leave the country for a period of three months. A few days after her return to Ecuador, on 25 June 2015, she was verbally attacked in the street by an unknown woman while on her way to work. At the same time, a man ran past and handed her flowers with a note containing another warning. A few days later, in the first week of July, an unknown person called the human rights defender's father, who is 83 years old. The caller told him that Paulina Muñoz Samaniego needed to be helped, but was not letting anyone do so.
