Análisis sociodemográfico de los usuarios que acuden a la defensoría pública del Ecuador en condición de vulnerabilidad o Estado de indefensión durante el período enero 2018-octubre 2019

Abstract

To addressing the sociodemographic characteristics from a Social Work perspective permitted an in-depth study of the scope of the instrument as well as the characteristics of the users who resort to the Ecuadorian Public Defender's Office. The objective was to “Analyze the sociodemographic situation of the users who resort to the Ecuadorian Public Defender's Office in vulnerable conditions or a state of helplessness during the periods January 2018 – October 2019”. The methodology employed was bibliographical, with exploratory and descriptive levels approached from the analytical method. The most significant results allowed us to identify that users that mostly resort to it, show a high percentage regarding the Ecuadorian nationality, female gender, “non-defined” salary, mixed ethnicity; being these indicators of vulnerability and/or historical social exclusion, like gender and poverty, whose relations are evidenced in the feminization of the users who attend to the institution, as well as the presence of the unstable incomes. The Ecuadorian Public Defender's Office according to the national defined norm as an independent body of the Judicial Function, has created a series of internal and inter-institutional administrative processes and procedures that contribute with the reduction of the inequality gap with regard the accessibility to the justice of people in a vulnerable situation or a state of helplessness. However, the justice system still requires greater State efforts on the fight for the reduction or eradication of social gaps that hinder the protection and promotion of a welfare state, and the human development boost.