El principio de ciudadanía universal en la constitución ecuatoriana: ¿norma programática o garantía jurídica efectiva en régimen migratorio?

Abstract

The legal issue addressed in this study concerns the determination of the nature, effectiveness, and scope of universal citizenship as recognized in the Ecuadorian Constitution, particularly in light of the State's authority to regulate human mobility, which constitutes the normative tension underlying this research. Accordingly, this study aimed to analyze the establishment of universal citizenship as a binding constitutional principle and to establish its effects on the rights of foreign nationals residing in Ecuador. To this end, the study employed a qualitative approach using a legal-dogmatic method, which involved the compilation of legal provisions, academic literature, and case law handed down by the Constitutional Court of Ecuador. The results indicate that universal citizenship produces immediate effects through the right to migrate, equality, non-discrimination, and the legal safeguards afforded to foreign nationals, while transcending foreign-national status retains a gradual process whose further development depends on the legislation framework established in Ecuador to give effect to the provision under study.