A/HRC/41/35/Add.1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, and other international instruments in force to which the country is a signatory. 15. Despite these provisions, a wide range of violations of freedom of expression affected individual victims and society as a whole during the tenure of the previous Government. The Special Rapporteurs acknowledge that, since 2017, the Government has initiated a range of changes to improve the situation for freedom of expression. In that regard, they observe that the President recognized the systemic violation of fundamental rights and freedoms, and undertook to dismantle the situation of repression in areas such as the press, the defence of environmental rights, the rights of indigenous peoples and the political sphere. The Government has also taken the first steps to bring the legal and institutional frameworks, as well as the communications policy of the State, into line with international standards on freedom of expression. For instance, the Special Rapporteurs welcome the fact that the National Assembly passed legislation to amend the Organic Law on Communications in December 2018. The Special Rapporteurs also welcome the decision of the Constitutional Court, of 1 August 2018, to repeal a constitutional provision that had established that communication in all its forms should be understood as a public service regulated by the government, and not as a means to exercise freedom of expression. 16. Notwithstanding the progress observed in Ecuador during the visits, the process of transitioning to a consolidated inclusive democracy that guarantees an autonomous space free of threats for journalists, media outlets, civil society organizations and the opposition must continue and be reinforced. The Special Rapporteurs note that this transition should include the effective participation of all interested parties. In their meetings with journalists, media representatives, civil society organizations, members of indigenous communities and others, the Special Rapporteurs found that nearly a decade of persecution had placed a significant strain on those actors. Journalism as a profession and a fundamental institution of democracy had been undermined and discredited. Valuable members of the profession had been forced to leave journalism or the country for fear of retaliation and a lack of prospects, or had suffered the chilling effect of the aforementioned policies. Similarly, the Special Rapporteurs were informed by academics and journalists who did not share the current administration’s politics that a climate of revenge could develop in society, which could have a chilling effect on pluralism and criticism of the current Government. 17. Because of this, the Special Rapporteurs urge the State, in addition to adapting the legal and institutional frameworks, to establish individual reparation measures aimed at providing restitution, compensation and rehabilitation to victims, as well as general measures of satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition. IV. Main findings A. Legal change 1. Communications law 18. The Organic Law on Communications, as enacted in 2013, contained various provisions that violated international standards on freedom of expression and was used as an instrument of persecution and undue restriction, seriously affecting the operations of the media and journalism in Ecuador. 19. Following the visits and as conveyed to the Government in a joint communication on 11 January 2019, 1 the Special Rapporteurs acknowledge and commend the State for passing legislation in December 2018 to amend the Organic Law on Communications and put an end to a number of legal concepts and institutions that flagrantly violated the international principles of the right to freedom of expression. They welcome the express inclusion in the law, through the amendments published on 20 February 2019, of international instruments as guiding criteria for its interpretation and use. They also 1 See www.ohchr.org/en/issues/freedomopinion/pages/legislationandpolicy.aspx (Spanish only). 5