a judge in the ordinary courts or before the Court of Constitutional Guarantees, which defended the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and whose members came from the executive, the judiciary and the private sector and were appointed by the Rational Congress. Failure by any official to implement a decision of the Court was punishable under the terms set out in the Penal Code. A considerable number of complaints against particular authorities or policies of the Government and of unfair dismissal for expression of opinions critical of the Government had indeed been brought before the Court. Although those procedures were extremely slow, there had been, in recent months, four convictions against members of the police for offences against constitutional freedoms. Under Order Ho. 8524A, an examination of all accusations of abuse of power or corruption made against the police in the past eight years had been initiated by the Ministry of the Interior, Furthermore, a high-level commission had been set up under Decree No. 2693 to draft a set of rules for the police as well as other legal instruments relating to their operation. 228. Concerning the views adopted by the Committee in the case of Mr. Bolanos, who had been unjustly charged with a crime and detained for many years without being sentenced, the representative noted that Mr, Bolanos had been released and that the Government had arranged employment for him. However, although the principle of compensation was enshrined in the Constitution, relevant legislation implementing that guarantee had not yet been developed for all infringements of human rights. In the case of Mr. Canon Garcia, a Colombian citizen, the Government recognized that the procedures under Ecuadorian law for the expulsion of aliens had not been complied with and the authorities had since then given specific instructions with regard to the expulsion of aliens to the INTERPOL section and to other police bodies. 229. Responding to other questions, the representative admitted that there were still instances of human rights violations in Ecuador. They had, however, to be regarded as arising from factors such as economic problems and inadequate social organization. Active efforts were being made to solve those problems, to continue to prosecute those violating human rights and to foster a proper attitude towards human rights. Members of the former Criminal Investigation Service who had been involved in cases of human rights violations had been dismissed from the police force and those who had not been implicated in any abuses had been reintegrated into police bodies that were not involved with criminal matters. A higher proportion of communications had been submitted to the Human Rights Committee than to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights since the Committee had been in operation longer, was better known and was more effective in making Governments aware of human rights violations. 230. With regard to questions raised in connection with article 4 of the Covenant, the representative of the State party said that the reasons for declaring a state of emergency in Ecuador were consistent with the Covenant's provisions. The National Congress could revoke a state of emergency and the Court of Constitutional Guarantees could decide whether a declaration of state of emergency was valid. The latter had, for instance, declared that one such declaration made in May 1988 had not been justified. More recently, the Government had introduced a state of emergency in response to industrial action by petroleum workers which had entailed dramatic economic consequences for Ecuador. The strike had deprived the country of 60 per cent of its -52-