Violencia contra las mujeres: protagonismo penal en el Sistema Interamericano y resistencias anticarcelarias desde Ecuador

Abstract This article critiques the Inter-American Human Rights System’s (IAHRS) reliance on penality to address violence against women (VAW). Through an analysis of key case law and Ecuador as a case study, it exposes the limits of this ‘human rights penalty,’ as evidenced by high rates of case ‘abandonment’ and a sustained rise in VAW. The article then draws on original empirical research with anti-carceral feminist collectives to explore how women’s movements that challenge penal dominance are advancing non-penal strategies against VAW. These practices resist a structural form of ‘penal violence against women’ and represent justice approaches that target the material living conditions and systemic factors driving VAW. The findings argue for the integration of these perspectives into human rights theory and practice, with a view to mitigating penal expansion and developing responses that better serve women affected by gendered penal violence.