Indigenous justice in the framework of gender violence

Abstract

The research is based on an indigenous community in the city of Cotacachi, province of Imbabura (Ecuador). In this context, members of the community applied the punishment or indigenous justice on a woman mother of four children for adultery. The main objective of this study is to analyze the case of the trial applied of a Kichwa woman in the socio-cultural context of indigenous justice. This is a qualitative research, within the framework of this, it is considered a case study. The techniques used were in-depth interviews with the individuals involved in the community punishment and the direct observation of the execution. During the the ritual of indigenous punishment, which has the Sumak Warmi (woman) as the victim, it was found that there are five phases established by the indigenous justice traditions of the Kichwa people of Cotacachi: the complaint and petition for a solution before the community council (willachina); the investigation of the case (tapuykuna); the verifi cation of proofs (rikuypacha) of the infi delity of the woman; the opportunity for those involved to repent before the sanction is applied to the woman (chimpapurana); the determination of the sanction (kishpichina). It is concluded in this case study that exercising indigenous justice in Cotacachi is a social drama still understood as lynching, whose application parallels barbarism and atrocity where the universal human rights are undermined and especially of women.