Alexis Ponce

Alexis Ponce is transforming the human rights movement in Ecuador by engaging young people in one-on-one commitments to attend to the practical and emotional needs of disadvantaged people whose human rights have been violated. His voluntary "adoption" program reaches otherwise-ignored groups and trains a new generation of youth to recognize and fight for human rights.

Alexis Ponce has created a voluntary adoption system of people from disadvantaged or discriminated sectors in society, such as mothers of disappeared children, people with HIV, ethnic minorities, women who are the victims of family abuse, children who live on the street, and political prisoners. He recruits "adopters," who are primarily young people from universities and high schools, and trains them to assist "adoptees" by providing legal advice, conducting research, accompanying them to court and meetings with state institutions, and promoting and publicizing specific human rights causes.
In Ecuador, where human rights work has traditionally been limited in focus to civil and political rights, Alexis is redefining the sectors in need of human rights protection by broadening the scope of his program to include individuals suffering violations of their economic and social rights. Alexis's approach also moves beyond familiar letter-writing campaigns on behalf of specific cases. Th Adoption of Tenderness program increases the potential for widespread and lasting social impact by actively involving young people in the fight for human rights and by providing both practical and emotional support to people at their most vulnerable and isolated. In doing so, Alexis's program is changing not only legal precedents but also a culture in which sensitivity and compassion for disadvantaged people have long been neglected.

Ecuadorians, from many segments of society, suffer from severe discrimination and abuse. In a country of approximately 12 million people, there are 50,000 children living at-risk on the street; 300,000 women in Quito alone who suffer from domestic violence; 10,000 black citizens who face conditions of extreme poverty and discrimination; and 425 children living with their mothers in prisons. Of 10,000 prisoners in the country, 75 percent have yet to receive sentences, and many are being detained arbitrarily without access to legal resources. Of 50 cases of officially disappeared individuals in Ecuador, only one case has been solved. According to Amnesty International, within Ecuadorian prisons, torture has become an institutionalized method for investigation. Furthermore, there is no official form of labor protection for people with HIV.
According to Alexis, Ecuador suffers from a national culture of mistreatment and social discrimination marginalized sectors of society. Political figures typically have not concerned themselves with these issues. He cites as an example the fact that thousands of people living on the coast of Ecuador and whose homes were destroyed by El Niño received nearly no assistance from the central government. This institutional lack of caring exacerbated the country's economic and cultural instability. Because these problems exist around the world, Alexis will extend his Adoption of Tenderness program to other countries, to fight against selfishness and rising inequality, and to demonstrate that solidarity still exists.

Alexis's program begins with the selection and training of dedicated high school and university students as well as members of the Ecuadorian Permanent Assembly on Human Rights, which Alexis founded and directs. The rigorous training includes a theoretical foundation in human rights law; a history component which includes testimony by guest speakers who have been victims of human rights abuse; and practical preparation in how to create meaningful relationships with vulnerable and abused individuals. After this training, volunteers adopt a specific person's case or a more general cause, such as promoting a law to protect the rights of people with HIV.
When volunteers adopt cases they not only provide compassion and legal support to their adoptees but also promote their cases publicly. Through announcements in newspapers, posters, and public meetings, they ensure that information about the cases reaches the public at large. Volunteers influence public opinion, increase sensitivity to discrimination, and guarantee that the cases are not forgotten. Those who adopt causes promote legal actions, organize public demonstrations to catalyze debate, inform the public about critical issues, garner media attention, and promote anti-discrimination laws. In addition, Alexis convinces celebrities, politicians, performers, reporters, sports heroes, and other famous international personalities to adopt specific cases. This approach allows for critical but relatively unknown cases to come to the attention of millions and prohibits governing bodies and politicians from ignoring them.
Alexis has already had tremendous success working with mothers of the disappeared in his adoption program and has begun to spread his strategy to other marginalized groups, such as people with HIV, sex workers, ethnic minorities, senior citizens, prisoners, and others who face human rights abuses throughout Ecuador. He has secured commitments from high schools, universities, and the Ministry of Education to promote the participation of young people in his adoption program.
Through his organization, the Ecuadorian Permanent Assembly on Human Rights, Alexis has gained widespread national and international connections. His international stature has also enabled him to begin to introduce the concept in other countries. He has gained the support of various Nobel Peace Prize winners and artists interested in human rights issues. Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner from Argentina, has already expressed his desire to replicate Alexis's program in his country. Nelsa Curbelo, the Continental Coordinator for Service of Peace and Justice in Latin America has expressed the same interest in helping to spread Alexis's model throughout Latin America.

Alexis's mother had a great influence on him as a young boy by always demonstrating social solidarity and caring for others. At an early age, Alexis learned to share what little he had with other less fortunate friends and neighbors. These early experiences cemented this feeling of solidarity with people in need. At the age of sixteen, he became interested in human rights work when he learned about a Colombian couple that were denouncing the disappearance of their children. He began to protest other disappearances in Ecuador's plazas and arranged events in solidarity with the disappeared. Later he founded the Ecuadorian Permanent Assembly on Human Rights. Working as director of the organization and promoting human rights protection throughout Ecuador, he developed the idea of adopting the families of the "disappeared," an idea he is now ready to extend to other marginalized sectors of society.
Alexis has been at the forefront of human rights work in Ecuador for the past decade. He has received many death and imprisonment threats and been the object of scrutiny in his private life for defending homosexual rights. Yet he has never stopped defense of human rights. One Ashoka panelist says, "Alexis has a restless passion for his work and in 15 to 20 years from now he will most certainly be pursuing this idea throughout the world."