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Ecuador - International Seminar on Human Trafficking, Migrant Smuggling, Violence and Sexual Crimes

IOM-Ecuador, in coordination with UNICEF, UNIFEM, and ILO, and the National Council of Youth and Adolescents, the National Council of Women, and the Municipality of Quito, held an international seminar in Quito to discuss of human trafficking, migrant smuggling, violence and sexual crimes the week of 11 November 2005.

International and local experts attended the seminar, along with government officials, NGOs, the media, and other institutions. The main topics discussed were:

• providing support for the drafting of public policies to prevent these crimes and assist the victims, as well as examining ways to punish the perpetrators;
• sharing lessons learned and best practices and raising awareness amongst national institutions and the public at large in regard to violence within the family, sexual crimes and human trafficking;
• involving mass media to combat these offenses;
• capacity building for government officials and NGOs to promote the creation of a National Plan of Action Against Human Trafficking and Sexual Crimes.

In Ecuador many poor families are forced to send their children to work on banana plantations, in small mines, or to urban areas where they are often exploited by traffickers.

Very little information or studies exist in Ecuador regarding human trafficking, the routes and the magnitude of the practice, or the impact on its victims.

According to the US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report of 2005 - Ecuador is a source, transit, and destination country for persons trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Many victims are children trafficked for sexual exploitation; in 2003, the ILO estimated that over 5,000 minors in Ecuador were being exploited in prostitution. Ecuadorians are also trafficked to Western Europe, particularly Spain and Italy, and to other countries in Latin America.

The Report adds, “The government should develop, publicize, and implement a comprehensive anti-trafficking policy; strengthen laws to prohibit trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation of minors; and formulate a law enforcement strategy for identifying victims and prosecuting traffickers.”

For more information contact María Isabel Moncayo IOM Ecuador (Northern Border Office) Tel: 593 2 225 3948 Email: mmoncayo@oim.org.ec