IOM counter-trafficking experts and officials of the Ministry of
Justice are this week holding the first human trafficking and human
rights trial competition for law students enrolled in public
universities.

The 40 participating students will litigate a case of human
trafficking and receive information on human trafficking in the
country.  The winners of the two-day competition will
participate in the annual human rights trial competition at
American University in Washington, DC.

According to the National Police division specializing in
children and adolescents (DINAPEN, by its Spanish acronym), human
trafficking has increased by almost 1,000 per cent in the past four
years with numbers of reported cases jumping from 99 in 2005, to
882 in 2009.

"These numbers represent only those cases reported to the
police, because most victims of human trafficking do not want to
involve the authorities for fear of retaliation by traffickers
against them or their family members," says Rogelio Bernal, 
IOM Chief of Mission in Ecuador.

Ecuador is a source, transit, and destination country for
persons trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation and
forced labour.  Many victims are children trafficked for
sexual exploitation and begging.  Most of the victims
trafficked for sexual exploitation are young women aged between 16
and 17, while the vast majority of those trafficked for begging are
children between 6 and 10 years old.

Since 2005, IOM has been providing support to the Ecuadoran
government in its fight against human trafficking. The IOM
programme focuses on contributing to the implementation of the
government's National Plan to Combat Human Trafficking and Other
Forms of Violence, and to support efforts aimed at prevention,
protection and prosecution.

For more information please contact:

Ana Maria Guzman

IOM Quito

Tel: +593 225 67 89

E-mail: "mailto:aguzman@iom.int">aguzman@iom.int