The IOM office in Quito is providing advice and financial support
to the recently created Inter-institutional Commission tasked with
the drafting of a National Plan to “Combat Human Trafficking
and Other Forms of Sexual and Labour Exploitation” in
Ecuador.

 

In the coming months, the Commission will hold four regional
seminars to discuss the National Plan and to collect pertinent
information that will be systematized and approved in a final
meeting in Quito. IOM, as part of the Commission, will support the
development of these workshops.

 

Although there is no research or concrete statistics on human
trafficking in Ecuador, the International Labour Organization (ILO)
estimates that more than 5,000 girls and adolescents have been
trafficked for purposes of sexual exploitation.  The majority
of the victims come from small towns and are trafficked to larger
urban areas.

 

The drafting of the National Plan to Combat Human Trafficking is a
top priority for the Ecuadorian authorities, as it will provide a
political base to carry out concrete actions to fight human
trafficking.

 

The Commission is headed by the Ministry of the Government and is
made up of representatives from other government entities such as
the National Council of Women, the National Council of Children and
Adolescents, the Department of Human Rights of the Ministry of
Foreign Relations, the National Institute of Children and the
Family, and the Ministry of Public Health, amongst others. 
Civil society and international organizations such as IOM, the ILO
and the United States Agency for International Development also are
part of the Commission.

 

The Commission was formed in 2004 following an Executive Decree,
which declared that combating human trafficking, migrant smuggling,
sexual and labour exploitation, the prostitution of women, boys and
adolescents, child pornography, and the corruption of minors, is a
political priority of the State.

 

Currently IOM has more than 130 counter-trafficking projects
throughout the world that include medical, psychological and return
and reintegration assistance to victims, as well as research,
awareness raising, training for government officials and NGOs and
technical support to governments.

 

For further information, please contact:

Maria Isabel Moncayo

IOM Ecuador

Tel: + 593 2-22-53-948/49/50

Email: "mailto:mmoncayo@oim.org.ec" target="_blank" title=
"">mmoncayo@oim.org.ec