85% of trafficking victims are minors and women. This is a silent crime as it is difficult to identify the victims.
It was in 2014 when human trafficking was classified as a crime in the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code (COIP), since then and until 2021 there have been 982 complaints. The figure, however, may be higher since identify the victims It is not an easy task.
Mariela A., victim and member of a foundation for the defense of human rights, says that a victim of trafficking can carry out work in common places and that her captors keep her in a state of threat that prevents them from reporting or asking for help.
Laws that do not go through paper
On Monday, November 15, 2021, the Committee for the Elimination of the Discrimination against the women of United Nations made a periodic review of the situation of women in Ecuador.
The committee detailed that there is concern, since Ecuador “continues to be a country of origin, transit and destination” for the traffic from women and girls for your sexual exploitation, especially in the border provinces with Colombia: Carchi, Sucumbíos and Esmeraldas.
Gladys Acosta, one of the 23 experts of the Committee of the United Nations, recommended that Ecuador take measures to initiate a more effective application of the Law for the Prevention of Violence against Women, that has been in operation since 2018, but that “has not achieved its mission”, highlights Virginia Gómez de la Torre, director of Fundación Desafío,
How to measure the lack of results of the law? Well, it has not been possible to train judges, prosecutors, policeman and other officials to execute the law with a gender perspective. For Mariela, focusing on the law would allow speed in the cases, since “the revictimization to which the prosecutors subject you has to do with a lack of gender knowledge. A case of trafficking can take years to resolve, because since there are no specialists to demonstrate the recruitment, the transfer, the deceit of the victim is a complex task ”.
Another factor that influences it is the economic one, since since 2019, this law had reductions that left it with a budget of $ 1.5 million. With this item it has not been possible to increase the number of shelters nationwide. Currently, there are only five spaces that welcome and accompany women victims of violence.
Minors and women the most likely victims
Data from the Ministry of Government and the Prosecutor’s Office detail that 85% of victims of trafficking are underage women and young adults. The main purposes are trafficking labor exploitation, forced prostitution, sex tourism and child pornography.
Through a report, UN-Women alerted Ecuador (in 2019) that women and girls are the main victims of human trafficking and noted that there was a ‘boom’ of exploitation Venezuelan immigrants and others vulnerable populations.
Recruitment pattern
Social networks have become one of the spaces for recruiting victims. The Ministry of Government details that the criminal organizations they use the social networks to capture potential victims. Deception is the basis of this crime, through which “unique opportunities” are offered such as: tI work abroad with exorbitant salaries, easy money and no guarantor, immediate student scholarships and without much paperwork. (AVV)
Un 65% de las mujeres en Ecuador dice haber sufrido violencia de género durante la pandemia, según las Naciones Unidas.
