Quito, June 28 2021 – According to available official data, in Ecuador more than 65% of women have experienced some form of gender-based violence (GBV); many of them are part of migrant and refugee communities, 51% of whom are women and girls. The decision to migrate offers women the possibility of improving their quality of life, however, at the same time they must face various violence, vulnerabilities and risks as a result of their irregular migratory status and discrimination due to their status as women and foreigners, according to the 2018 study on Women, Violence and Borders.
For this reason, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) join efforts to strengthen actions around prevention and care for survivors of GBV. This alliance aims to develop proposals related to safe cities for women and girls, the generation of knowledge and key information on crimes such as sexual exploitation, among others.
Through their respective representatives, Ana Elena Badilla and Antonino De Leo, both offices agreed to strengthen their work approaches related to access to justice for women and girls, the prevention of violence against women and girls, and the generation of knowledge and information to establish joint proposals within the framework of human rights.
"The historical violence and discrimination against women and girls, aggravated in contexts of humanitarian emergencies, require joint efforts to eliminate barriers to access to justice, prevent new acts of violence, and ensure a response that addresses the causes and differentiated impacts in a decisive manner"
said Antonino De Leo, UNODC representative for Peru, Ecuador, and coordinator of operations in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay
For her part, Ana Elena Badilla, UN Women Representative, said that "it is necessary to unite all efforts to provide survivors with comprehensive responses that allow them to recover their life projects, with autonomy and free from violence". UN Women and UNODC reaffirm their commitment to crime prevention and access to justice from a gender perspective.