Country information: Ecuador

The population of Ecuador consists of Mestizos (40 %), Indios (40 %), Afro-Ecuadorians (10 %) and Whites (10 %). Of these, about 85% are Roman Catholic, with smaller numbers of protestants, Jews and followers of natural religions. Freedom of belief is included in the constitution.

Tourism represents the most promising source of currency earnings for the future and it is already the third most important sector of the Ecuadorian economy. Since the 1960s there has been a rapid growth in visitors to the country but this growth has stagnated in the last few years.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children in tourism

As in other Latin American countries, there are numerous street children in Ecuador, who as a consequence of their poverty can slide into prostitution. In addition, there is also evidence of trafficking in children in Ecuador, in parallel with the increase in sex tourism.

Investigations show that in 2008 every second child came from a family that was not able to pay for food, housing, education, and medical care. As a consequence, these children do not go to school, and 40.5% are forced to start work at ages between 5 and 9 years and 63% between 10 and 14 years. In a country that is struggling against underemployment and employment, often the only opportunity to offer itself is prostitution. They then become victims of exploitation by traffickers and sex tourists.

Corruption and the loose interpretation of existing laws favour a rapid growth of demand and supply in the field of commercial sex. No official notice is yet taken of this problem, so that no reliable statistics are available.

HIV/ Aids

According to estimates from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, at the end of 2007 approximately 76.000 people in Ecuador were infected with HIV, including 47.100 women. How many children were infected, could not be estimated. In the same year 21.200 Ecuadorians died following infection with HIV.