[{"bbox": [97, 153, 308, 177], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## Gender based violence"}, {"bbox": [96, 191, 1134, 352], "category": "Text", "text": "In Ecuador, 50.4 of the population are women; almost 4 million of them are of reproductive age (15 to 49) and just over 2 million are in the Economically Active Population. Those belonging to indigenous peoples and nationalities, Afro-descendant and montubio people are generally living in conditions of greater vulnerability to gender-based violence. Regrettably, 65 out of every 100 women from 15 to 49 years of age have experienced some form of violence during their lives. The worst affected sectors include women with the lowest degree of literacy or only basic education, age 18 to 44, afro-descendants and indigenous peoples and nationalities."}, {"bbox": [96, 362, 1134, 467], "category": "Text", "text": "In addition, humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters and global pandemics put women and girls at increased risk of violence. The current COVID-19 crisis was no exception. Increased stress levels, economic and food insecurity, unemployment, and movement restrictions all contributed to increases in reported levels of domestic violence."}, {"bbox": [96, 480, 1134, 563], "category": "Text", "text": "Moreover, femicides, defined in the Comprehensive General Criminal-law Code (COIP) in 2014, according to official figures (INEC), reached 549 cases from August 2014 to May 2022; whereas the ‘Alliance to map femicides’ (civil society) reports 1 075 cases, almost twice as many, in that same time period."}, {"bbox": [96, 573, 1134, 735], "category": "Text", "text": "Expectedly, these worrying figures are underpinned by societal values, which have naturalised violence against women and girls. According to the 2019 national survey on violence against women, 57.3% of respondents believe that women should act and dress demurely so as not to provoke a man; 44.9% believe that women should be responsible for household chores; and 26.8% think that a wife should obey her husband in everything he orders. These gender stereotypes demonstrate the structural nature of the problem, which requires a comprehensive and sustained intervention strategy over time."}, {"bbox": [96, 745, 1134, 906], "category": "Text", "text": "The 2018 Comprehensive General Law to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women (LOIPEVCM) targets ‘girls, adolescents, youth, adult women and elderly adult women, in all their diversity, in both public and private settings’, especially those in situations of vulnerability or at risk. The Law: i) urges the approval of holistic policies and actions for prevention, support, protection and reparations for victims; ii) promotes work on new masculinities; and, iii) establishes, as priority, actions to transform the ‘socio-cultural patterns and stereotypes that treat as natural, reproduce, perpetuate, and sustain inequality between men and women’."}, {"bbox": [96, 916, 1134, 1050], "category": "Text", "text": "This new public policy framework requires support to achieve its objectives. Systems in need of strengthening include the Comprehensive System to Prevent and Eradicate Violence, the Observatory of Violence, the Single Registry of Victims, the Early Warning System, administrative protection measures, and others. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen capacities in the competent institutions, provide additional resources, and develop secondary regulation or instruments in order to make these measures effective."}, {"bbox": [96, 1060, 1134, 1196], "category": "Text", "text": "On the other hand, local governments must implement the above-mentioned Law within the scope of their competences, especially in the prevention and attention of violence. However, in some cases they do not have the normative conditions (ordinances), resources and human talent to implement actions that have an impact on the reduction of violence against women. This, together with a weakened women’s movements, which do not have the resources to sustain themselves, weakens the actions of civil society."}, {"bbox": [96, 1206, 1134, 1474], "category": "Text", "text": "In 2019, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences Dubravka Šimonović reported at the 44th session of the Human Rights Council on her visit to Ecuador (29 November to 9 December 2019), and examines the gaps and challenges in preventing and combating gender-based violence against women in the country, and recommends measures for addressing these challenges. She recognised that the country has experienced a few political, institutional and economic changes with yet a considerable progress towards bringing domestic legislation into line with international human rights standards including through the enactment of the Comprehensive Organic Law to Prevent and Eradicate Violence against Women in 2018. Yest she ‘encouraged to continue with the ongoing legal reform process and to address legal shortcomings of the Criminal Code and the Health Code as well as to ensure the full implementation of the Law on eliminating violence against women, by ensuring that any proposed budget cuts do not negatively impact its application’¹¹."}, {"bbox": [96, 1484, 1134, 1592], "category": "Text", "text": "In relation to persons with disabilities, the National Council for Gender Equality developed research on gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and pregnancy in adolescents with disabilities, as well as training for public officials. Moreover, the National Council for Persons with Disabilities published the “Guidelines and Protocols for Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities”. In total, 10,298 persons with disabilities"}, {"bbox": [86, 1620, 672, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ OHCHR | Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls"}, {"bbox": [1027, 1680, 1144, 1705], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 10 of 32"}]