Shattered Innocence: Ecuador’s Growing Crisis of School Sexual Violence Against Girls

Author: Sarisha Harikrishna

February 7, 2025

[Image credit: René Figueroa / Oxfam America]

Background of the Issue

Sexual and gender-based violence in schools has long been a persistent issue that plagues Ecuador, despite multiple measures to tackle it. Between 2014 to 2020, 3,607 complaints of school-related sexual violence were reported by the country’s Ministry of Education. However, the number of cases reported have been speculated to not be fully reflective of the actual incidence of sexual violence occurring in the country. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) defines sexual violence as “acts of sexual nature committed against any person by force, threat of force or coercion. This definition also includes rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, or any other act of a sexual nature of comparable gravity.

Despite efforts made to address the alarmingly high numbers of sexual violence cases, Ecuador has demonstrated an inability to protect schoolchildren, especially during unprecedented events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic further increased the occurrence of sexual violence as the shift from offline to online learning limited school staff’s ability to detect cases of abuse. Even after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the pandemic was officially over, online learning remains the preferred mode of conducting classes in the country due to uncontrolled gang violence. Gang violence continues to plague the country of more than 18 million people, forcing the Ministry of Education to order closures of schools in areas of heightened violence.

At this juncture, it must be noted that this inability to protect  schoolchildren is a largely systemic issue deeply rooted in various socio-cultural constructs that perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes. Such stereotypes are referred to as machismo, where men seek to use aggression to their advantage, as it is seen as “macho” to do so, leading to unprecedented rates of femicide. Unfortunately, the machismo phenomenon is still widely practiced in many Latin American countries, including Ecuador. These gender stereotypes are also considered a factor contributing to the low rates of reporting instances of sexual violence in the country.

Evaluating the Legal Framework in Ecuador

Although Ecuador has made significant progress in developing mechanisms to monitor cases of sexual violence, the continued increase in cases cast doubt over their effectiveness, with rights groups criticising the country’s ill-equipped legal framework. At the  forefront of the argument on the failure of the country’s legal framework is the case of Paola Guzmán Albarracín v. Ecuador. The case concerns 14-year-old Paola Guzmán Albarracín who was subjected to harassment and mistreatment by multiple school officials. The school’s vice principal took advantage of Guzmán resulting in a pregnancy. When he insisted on an abortion, the school’s doctor sexually harassed her in exchange for the procedure. Then the school’s inspector subjected her to degrading, victim-blaming questioning, causing her a great deal of suffering. The combination of these actions resulted in her taking her own life. After ingesting the lethal substance that would ultimately lead to her death, Paola was once again failed by the school authorities, who refused to aid her.

Paola’s mother, Petita Albarracín holds up a picture of her daughter as she tirelessly fought for justice for 18 years [Image Source: Landmark case held on alleged sexual abuse of Ecuadorian schoolgirl | Sexual violence | The Guardian]

The multiple failures of the school authorities at every single turn illustrate a legal system that is not only ill-equipped, but also unempathetic to the plight of victims. Although occurring in 2002, Guzmán’s case was resolved 18 years later in 2020 when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights recognised for the first time ever that the right to education should also encompass sexual education and provide legally binding safeguards against such incidents. This decision compelled Ecuador to finally formulate comprehensive public policies to protect schoolchildren. These policies include inter-ministerial efforts to coordinate better prevention efforts and prompt access to information. In 2021, Ecuador celebrated the country’s first day against sexual violence in schools, exactly a year after the monumental decision was made.

This day, aimed to promote awareness on the prevalence of sexual violence in schools led to authorities adopting a national strategy to eradicate sexual violence in just under 6 months. However, their ability to properly follow through on these standards remains to be seen. At present, schools still fail to fully implement mandatory protocols, even after the landmark 2020 decision. The main reasons for this lack of implementation include the lack of knowledge and clarity on the protocols mandated by the Ministry of Education, a lack of student welfare professionals, and  the prevalent assumption that sexual violence should not be reported to protect a school’s reputation.

The Road to Reform

A considerable amount of effort is required to ensure parents feel confident that their children are safe at school. Regarding resources to schools, it is imperative that the Ministry of Education continues to organize comprehensive training courses to administrative staff in order to promote accountability in addressing cases of sexual violence. The Ministry must continue to publish up-to-date data on cases of sexual violence and ensure that safeguards are in place, especially in circumstances where remote learning is required.

In addition,  the Judiciary Council needs to ensure that the rights of child victims and their families when awaiting trial and that reparations to victims are disbursed efficiently. In Guzmán’s  case, the Council was complicit in denying justice to her family when they sought to have her case heard via traditional legal channels. Such actions should be prevented from occurring again in the future. The Judiciary Council must also adhere to the legislative protocols in place while concluding cases in a timely manner. The implementation of these recommendations along with the installation of an independent tribunal would yield positive results in the fight against sexual violence in schools.

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Glossary

• Abortion: The intentional ending of a pregnancy.

• Accountability: The fact of being responsible for what you do and able to give a satisfactory reason for it, or the degree to which this happens.

• Aggression: Spoken or physical behaviour that is threatening or involves harm to someone or something.

• Coercion: The use of force to persuade someone to do something that they are unwilling to do.

• Comparable: Similar in size, amount, or quality to something else.

• Compelled: Having to do something because you are forced to or feel it is necessary.

• Degrading: Causing people to feel that they have no value.

• Eradicate: To get rid of something completely or destroy something bad.

• Feasibility: The possibility that something can be made, done, or achieved, or is reasonable.

• Femicide: The crime of killing a woman or women.

• Gang Violence: A criminal activity carried out by gangs, who use violence or intimidation to enhance or preserve their power, reputation or economic resources.

• Gender stereotypes: Preconceived, usually generalized views about how members of a certain gender do or should behave, or which traits they do or should have. 

• Gravity: Seriousness.

• Harassment: Illegal behaviour towards a person that causes mental or emotional suffering, which includes repeated unwanted contacts without a reasonable purpose, insults, threats, touching, or offensive language. 

• Inter-ministerial: Involving different ministers.

• Judiciary: The part of a country’s government that is responsible for its legal system, including all the judges in the country’s courts. 

• Juncture: A particular point in time.

• Mechanism: A way of doing something that is planned or part of a system.

• Pandemic: A disease existing in almost all of an area or in almost all of a group of people, animals or plants.

• Perpetuate: To cause or continue something. 

• Phenomenon: Something that exists and can be seen, felt, tasted, etc., especially something unusual or interesting. 

• Plagues: To cause worry, pain, or difficulty to someone or something over a period of time.

• Plight: An unpleasant condition, especially a serious, sad, or difficult one. 

• Reparations: Compensation given to a person who has suffered legal injury at the hands of another; to make amends, provide restitution, or give satisfaction or compensation for a wrong inflicted.

• Safeguards: To protect something from harm.

• Socio-cultural: Related to the different groups of people in society and their habits, traditions and beliefs.

• Sterilisation: The process of having a medical operation to make it impossible to have children.

• Systemic: Relating to or affecting the whole of a system, organization, etc. rather than just some parts of it.

• Tribunal: A special court or group of people who are officially chosen, especially by the government, to examine (legal problems) of a particular type. 

• Unsympathetic: Not sympathetic, showing that one does not care for or understand the suffering of others.

• Unprecedented: Never having happened or existed in the past.