Img_Ecuador_Fortalece_Medicion_Femincidio_Trata_2026_Ing
News 

Ecuador strengthens the measurement of femicide: validation of results and roadmap for 2026

unodc

Between December 15 and 18, 2025, the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence (CoE), in collaboration with ONUMUJERES, carried out a technical mission in Quito, Ecuador, to consolidate Ecuador's capacity to produce official statistics on femicide. The main objective was to validate the national diagnosis of data availability and establish the technical priorities that will guide the statistical production of gender-based homicides of women and girls during 2026, taking into account the international statistical standards of UNODC and UN Women. This mission was coordinated by INEC and involved the active participation of the five institutions that make up the Group for the Statistical Strengthening of Intentional Homicides and Femicides (GFE) over a period of four days.

High-Level Dialogue and Strategic Framework

The mission began with a working session led by the General Directorate of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INEC) and the CdE, in coordination with the UNODC office in Ecuador and the UN Women Center of Excellence. During this session, the preliminary version of the Implementation Guide for the Statistical Framework for Measuring Femicide/Feminicide was presented. This tool was developed based on lessons learned from pilot projects carried out in four countries in the region.

This guide provides a common basis for countries to strengthen their statistical capacity, enabling administrative data to move beyond being simple isolated records and become robust evidence to inform prevention strategies and criminal justice responses. The document includes best practices identified in the Latin American and Caribbean countries participating in the pilot: Chile, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay. Among the good practices are the establishment of formal coordination mechanisms between institutions that produce and use femicide statistics; the adoption of the International Classification of Crimes for Statistical Purposes (ICCS) at the national level by mapping each article of the criminal code; the development of APIs for automated data exchange; and the generation of indicators with the disaggregations recommended by the ICCS to capture detailed profiles of victims and perpetrators.

National Diagnosis and Process Standardization

A key component of the mission was the presentation of the findings of the national data diagnosis. This analysis identified the strengths of the current administrative records, but also areas of opportunity to complement the recording of contextual variables, such as: history of violence/harassment; illegal exploitation; kidnapping/unlawful deprivation of liberty; the victim worked in the sex industry; sexual violence on the victim's body; mutilation or excessive abuse; body discarded in a public space; hatred or prejudice against women, which allow for the identification of gender-based motivation and improve the accuracy of case classification under the criteria established in the framework for characterizing homicides from a broader gender perspective. To support the strengthening of the activities carried out by the GFE, the Center of Excellence presented a proposal for a statistical process adapted to the context of Ecuador. Participants expressed their interest and validated the relevance of documenting the country's statistical production, aligning it with the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM).

This model will enable:

  • Documenting the contributions and responsibilities of each institution in producing statistics, supplementing them with the information they record in accordance with their powers and as the investigation and criminal justice system processes advance.

  • Implementing technical validation points prior to the consolidation of figures.

  • Facilitating access to metadata explaining how official statistics are constructed.

Roadmap for 2026

The mission concluded with the development of a Roadmap for 2026, in which the National Police, the Attorney General's Office, the Judicial Council, the Ministry of the Interior—including the Vice Ministry of Women—and INEC established a series of actions to strengthen the institutionalization of the Statistical Framework in Ecuador:

  • Priority will be given to recording variables related to modus operandi and gender motivation, factors that are often found in narrative formats but are essential for the correct classification of femicide.

  • Work will be done on information exchange through centralized systems and automated recording tools that facilitate production and improve the timeliness of statistics.

  • Continuing education programs will be carried out for front-line personnel responsible for data collection, with a technical focus and a gender and human rights perspective.

  • The statistical process that produces femicide statistics and indicators aligned with international guidelines will be documented.

  • Ecuador has set out to advance the measurement of attempted femicide, serious assaults, and instigated suicides, providing a comprehensive understanding of the cycle of violence against women.

The CdE technical mission in Ecuador contributes to the institutionalization of a high-quality data environment which, by validating the national diagnosis and establishing the 2026 roadmap, strengthens the country's technical capacity to transform isolated records into evidence under global standards such as the Global Standardized Body of Practice for Femicide Measurement (GSBPM). This coordinated effort positions Ecuador as a regional benchmark in the implementation of statistics-based prevention policies, ensuring that information serves as a pillar for public policy formulation.