Ecuador Outlines a Roadmap to Strengthen the Tracking of Femicide

Ecuador already has mechanisms in place for inter-institutional coordination and case tracking. With technical support from UNODC and UN Women, the next step is to strengthen the interoperable IT infrastructure that supports this work, expand the characterization of cases with supplementary information from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, forensic medicine, and institutions responsible for gender equality and security, and document the methodology for producing statistics. This will allow for better incorporation of variables related to background, circumstances of the incident, and the context of gender-based violence, as well as facilitate the interpretation and use of the data the country already publishes.

On July 24, 2026, a virtual presentation was held to share the results of the pilot project for implementing the Statistical Framework for measuring gender-based homicides of women and girls in Ecuador. The meeting brought together representatives from UNODC, the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence, UN Women, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), the Judiciary, the National Council for Gender Equality, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), the National Directorate for Investigations into Violence (DNAIN), the National Directorate for Investigations into Crimes Against Life, Violent Deaths, Disappearances, Kidnapping, and Extortion (DINASED), and the National Service of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (SNMLCF).

Adriana Oropeza Lliteras, representing the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence, presented the report’s findings and outlined the main technical findings of the exercise. One of the main findings was that Ecuador has 66% of the variables required by the Statistical Framework. This capacity is supported by the work of the Technical Group for Statistical Strengthening (GFE) and by the use of the Crime Report Number (NND) as a master field for tracking cases across institutions in the criminal justice system and the National Statistical System.

The report also identified opportunities to strengthen the automated exchange of information—which is currently carried out through manual processes and spreadsheet files—as well as to progressively incorporate missing variables related to gender context. These include unlawful deprivation of liberty, the abandonment of a body in a public space, specific relationships with other known perpetrators, and a history of harassment or violence.

Viviana Guerra, a representative of the State Attorney General’s Office, noted that the weekly, manual consolidation of data places a significant burden on institutions. She emphasized that the report’s recommendations align with the interoperability and systematization processes the country needs in the security sector and urged the implementation of the necessary commitments to advance these initiatives, which would benefit the management of data on gender-based homicides of women and other crimes.

During the discussion on updating the methodological guide, Verónica Cuzco, representing INEC, indicated that the institution will adopt the roadmap proposed by UNODC and UN Women. She also confirmed that among the activities planned for 2026 is the preparation of a feasibility study to establish the registry as an official statistical operation.

INEC is also making progress in developing the methodological fact sheet for the indicator on gender-based homicides of women. As part of its technical assistance, UNODC provided metadata fact sheets for five prioritized indicators, designed to support countries in documenting concepts, sources, calculation methods, and production criteria. The next step will be to incorporate new variables and strengthen interoperability, in accordance with the technical and budgetary feasibility of the institutions.

The pilot project was implemented in close coordination with the national offices of UNODC and UN Women in Ecuador and included the participation of Teresa Guerra, Coordinator of UN Women’s Global Center of Excellence on Gender Statistics.

How can the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence provide support?

The Center of Excellence supports countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in implementing international standards, evaluating their information systems, and developing solutions to strengthen the quality, comparability, interoperability, and use of statistics on violence against women, femicide, and other security and justice issues.

If your country or institution is seeking to strengthen the statistical measurement of femicide and adapt the Statistical Framework to its national information systems, please contact the UNODC-INEGI Center of Excellence to explore options for technical assistance.