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ECUADOR RATIFIES CONVENTION ON TRAFFIC IN MINORS

  May 28, 2002

Ecuador has deposited with the Organization of American States the instruments by which that government ratified the Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors. The OAS treaty was adopted in Mexico City in March 1994, at the Fifth Inter-American Specialized Conference on Private International Law (CIDIP-V).

"Trafficking in minors is one of the most vexing crimes," declared Ecuador's Permanent Representative to the OAS, Ambassador Blasco Peñaherrera, after presenting the documents to Secretary General César Gaviria during a brief ceremony today. By ratifying this treaty, the Ecuadorian diplomat stressed, his government was reaffirming its policy and expressing "faith in the validity and effectiveness of the treaties to which the nations of the Americas are party."

Ambassador Peñaherrera went on to state that his country's "longstanding policy is to support all conventions and initiatives intended to modernize penal systems——to make them more effective and use international cooperation to prevent impunity."

Reference: E-109/02