Ecuador's Sex Industry

Sex workers in Ecuador are building a national labor network and trying to curb HIV-AIDS, while dealing with the growing presence of minors and undocumented workers in brothels:

RedTrabSex (labor union), Ecuador's national network of sex workers with headquarters in Quito, is divided into 15 organizations and is still growing. So far, the group, which began mustering its ranks in 2005, has established organizations in 14 of the country's 24 total provinces.

The Ministry of Health registered 25,000 sex workers in 2000. But the real figure is much higher, given that sex workers rarely stay more than a few weeks in one place. Health officials also only monitor licensed venues and clandestine brothels are numerous.

But RedTrabSex--the name, an abbreviation for sex workers network in Spanish--faces legal and ethical complications in Ecuador, where sex work is neither legal nor illegal. Currently, brothels derive their legitimacy not from the law but from a series of health and sanitation certificates from local health authorities that add up to "centers of tolerance," where prostitution is accepted.

Some Colombian sex workers are drawn to Ecuador because it uses the U.S. dollar as its official currency. Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a strong reality in Ecuador. A high percentage of Colombian sex workers in Ecuador arrived after being lured by pimping agents with promises of high-end retail and caretaker jobs only to end up in indentured servitude in brothels and bars.n those paid in the more volatile Colombian peso. Many Ecuadorian minors are trafficked from small rural towns to commercial capitals across the country, particularly Quito and Guayaquil.

More on the sex trade in Ecuador.

While I was in Ecuador, I looked at child exploitation in the sex industry, and interviewed several sex workers in brothels in Quito, and the Galapagos Islands.

• I found that in legal brothels, there is a rotating scheme for women from different countries and they are required to have mandatory health screenings once a month.
  
• In the Galapagos Islands, there was a correlation between the price of sexual acts and the gains from fishing.
  
• There is also a class issue, those from the lower class were usually on the street, in the underground market, whereas those from higher class were found in the legal brothels. For example, most of the women/men on the street were of African origin.