Virtual Meeting on Recruitment of Children and Adolescents — PAHNAL Ecuador

Virtual Meeting on Recruitment of Children and Adolescents — PAHNAL Ecuador

Quito, March 11, 2026.

The National Humanitarian Action Platform (PAHNAL Ecuador) is a meeting space for Ecuadorian humanitarian civil society organizations. It was established in October 2025 and currently comprises 9 organizations:

  • Alas de Colibrí
  • CARITAS Esmeraldas
  • Desarrollo y Autogestión (DYA)
  • Fundación Huancavilca
  • Fundación JUCONI
  • Fundación Lunita Lunera
  • KIMIRINA
  • Nación de Paz
  • Paz y Esperanza

With the support of DIAKONIE.

Ecuador faces a crisis of violence and recruitment of minors amid the rise of organized crime and the fragmentation of the social fabric across multiple territories.

These groups are not only involved in drug trafficking and extortion but have turned children and adolescents into functional resources for their criminal operations.

Official data and recent journalistic reports indicate that:

  • Between January and June 2025, between 1,200 and 1,300 minors were arrested for their involvement with organized crime in criminal activities.
  • The Ministry of Inclusion identified that approximately 5% of individuals linked to criminal gangs are minors, which would amount to thousands of children and adolescents in recruitment situations.
  • The phenomenon is not uniform: provinces such as Guayas, Los Ríos, Manabí, Esmeraldas, and Amazon regions like Orellana present high risk levels.

This context of violence and recruitment overlaps with a structural crisis of security, institutional fragility, poverty, and social exclusion, creating conditions for criminal organizations to penetrate communities and severely damage the guarantee of children's rights.

The role of civil society organizations

Experience shows that a strong social fabric, from neighborhoods and communities to institutional networks and alliances, constitutes a key factor in addressing the problem of recruitment and protecting children's rights.

State agencies, under almost exclusively punitive policies, have not shown the positive results everyone would like. Joint work is needed, prioritizing the care and well-being of children and adolescents as a high-priority national objective.

Norwegian Mission Alliance and PAHNAL Ecuador have agreed on the need to create a meeting space to exchange ideas about experiences and best practices to contain the growing trend of recruitment.

A virtual meeting will be held featuring best practice cases and testimonials, to inform institutions and civil society organizations about the various approaches that can be adopted to combat recruitment.

Meeting objectives

  • Discuss experiences and best practices to address the recruitment of children and adolescents by criminal gangs.
  • Identify alternative actions to disseminate among civil society organizations, enriching the vision of how to work with children to mitigate and prevent recruitment.
  • Contribute alternative public policy approaches so that State agencies can be more effective in addressing the recruitment of minors.

Dates and format

The meeting will be held over two days, in virtual format, with 3-hour synchronous sessions each day.

  • Wednesday, March 25, from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM.
  • Thursday, March 26, from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM.
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