E/CN.4/2002/94/Add.1 page 16 fathers and mothers. They viewed migration as negative because it destroys homes and makes the population suffer. Indeed, many would-be migrants die in the attempt, leaving behind widows, widowers and orphans. 44. A young women described her attempt to emigrate and an accident in which she was involved when she was being transported by traffickers in Mexico. She lost a friend with whom she was travelling in the accident. She explained that despite her broken bones she had been held in detention in Mexico City, where she had suffered other abuses at the hands of the prison authorities. 45. The fact that most of the families in these communities have members involved in illegal migration means that reunions or periodic visits are out of the question. Grandmothers are afraid that they will die without seeing their grandchildren and without bidding farewell to their children. They reported that the host countries refuse to grant them entry visas to visit their relatives, since they have no bank accounts or wage-paid jobs. The case was mentioned of an illegal migrant who was involved in an accident at work in the United States, as a result of which he was paralysed. His wife has to raise five children and at the same time find a way of obtaining a visa on humanitarian grounds in order to travel to the United States to look after her husband. Because of the debts this woman has already incurred she is unable to borrow more to pay the smugglers to take her to see her husband. Meanwhile, because of her husband’s illegal status in the United States, he has received no compensation for the accident. 46. The families suffer the burden of the debt left behind by their relatives, and the distress it causes, as well as constant harassment by the usurers and their lawyers. Illiterate indigenous women showed papers on which they had placed their thumbprints, giving up property and land. Lastly, mention was made of cases which demonstrate the difficulty and expense of repatriating bodies to Ecuador. One of the civil-society organizations proposed that the cost of the new passport to be issued in May 2002 should include insurance in the event of death to cover repatriation of the body. B. Cases of trafficking and smuggling of minors reported to the Special Rapporteur 47. The Special Rapporteur was provided with information allegedly gathered in 1999 concerning trafficking in minors, including a high percentage of indigenous minors, from the coast of Ecuador allegedly to Japan. According to the information provided to the Special Rapporteur, this network operates using cruise ships visiting Ecuador and the Galapagos area. The traffickers are said to offer young people in Ecuador and their families US$ 6,000 for a year’s work in Japan as Spanish teachers or domestic employees. The families hand over their children in exchange for the sum agreed. The children are then taken by ship to Japan, where they are reported to be enslaved in the sex industry. Reports have also been received of networks trafficking in indigenous children who are allegedly taken to Venezuela and Uruguay to work selling handicrafts or as members of networks of street beggars. IV. THE CONTEXT OF IMMIGRATION INTO ECUADOR 48. The Special Rapporteur was provided with information that the countries generating the greatest volume of migration to Ecuador include Colombia, with which there is a long tradition