E/CN.4/2002/94/Add.1 page 20 64. The representatives of civil society informed the Special Rapporteur that they value highly the process of cooperation under way with Government bodies. However, there are grounds for concern relating to the monitoring and application of the arrangements that have been reached, owing in part to the lack of resources mentioned by the Foreign Ministry which has prevented the holding of three regional seminars to publicize the agreements. At the same time, it is important to underline the interest manifested in the areas where migration originates in the application of the provisions of the Plan. 65. The Special Rapporteur received information on the second forum, which arose from the negotiations on the initial agreements reached in the dialogue on migration between the Government and indigenous, peasant and social organizations. These agreements, signed on 29 May 2001, relate to legislative reform designed to guarantee the right to Ecuadorian nationality for the children of Ecuadorian migrants born outside the country and the right to vote abroad, and also the urgent approval by the Congress of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Air and Sea, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the Inter-American Convention on International Traffic in Minors and the Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children. 66. In connection with the application of the initial agreements, the Special Rapporteur received a copy of a letter sent to the President of the Congress by the participants in the dialogue concerning the monitoring of the agreements. The Chair of the Congress’s Commission on International Affairs and National Defence informed the Special Rapporteur that the two protocols to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime needed to be declared constitutional by the Constitutional Court, and would subsequently be examined by the Commission. She was also informed of concern on the part of many civil-society bodies relating to expectations as to the establishment of the fund set up under the programme for the development of Ecuadorian migrants and their families, and the delays recorded in bringing it into operation. 67. The Special Rapporteur was given a copy of the National Plan for Ecuadorians Abroad proposed by the Foreign Ministry, in pursuance of the initial agreements. The Foreign Ministry notes that, despite the existence of a law on the status of aliens and migration, the Ecuadorian legal system contains no provisions expressly governing migrants’ rights, guarantees and obligations, whether they are Ecuadorians abroad or foreign migrants in Ecuador. A. The role of the Ombudsman14 68. The Ombudsman told the Special Rapporteur that, as his office’s priorities include protection of the human rights of migrants, the office of the National Director for the Defence of the Human Rights of Migrants had been set up in September 2001, headed by Camilo Restrepo. He also said that he had requested the Congress to increase the office’s budget in order to address the phenomenon properly. His office had worked for the creation of budgeted posts of ombudsmen in New York and New Jersey, as well as in Spain and Canada. The problem they