E/CN.4/2002/94/Add.1 page 15 40. Finally, mention should be made of the meetings the Special Rapporteur held with members of the academic world. In Quito she noted a certain lack of connection between the social realities in the country in terms of emigration, on the one hand, and the research and teaching functions of the universities on the other. In Cuenca, she was informed that the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Cuenca is conducting a study on migration and AIDS. A diagnostic study on stress in migrants’ families is also under way. In the Faculty of Economics a project has been agreed with the European Union to study the impact of remittances on local development, and existing mechanisms for formalizing debts entered into by the inhabitants are being studied in a joint initiative with a mutual society in the area. The Special Rapporteur underlined the need for the academic world to demonstrate leadership by drawing up creative proposals in the psychosocial, economic, legislative and political spheres to deal with the effects of illegal migration and its prevention. In addition, academics can play a vital educational role in raising awareness among the population, the State, the media and society as a whole of the rights of migrants and the members of their families and the dehumanizing effect of illegal migration, as well as the long-term impact on the country in terms of its productive capacity, the brain drain and disintegration at the family and social level. A. The impact of emigration on places of origin 41. The mayor of Azogues described the situation in the migrants’ places of origin as one of “collective anguish”. The Special Rapporteur’s visit to the communities there confirms this view. In Paute, members of the community told her that a child of 13, whose parents had emigrated, had committed suicide, and other suicide attempts were known to have occurred. They explained that the situation of women is particularly difficult, owing to social and psychological pressure and the fact that they were harassed by their husbands’ families for control of the money remitted by the husbands. They said that many of them had been forbidden to organize in groups or leave their homes. The community of Paute attributes the high levels of migration by Ecuadorians to lack of access to basic services such as education and health, and especially the lack of jobs. They also say that corruption and debt servicing are the main factors preventing the Ecuadorian people from developing in their own country. 42. The summary of the Equal Opportunities Plan drawn up by CONAMU, which was presented to the Special Rapporteur in Cuenca, states that women who stay behind as heads of single-parent households take on new roles in the sphere of production and in the community. However, men continue to control the resources of such women and decision-making in all aspects of their lives. Children are obliged to take on huge tasks which are inappropriate to their age, and which are assigned according to sex. They are also subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse by relatives or neighbours who still control them. Yet some women also report that migration by members of their families gives them an opportunity to participate more freely in community activities, exercise leadership and take their own decisions within and outside the home. 43. In San Marcos, the Special Rapporteur was received by the community, which was waiting for her in the town square. Members presented heart-rending accounts of the lives led by migrants and their families. In particular, the Special Rapporteur listened to children who did not know their parents. She also received a collection of letters written to the migrants by young people deploring the emotional vacuum in which they were left as a result of the absence of their