This Wednesday the response plan for refugees and migrants in Ecuador was officially presented, in charge of the Interagency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V), present in Ecuador through the Working Group for Refugees and Migrants (GTRM) , which is led by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
According to Pablo Ruiz, Undersecretary for International Protection and Attention to Immigrants, this is the fourth consecutive year that this plan has been implemented, which shows the commitment of the United Nations and R4V agencies with Venezuelans who have left their country and the States that have received them.
“Despite the economic difficulties (…), they have promoted actions in favor of the more than 500,000 Venezuelans who remain in Ecuadorian territory. (…) Our country has facilitated the access of this migrant population to health, education and other social and migratory services,” Ruiz commented, adding that most of them have also been vaccinated against COVID-19.
He also commented that Ecuador, until February, has granted refugee recognition to 72,176 people of various nationalities. “We are the country in the Western Hemisphere that has recognized the most refugees,” Ruiz said.
Since 2015, 41,000 refugee applications have been filed by people of Venezuelan nationality.
According to R4V, there are a total of 508,935 Venezuelans in Ecuador. In his plan, he projects that 288 million dollars are required to implement “protection, integration, health and nutrition, education, housing and water actions, among others.”
Of the half million Venezuelans, around 62% are in an irregular situation, which makes them more vulnerable.
It also highlights that more than 25% have a university education, and 52% of those in Quito and Guayaquil have a university degree, which could help the country’s development.
At the local level, the GTRM is made up of 53 organizations that provide assistance and promote the integration of Venezuelan citizens.
José Dávalos, IOM chief of mission, said that the GTRM was born four years ago at the instruction of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, and throughout its existence the R4V has expanded its efforts to respond to unprecedented migration since Venezuela, from where six million people have emigrated.
Magda Medina, official in charge of UNHCR, said, meanwhile, that the priorities of the GTRM in this 2022 will be to strengthen the complementarity of its plan with national programs and to make a link with development actors and financial institutions so that refugees and migrants can regularize their migratory status and can also request international protection, in addition to working for their local integration and socioeconomic inclusion.
The data indicates that the three main needs that this population cannot cover are food (87%), employment (65%) and accommodation (53%).
Also, that 62% live in an irregular situation and 40% have suffered employment discrimination due to their nationality. 38% are unemployed.
Another concern is that 60% of the children who are of that nationality and who are of school age are not currently studying.
It is projected that, in addition to those who remain in the country, during all of 2022, 250,000 Venezuelans will transit through the country with their final destination in other states. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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