Ecuador: New Funding Allows IOM to Continue Emergency Assistance to Colombians in Search of International Protection
Source: International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Date: 12 Mar 2010
New funding from the U.S. Department of State Bureau for Population , Refugees and Migration (PRM) will allow IOM to provide shelter, medical assistance, food and non-food items and education support for up to 2,000 Colombians who cross into Ecuador in search of international protection.
Since October 2005, the IOM emergency assistance programme in northern Ecuador has been addressing the needs of Colombians who flee their country due to conflict, and the local population of the impoverished border communities. Since then, IOM has assisted 35,700 Colombians.
Ecuador's northern border is considered the most vulnerable region in the country because of the number of Colombians seeking refuge from armed conflict in their country.
According to the IOM Migration Profile for Ecuador, published in June 2009, some 250,000 Colombians have crossed into Ecuador in the past decade.
Ecuador hosts the largest number of Colombian refugees; Government figures indicate that some 50,000 Colombians have been awarded refugee status in Ecuador. UNHCR estimates that there are some 135,000 Colombians in Ecuador in need of international protection.
IOM-Ecuador has been carrying out projects in the northern border region since 2001 with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and in coordination with the Government of Ecuador. Some 460,000 persons have benefitted from more than 270 infrastructure projects which are providing poor communities with basic services, such as potable water, sanitation systems, and infrastructure rehabilitation and development.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ASAZ-83GEAZ
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