• Text size  | | |
• • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• Also available in French

GNA Ecuador: Q&A with Marta Juarez, UNHCR Representative in Ecuador

Global Needs Assessment, 9 October 2008

"GNA a forum to explain, enhance refugee rights"

Why was Ecuador chosen as one of the eight pilot countries for UNHCR Global Needs Assessment initiative?

In less than a decade, Ecuador has become the country with the largest refugee population in Latin America. Aside from the positive attitude of the Ecuadorean government with regards to refugee issues, this country also has an outstanding legal framework for guaranteeing the protection of refugees. For all those reasons, UNHCR included Ecuador as one of the pilot countries for the GNA initiative.

In the last two years Ecuador has taken important steps towards ensuring the well-being of refugees and the population living in the northern border in general. First, the government launched Plan Ecuador, an initiative to foster development within a culture of peace and security in the northern border region – the area neighbouring some of Colombia's most conflict-ridden areas. Refugees and humanitarian assistance were included among the priority areas of attention. Similarly, the Ecuadorean government has contributed to the population survey funded by UNHCR in 2007. This exercise gave parties involved a clearer picture regarding the population in need of international protection in the country.

As a result Ecuador developed a new protection mechanism that will ensure access to recognition and documentation and inclusion in integration initiatives to thousands of persons in need of international protection.

Ecuador's inclusion in the Global Needs Assessment initiative is recognition of this country's great efforts

How did you and your team start implementing the GNA, and what activities has it involved so far?

This process started several months ago with participatory assessments, which are basically meetings with the refugee population and local communities in different parts of the country that resulted in a comprehensive gap analysis of the protection situation in the country. UNHCR led the discussions, which concluded with the identification of six main protection gaps.

The next part of the process was the National Consultation – a larger-scale meeting with national and local authorities, refugees, international organizations, civil society organizations and representatives from host communities. More than 100 persons participated in the two-day meeting. Six groups discussed six different issues identified in the gap analysis: legal protection framework; strengthening of the institutions in charge of refugee issues; enforcement of refugee rights; integration and access to services for refugees and host communities within the programmes of borders and cities of solidarity; creation of a culture of peace and regional initiatives to enhance refugee protection and disseminate best practice. The National Consultation has had an unexpected result: most participants have agreed to commit themselves to work on a Plan of Action to protect and integrate refugees and to be a permanent body that follows up on the implementation of the Ecuador Policy on Refugee Protection.

UNHCR has provided technical assistance throughout the process, with specialized staff appointed.

What are the most striking findings that have come out of the GNA to date? Were all the results expected or were there some surprises?

I think the main surprise was the high attendance rate of people representing different sectors of society and different parts of the country. This shows the great interest towards refugee issues in general by society at large. Another pleasant surprise was to see all these sectors interacting in order to find solutions to problems that affect refugees and refugee-hosting communities. In some cases, these debates among so many different actors were taking place for the first time. It was very useful, for example, to have local authorities, national authorities, and the refugees themselves talking about these issues. I believe the exchange of ideas was enlightening, to say the least, for many of us who were present. Sometimes the reality of the northern border is not perceived clearly, until someone from that region explains it in person in a forum like the National Consultation.

Many priorities were identified as a result of this process. Some of the most salient are: the need to strengthen institutions in charge of refugee issues, to include refugees in the policy-making process, to adopt flexible mechanisms for determining refugee status, to carry out advocacy and awareness campaigns regarding the rights and duties of refugees, and to include refugees in national development plans.

Under-registration and lack of documentation appear to be the number one challenge, both for refugees and for the authorities. Why is this and what can be done about it?

Yes, one of the challenges for providing assistance and protection to refugees in Ecuador is the fact that the majority of people who need international protection remain unregistered and therefore invisible to the system. This is a reality common to refugees in this region of the world where refugees are not confined to camps. They arrive in the country and settle, sometimes in isolated areas where information and services are unavailable. Sometimes, even people who know about the asylum system remain fearful of registering because they come from a reality where being in a database can be a danger to their lives.

Unregistered refugees face different problems – they are at risk of being deported, they are unable to access basic services such as health, education or even free movement in the country, and lastly, they are unable to access the assistance available to persons in their situation.

For all those reasons the enhanced registration exercise that will take place before the end of the year is of great importance. It will allow the government authorities to register "invisible" refugees who will finally have access to their basic rights as refugees living in Ecuador.

Sexual and domestic violence and exploitation are another major concern. In practice, what can UNHCR and its partners do about it within the Colombia-Ecuador context?

A large percentage of refugee families in Ecuador are headed by single women. They face great risks, as well as girls and adolescents who are trying to integrate in a different country where they are devoid of social networks. Too often, women fall prey to organized networks of trafficking and smuggling, or they have to resort to sex work in order to support themselves and their families.

The Global Needs Assessment project has established actions to be taken with regard to this pressing situation such as establishing safe shelters for women who are victims of sexual and gender-based violence, strengthening national protection networks for women, and incorporating specialized staff in the organizations currently working with refugees.

Since Ecuador was a pilot country, what would you say were the "lessons learnt" so far with the GNA? What were the particularly positive points and are there aspects of it that can be improved? On the whole, what is your and your team's feeling about the whole process?

I believe that gathering many sectors of society and the refugees themselves to talk about meaningful and substantive issues has been very challenging, but extremely rewarding. I received several comments about the genuine participatory nature of the consultations and the transparency of the process. I also believe Ecuador has shown an outstanding degree of maturity with regard to refugee protection throughout this process. The government has taken ownership of this process and used it as a tool to implement the recently adopted Policy on Asylum – the first of its kind in Latin America.

The implementation of the Plan of Action resulting from the National Consultations will undoubtedly bring positive results to improve the lives of thousands of refugees and Ecuadoreans living in northern Ecuador. The contribution of the international community is vital to help achieve this goal.

• Business
• Employment
• Donors
• Partners
• Refworld
• Statistics

• News Feed
• Accessibility
• Privacy Policy

• What's New
• International versions
• Contact Us
• A-Z Index