Ecuador
Receives Increasing Number of
Colombian Refugees
Quito - The Ecuadorian
government registered about 3,000 new
Colombian refugees displaced by internal
violence in the past one and a half months,
the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said
Thursday.
From July 20 to Sept. 4, in the second stage
of the "extended record" program, Ecuador
issued 2,962 refugee visas in Sucumbios
province which borders Colombia, the
ministry said.
This extended record is part of a
humanitarian initiative, through which the
government expects to give refugee visas to
Colombian citizens who went to the northern
border of the country seeking international
protection from the internal armed conflict
in Colombia, the Ministry said.
During the second stage, which will continue
in Nueva Loja province from Sept. 14, the
ministry expects to register 23,000 people
in the province till October.
The following stage will include another
three provinces, namely Orellana, Carchi and
Imbabura.
Ecuador expects to give refuge to some
50,000 Colombian citizens in one year.
During the first stage, from March 23 to
July 4, the Ecuadorian authorities
registered 10,603 people in Esmeraldas
province, more than double what they had
expected.
According to the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Ecuador
hosted 135,000 refugees in 2008 and it is
the country with the largest number of
refugees in the continent.
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
