THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON IMMIGRANTS IN ECUADOR

MARIA AMELIA VITERI, PH.D. UNIVERSIDAD SAN FRANCISCO DE QUITO (USFQ), ECUADOR

Photo credit: Photojournalist Edu León ECUADOR IN THE CONTEXT OF THE PANDEMIC

 Ecuador: site of transit and destination for people in situation of mobility.

 The Venezuelan migrant and refugee communities are the largest in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 Large percentage of the Ecuadorian population does not have stability, permanent and adequate income or access to resources: 56% of the economically active population is underemployed or does not have a job, and 2 out of 10 households do not have access to water inside their home (Social Observatory of Ecuador). 417,199 Venezuelans Mobilities, gender and sexuality: Analysis of the impact of the  living in Ecuador current pandemic on the situation of LGBTI migrants and (R4V, September 2020) refugees coming from Venezuela. IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON THE SITUATION OF VENEZUELAN LGBTI MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

 Interviews, focus groups and an online survey in three cities, to 166 Venezuelan migrants and refugees, whose average age range between 29 and 36 years.  Pre-pandemic scenarios of profound risks are accentuated at this intersection of mobility, country of origin, LGBTI identity.  System in which public institutions are saturated for structural reasons including corruption, hand in hand with public policy that does not contemplate the population in mobility. Governments taking advantage of the pandemic to promote xenophobic rhetoric and policies.  Day to day subsistence “vivir del día a día”: World Food Program (WFP) in January 2020 indicated that the search for food security is one of the main causes of migration and departure from Venezuela and continues to be an issue at the countries of reception. Photo credit: Patricio Terán, El Comercio  Common subsistence strategy: street vending in public spaces and transportation, with constant exposure to daily situations of xenophobia and discrimination, as well as police violence. MAIN FINDINGS

Unemployment or  Six central variables: work, survival, housing, health, education, and precarious work food security.

 Context exacerbates the insecurity of informal-autonomous work and the violence suffered in public spaces, it becomes a riskier job at Threefold several levels: due to exposure to COVID-19, due to police violence intertwined that harasses workers where many times the same police requisition precariousness goods, and due to possible non-compliance with mobility restrictions.

 73% are unemployed. Main activities for subsistence: 59% autonomous work (street vending), 8% sex work, 5% provision of Insecurity in cleaning services. Food and housing or nutritional accommodation  84% indicated having arrived in the country between 2018 and 2020, insecurity mainly by land (87%) and in highly violent trajectories. 48% reported being in a regular migratory situation. MAIN FINDINGS

 High rates of discrimination in the provision of public services: 58% suffered some situation of xenophobia. Discrimination in public services: transportation 40%, healthcare 27%, education with 24% and 13% housing, 67% when accessing a job.

 25% suffered physical violence for being Venezuelan in Ecuador, 14% for being LGBTI. 11% have suffered sexual violence, 57% have suffered psychological violence for being Venezuelan in Ecuador and 20% for being LGBTI.

 Impacts of the pandemic: 19% indicated that they have been directly affected by the loss of income, 19% loss of employment, 17% impossibility of legalizing immigration status, 15% impossibility of accessing medicines and 15% impossibility of access to health and education services.

 Health and treatment: migrants and refugees with pre-existing conditions identify access to treatment as the main reason to leave Venezuela, including people living with HIV. In Ecuador, when public healthcare is inaccessible, LGBTI migrants and refugees are forced to access private healthcare, which can lead to situations of debt with employers and exploitation. MAIN FINDINGS

 Survival Sex: highly violent and risky, exposure to trafficking.

 Economic insecurity translates in housing insecurity and homelessness: generalized situations of eviction and expulsion.

 Heteronormative perceptions of family: conceptualization of LGBTI migrants and refugees as people "without ties.“

Photo credit: Photojournalist Edu Leon  Return to Venezuela unfeasible: violence, militarization of borders. Most urgent needs: permanent work 15%, access to housing 15%,  Heightened role of civil society and grassroots organizations. regularization of immigration status 15%, access to health services 14%, psychological support 13%.