September 2010

THE WORK OF UNHCR IN URBAN AREAS IN ECUADOR

Background and coverage area

UNHCR offers protection and fosters local integration as a durable solution for refugees living in urban areas in Ecuador. Field Unit Quito (FUQ) has covered the city of Quito (since 2009) and the provinces of Santo Domingo (since 2008) and Azuay (since 2007). It also carries out periodical missions to the northwest of the province of Pichincha and the provinces of Guayas, Manabí, Santa Elena, El Oro, Los Ríos and Zamora Chinchipe.

The interior of the country receives 48% of the population in need of international protection in Ecuador, of which 85% are in the cities of Quito, Cuenca, Guayaquil and Santo Domingo. The Metropolitan District of Quito (capital of Ecuador) alone houses 39% of the people in need of international protection, 30% of the refugees recognized by the Ecuadorian State, and 39% of asylum seekers. Undocumented Locality Recognized Refugees Asylum Seekers refugees* Total Pichincha 14,102 31.20% 18,542 36.62% 19,000 26.62% 51,644 30.89% Quito 13,754 30.43% 18,112 35.77% 18,000 25.22% 49,866 29.83% Guayas 2,267 5.02% 1,540 3.04% 14,000 19.62% 17,807 10.65% Azuay 1,895 4.19% 3,128 6.18% 5,023 3.00% Santo Domingo 1,590 3.52% 2,026 4.00% 3,616 2.16% Manabí 486 1.08% 305 0.60% 1,000 1.40% 1,791 1.07% Others 1,942 4.30% 1,155 2.28% 1,000 1.40% 4,097 2.45% Total coverage Field Unit Quito 22,282 49.31% 26,696 52.73% 35,000 49.04% 83,978 50.23% Total Northern Border 22,910 50.69% 23,936 47.27% 36,365 50.96% 83,211 49.77% National Total 45,192 100,0% 50,632 100,0% 71,365 100,0% 167,189 100,0% Data at December 2009. Source: ProGres * Estimate UNHCR COP 2011. Source: CEPAR 2007 Survey, ODMH 2009 Mapping and PMH 2010 Mapping

While the Enhanced Registration, conducted on the Northern Border from March 2009 to March 2010, helped to provide the refugee population in that area with legal registration, there are still an estimated 35,000 people at least in the interior of the country who have not requested asylum. These are located mainly in Pichincha and Guayas.

Despite the belief that there is greater access to goods and services in urban centres, the refugee population is located in marginal zones which, in many cases, do not have electricity, sewerage and waste disposal mechanisms. Their subsistence depends exclusively on finding ways of earning income, which are limited considering the rates of unemployment and underemployment in these cities. Added to this, discrimination in some areas propagates marginality, exclusion and inequality, affecting socio-cultural integration, access to rights and services, and the possibility of becoming self-sufficient. These limitations pose risks of abuse, gender-based violence (GBV), sexual work, person trafficking and smuggling.

The city councils of Quito and Cuenca, and to a lesser extent that of Santo Domingo, are open to supporting the local integration of the refugee population through policies, programmes and public services. However, these are limited in coverage and impact due to technical and financial constraints.

UNHCR’s priorities for work in urban centres

In the Cities of Solidarities framework of Mexico’s Action Plan, the priorities for work with refugees in urban centres aim to maximize spaces of protection and foster local integration.

September 2010

Documentation: With almost 27,000 asylum seekers awaiting replies to their applications and approximately 35,000 people still undocumented, bolstering and providing ongoing assistance for the decentralization of the General Directorate for Refugees is the top priority.

Durable solutions: Local integration is fostered jointly with municipal authorities in line with the 2008 Ecuadorian Refugee Policy. Resettlement is a solution offered as a protection measure or to surmount the lack of integration prospects in specific cases. Working with partner agencies, emergency humanitarian assistance is provided, along with psycho-social support, legal aid and employment assistance. Health, education, community participation and income-creation projects are implemented, while at the same time local public policies for the inclusion of the refugee population are consolidated.

Work is aligned to the three dimensions of local integration: 1) Access to rights: This includes training oriented at public and private organizations, political influence, coordinated work with the Ombudsman’s Office at both national and local level, legal aid projects with universities in Cuenca and Santo Domingo and the Casa de la Movilidad Humana (Human Mobility Home) in Quito, campaigns for promoting rights, and the implementation of the bylaws of Quito City Council on the protection of the rights of people in human mobility situations. 2) Self-sufficiency: Strategies have been developed with local actors. These include training, technical assistance for enterprise, access to financial services, and employment guidance. 3) Socio-cultural integration: Discrimination is one of the main barriers to local integration. To overcome this, work is being done on community processes to build cultures of peace, and mass awareness-raising campaigns are being held.

Community presence: Working jointly with partner agencies, we maintain a presence in neighbourhoods with the largest refugee populations.

Physical protection: Cases needing physical protection or victims of GBV are relocated from the northern border to Quito, Cuenca and Santo Domingo. These, along with other cases identified in these cities, call for immediate action. The presence of networks of smuggling and person trafficking has grown in Ecuador, especially in urban centres, and thus work is coordinated with the anti-trafficking network in Quito.

Gender-based violence: The FUQ is working to consolidate the National Network of Shelter Homes for Victims of GBV, which includes homes in Quito, Cuenca, Guayaquil, Machala, Lago Agrio and Coca. It also seeks to boost community protection networks.

Refugee families supported for economic inclusion (employed or self-employed) in 2009: Quito: 1,213; Cuenca: 43; Sto. Domingo: 557 Institutional protection spaces promoted in different cities: Free legal aid centres for refugees: Quito (5), Cuenca (2) and Santo Domingo (2) Health centres under intervention: Quito (9), Cuenca (2) and Santo Domingo (3) Educational centres under intervention: Quito (8), Cuenca (1) and Santo Domingo (4) Protection networks for refugees fostered in different cities: Political influence network: Quito and Cuenca Access to justice network: Quito, Cuenca and Santo Domingo Network for fighting gender-based violence: Quito, Santo Domingo, Cuenca and Guayaquil Education network: Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil Network for children and adolescents: Quito and Santo Domingo

For further information on UNHCR’s work in Ecuador and the world, see: www.acnur.org or www.unhcr.org Public Information: Andrea Durango ([email protected]), Andrea Escalante ([email protected]) September 2010

Through its partner agencies, UNHCR Girls and boys took part in free football La Casita del Árbol (The Treehouse): a provides microcredit for refugee families to training sessions following an agreement children’s book for refugee boys and enable them to be self-sufficient and achieve with Deportivo Cuenca football girls. Children are the most vulnerable economic stability. UNHCR/A. Escalante. association. group in the Colombian conflict. UNHCR/ A. Escalante. UNHCR/F. Mejía.

SECAP (Ecuadorian State Professional Integration Fair in Quito on World Refugee Mural competition held in Comité del Training Service) provides training for Day; women from the “Semillas de Pueblo, a neighbourhood of Quito. refugee women in Santo Domingo to help Esperanza” (Seeds of Hope) group. Mural painted by refugees and them integrate into local society. UNHCR/ X.Orellana. Ecuadorians. UNHCR/ A. Escalante. UNHCR/ A. Escalante.

Sports championship for integration held in Celebrations in Santo Domingo for World UNHCR, with its partner agencies, gives San Gabriel del Baba, Santo Domingo; one Refugee Day, when refugee and humanitarian aid to those most in need, of the winning teams. Ecuadorian children took part in integration who arrive in Ecuador fleeing from UNHCR/ A. Escalante. events. violence. UNHCR/ A. Escalante. UNHCR/ F.Tovoli