Colombian refugees in Ecuador get help from UNHCR
24 October -- The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has established a field presence in Ecuador to support authorities there in helping thousands of people fleeing drug-related armed conflict in Colombia, a spokesman for the agency said today at UN Headquarters in Geneva.
UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski told reporters that agency staff were working with local and national authorities in Sucumbios Province to provide assistance to an estimated 4,000 Colombians, the vast majority of whom are believed to be transiting through Ecuador on their way back to safer areas inside Colombia.
In the past few years, the deterioration of the Colombian conflict has led to the internal displacement of at least 1.1 million people, according to UNHCR. "Nearly 600,000 Colombians are estimated to have been uprooted in the past two years alone, a worrisome trend that is continuing in places like Putumayo, where profits from the drug trade are fuelling a bloody conflict involving leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary forces and government troops," the spokesman said.
UNHCR had opened an office in Bogotá, Colombia, in June 1998 to deal with the large numbers of internally displaced throughout the country. The agency also operates offices close to the borders with Venezuela, Panama and Ecuador to help the relatively small numbers of people fleeing to neighboring countries to seek asylum.
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