Operational context
After Lenin Moreno was elected president in 2017, Ecuador’s political stability was threatened by the prosecution for corruption of people close to the predecessor Rafael Correa, a marked difference in economic policies, and a referendum on constitutional reform. Financial restrictions affected social programmes, including those for refugees. In spite of the peace agreement with the FARC, security conditions along the border between Colombia and Ecuador worsened with the arrival of new armed groups and with violence spilling over into Ecuador. As a result, the number of arrivals from Colombia increased from the previous year. Venezuelans arrived in increasing numbers, almost half for refugee related reasons.
Population trends
In 2017, the Government reported close to 48,000 recognized refugees and some 6,800 new arrivals, 30 per cent more compared to 2016. The majority (70 per cent) were Colombians, an increase of 6 per cent compared to previous year. Over 1,500 Venezuelans sought asylum (compared to 500 in 2016), while more than 37,000 acceded migratory alternatives. An estimated 44,000 Colombians and 42,000 Venezuelans (out of an estimated 93,000) were in a refugee-like situation, i.e. outside the asylum system but still of concern to UNHCR.
Key achievements
- Ecuador adopted the Human Mobility Law in 2017 with UNHCR’s extensive advocacy and technical support to ensure it is in line with international standards for refugee protection. The 2017 Human Mobility Law regulates RSD, statelessness, migratory alternatives, humanitarian visas and, crucially, the civil registration and issuance of ID cards to refugees.
- UNHCR supported the clean-up of the Government’s database (proGres2), facilitating the issuance of reliable statistics for the first time since 2013.
- The Government agreed on the implementation of the Quality of Asylum Initiative (QAI) as a result of UNHCR’s continued advocacy and ongoing support to the Government’s Protection Directorate to strengthen Ecuador’s asylum procedures.
- For the first time refugees with disabilities received government assistance, and asylum-seekers were able to open bank accounts as a result of UNHCR’s ongoing advocacy for refugee inclusion in national social protection services.
- UNHCR reached an agreement with the Government on a pilot project to include people of concern in social protection programmes.
- The refugee status determination (RSD) strengthening project more than halved the backlog in the national RSD system - from 25,000 to some 11,200.
Unmet needs
- The Graduation Model covered less than half of the 1,500 eligible families. Ecuadorians in similar conditions could not be included, creating tensions within the local community, hampering local integration
- The needs of newly arrived Venezuelans could only be met for 319 vulnerable Venezuelans
- UNHCR was unable to support naturalization because of the high costs involved