United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees : Colombia/Ecuador: disappearances

[Judi Lynn]

Source: UNHCR

Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Date: 10 Jun 2008
Colombia/Ecuador: disappearances

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 10 June 2008, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

We are calling for the full and speedy resolution of the investigations into allegations of disappearances, as well as torture, attempted rape and death threats, against members of a Colombian refugee community in Ecuador.

Three Colombians, including one refugee and one asylum seeker, disappeared at the end of last month from the village of San Martin in northern Ecuador, just across the border from Colombia. Like many other rural communities in that part of the country, San Martin is home to large numbers of Colombian refugees.

UNHCR has received consistent reports from first-hand witnesses that the three were kidnapped by a group of masked men in uniforms during an armed incursion into San Martin on 26 May. The group, which has not been identified by the authorities in either country, apparently came from Colombia.

According to information we recieved, the masked men tortured members of the local community before taking the three men away. There also are allegations of attempted rape against a pregnant refugee woman in San Martin.



Read more: http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LSGZ-7FGH5M?OpenDocument