Ecuador, Colombia Begin to Address Refugee Issue

[Judi Lynn]

Caracas, Sunday September 19,2010
Ecuador, Colombia Begin to Address Refugee Issue

QUITO – Delegates to a bilateral commission began detailed talks here on the problem of Colombian refugees in Ecuadorian territory.

Although Thursday’s meeting did not yield concrete results, the envoys agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation aimed at boosting government aid for tens of thousands of people who have fled the armed conflict in Colombia and taken up refuge in Ecuador.

They said the next bilateral gathering will be held on Oct. 14 in Bogota and include the participation of U.N. Refugee Agency and International Organization for Migration representatives.

At the end of the meeting, the delegations issued a joint statement expressing their willingness to “seek concrete formulas” for addressing the refugee problem in a “comprehensive” way.

Ecuador is home to some 53,000 Colombians officially recognized as refugees, but Quito estimates that another 80,000 are on Ecuadorian soil and in need of international protection.

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