Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso urged the international community to do more to help migrants fleeing dangerous situations, pointing specifically to Ecuador’s treatment of the millions of Venezuelan refugees who have come to the country.
Speaking during the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Lasso called his country a “transit country,” saying it “welcomes migrants.”
“Traditionally we have been one of the biggest host countries of refugees in the entire Western Hemisphere,” he said, adding that beyond simply welcoming refugees, Ecuador has provided assistance and social services as well as starting the legal immigration process.
He said Ecuador will “make special efforts to guarantee the rights and integration of migrants” particularly families.
“These people have no other option other than to flee,” Lasso Mendoza said. “For example half a million Venezuelans today live in Ecuador we are one of the three main destinations for migrants from this country,” he added.
He called on other UN countries to support Ecuador in its mission to help refugees, while also considering what they can do to help as well.
“This is why I repeat — Ecuador is there for the world. The world can count on Ecuador and I know that the world will support us for this plan for regularizing the status of our Venezuelan brethren who have had to flee their country,” Lasso said.
Some context: As of the end of August, more than 6 million Venezuelans have fled their country — matching Ukraine in the number of displaced people and surpassing Syria, according to the United Nations.
Deteriorating economic conditions, food shortages and limited access to health care are increasingly pushing Venezuelans to leave, and a growing Venezuelan community in the United States is also a draw, Doris Meissner, who directs US immigration policy work at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, previously told CNN.
In July, US Border Patrol apprehended 17,603 Venezuelan migrants at the US-Mexico border, marking an increase from June, according to the latest available agency data. Venezuelans have also been arriving to Washington DC and New York City on buses contracted by the state of Texas. They are often seeking political asylum.
Source: www.cnn.com