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ECUADOR / GUTERRES
STORY: ECUADOR / GUTERRES
TRT: 2.47
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16 JUNE 2012, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR
1. Various shots, Guayaquil
2. Various shots, refugees on the street
3. Various shots, Yolanda
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yolanda, Colombian Refugee:
“I could not cope anymore when I watched those armed groups infiltrating and settling in the neighborhood. We saw them everyday, day and night. We saw these armed people killing, committing crimes, it is something that you cannot imagine.”
5. Wide shot, Yolanda standing outside
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yolanda, Colombian Refugee:
“It is difficult to start from zero, where you don't know anybody, where Colombians have always been discriminated. One should not generalize, but being a refugee feels like a stain that follow you until the end of the world.”
7. Wide shot, High Commissioner arriving
8. Med shot, High Commissioner talking with Yolanda
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Antonio Guterres, High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“There is a clear picture of refugees in big refugee camps, but more and more refugees are to be found in big cities. They are in the urban areas, where it is more difficult to find them, to know their difficulties, their problems, and to find ways to guarantee their protection by assisting them with their basic needs.”
10. Wide shot, man walking
11. Various shots, street scenes
12. Wide shot, High Commissioner meeting with refugee women
13. Wide shot, High commissioner talking to Amalfi
14. Wide shot, High Commissioner walking
15. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Antonio Guterres , High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We are commemorating World Refugee Day in Ecuador, the Latin American country where the most refugees have been received always with opened borders, always with a spirit solidarity, for all those who seek protection in this country.”
16. Various shots, Almafi selling breads
17. Med shot, children eating
18. Various shots, Amalfi preparing breads
19. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Amalfi, Colombian refugee:
“Many times we have tried to find work, but then the document which they give us is not useful. We did not come to harm people, on the contrary, we came to escape from violence. We are good people.”
20. Med shot, Amalfi talking
21. Various shots, refugee woman talking
22. Various shots, Yolanda in her kitchen
23. Wide shot, Guayaquil
This is Guayaquil, the largest town in Ecuador, home to 3,000 refugees. Most are Colombians who escaped from the conflict in their country, a conflict that has gone on for almost 50 years.
Yolanda and her family left the south of Colombia, when they were threatened and came here.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yolanda, Colombian Refugee:
“I could not cope anymore when I watched those armed groups infiltrating and settling in the neighborhood. We saw them everyday, day and night. We saw these armed people killing, committing crimes. it is something that you cannot imagine.”
Yolanda now is safe but it is not easy to start new life.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Yolanda, Colombian Refugee:
‘It is difficult to start from zero, where you don't know anybody, where Colombians have always been discriminated. One should not generalize, but being a refugee feels like a stain that follow you until the end of the world.’
UNHCR's High commissioner met the refugees.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Antonio Guterres High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“There is a clear picture of refugees in big refugee camps, but more and more refugees are to be found in big cities. They are in the urban areas, where it is more difficult to find them, to know their difficulties, their problems, and to find ways to guarantee their protection by assisting them with their basic needs.”
The ongoing violence in Colombia pushed 1,300 people every month to Ecuador.
About 60 percent of the refugee population lives in an urban setting.
Assisting those refugees is a new challenge for UNHCR in Ecuador
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Antonio Guterres High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“We are commemorating World Refugee Day in Ecuador, the Latin American country where the most refugees have been received always with opened borders, always with a spirit solidarity, for all those who seek protection in this country.”
Amalfi, a Colombian refugee sells food to sustain her family. It’s not enough, to ensure the future of her four children. Her husband cannot work. He lacks the right papers.
SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Amalfi, Colombian Refugee:
“Many times we have tried to find work, but then the document which they give us is not useful. We did not come to harm people, on the contrary, we came to escape from violence. We are good people.”
Papers would bring Amalfi and other refugees more security and stability.
So UNHCR is working with the government to get refugees the documentation they need.
All in anticipation of when they can go home.
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