Ecuador will receive in its territory a group of Afghan refugees in an agreement with the United States, which will be responsible for the expenses, and with which the Andean country wants to express its solidarity and support for the efforts of the international community against the crisis in Afghanistan.
This has been confirmed by the Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, who is in Mexico, by means of a trill in which he affirms that it will be “temporary” .
“We will provide humanitarian aid to Afghan families, victims of the conflict. Ecuador will temporarily receive Afghans in transit to the United States, as part of an international cooperation agreement to guarantee their safety and protection,” said the president.
In a statement attached to the trill, the Ministry of Communication abounds that, with this, Lasso “demonstrates the support of the ‘Government of the Meeting’ (as it calls itself) to the international community in all actions aimed at collaborating with the safe exit of foreigners and native citizens from Afghanistan . “
This humanitarian assistance will be provided “mainly to women, minors and the vulnerable population” and will be channeled through the Ecuadorian consular offices.
At the moment, no official source has confirmed how many refugees are involved.
The Andean country already hosts some 60,000 refugees, mainly from the conflict in Colombia, as well as more than 450,000 Venezuelans who have arrived in recent years.
The Government emphasizes in the statement that “conflicts in which human rights are violated are no different” so Ecuador “will continue joining efforts with the international community to provide aid to the victims of the Afghan conflict, who deserve to live safely. , protection and dignity “.
Ecuador’s humanitarian response, in a difficult economic situation due to the pandemic, is part of its adhesion on 16 to a statement coordinated by the United States in which more than 70 countries exhorted the parties involved in the conflict to respect and facilitate the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country.
“Their stay in Ecuadorian territory will be temporary and will have the cooperation of the United States to cover the expenses generated by their stay, until they can be regularized in that country,” according to the official press release.
Ecuador’s announcement comes hours after Colombia also made public its willingness to accept Afghans on its territory.
“At this moment we do not have certainty about the precise number of Afghan population that will arrive in our country, we do not know precisely when or what their profiles are like, how many men, how many women, how many families, if they arrive with children …” said the Vice President and Foreign Minister of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez.
And while several European countries, including Spain, keep an air bridge open to rescue foreigners and Afghans. EFE