UN Agency Appeals for Just $10 a Head to Help Colombian Refugees

The United Nations refugee agency is appealing for just $69,000 by the end of the month - a mere $10 per person - to help 7,200 Colombians who have fled into Ecuador from violence in their homeland.

"We are desperate to provide for the needs of 7,200 refugee women and young girls," the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Ecuador said in a statement.

"In order to provide security, to help to settle the refugees, to provide basic healthcare and living necessities, we've calculated that a total of $69,000 is needed. That's just $10 per refugee."

At the end of last year there was intense fighting in southern Colombia. Violence, kidnapping and forced recruitment of minor children were reported. Consequently, whole families - men, women and children - had no choice but to cross the border into Ecuador in order to escape the fear and the misery, the office added. Many of them even witnessed members of their family being killed.

Two out of three Colombian refugee women in Ecuador are either widowed or single mothers and have no one to help support or protect their children. Life for these women is challenging. They are victims of unfair labour practices and sexual exploitation. Jobs are scarce and refugees have no choice but to accept the least desirable and lowest paying jobs.

For the children, life is equally miserable. "We must help them, to offer them hope," the office said, citing the case of five-year-old Erika who fled with her mother and older brother on Christmas Day after paramilitary forces came into her house and killed five of her family members including her father. The bullet that killed him passed through Erika's shoulder.

"The physical and emotional scar of that day will remain with her throughout her lifetime," it added.

Source: United Nations

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