VZCZCXYZ0027
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHQT #0396/01 1492053
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 292053Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY QUITO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0415
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 8160
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 4185
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 3559
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAY LIMA 3216
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 4342

UNCLAS QUITO 000396 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL PGOV EC
SUBJECT: ECUADOR - RECOMMENDATION FOR JULIA TAFT REFUGEE 
FUND 
 
REF: STATE 14280 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: Embassy Quito recommends Asylum 
Access-Ecuador as a 2009 recipient of the Julia Taft Fund for 
Refugees.  Asylum Access' mission in Ecuador is to assist 
refugees in realizing their rights to employment, education, 
and security within their first country of refuge.  The Taft 
assistance will support the organization's Ecuadorian branch 
in filling an important gap in training refugees to adapt and 
achieve self-reliance through its well-received Know Your 
Rights campaign.  The proposed Julia Taft funding of $20,000, 
coupled with matching funding from Asylum Access in the U.S. 
of $15,000, would finance this program and fill a need in 
regard to Ecuador's newly implemented Enhanced Registration 
process, while preserving refugees' rights under Ecuador's 
new constitution.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) Asylum Access is a small U.S.-based nonprofit.  Its 
mission is to assist refugees in realizing their rights to 
employment, education, and security within their first 
countries of refuge.  The group's approach to fostering the 
sustainable development of local refugee legal aid 
organizations has resulted in locally-run branches in 
Ecuador, Thailand and Tanzania. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Asylum Access-Ecuador (AAE) is actively engaged 
with refugees in a manner that complements Ecuador's Enhanced 
Registration process, which UNHCR and the GOE began in March. 
 AAE provides community education and individualized rights 
counseling to refugees throughout Ecuador who are struggling 
to understand and navigate this new process, which allows 
them to obtain official refugee status from the GOE.  AAE 
also provides individualized legal counseling to prepare 
refugee clients to exercise their lawful rights, including 
constitutional rights provided for in the Ecuadorian 
constitution that went into effect in October 2008. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) If selected, the $20,000 of assistance from the 
Julia Taft Fund will allow AAE to expand its community 
education and client counseling program.  Specifically the 
funding will cover workshop and training costs, including 
equipment and materials, travel to reach refugees outside 
Quito, and partial staff time to develop and implement the 
training and individualized rights counseling.  Asylum Access 
in the U.S. will match these funds with at least $15,000 from 
individual donors and private foundations, which will 
primarily cover the cost of staffing a legal advisor. 
 
¶5.  (U) A key component of AAE's programming is its 
well-received Know Your Rights education campaign.  For the 
last two years, AAE legal advocates have conducted two- to 
three-hour-long training sessions for persons of concern to 
increase awareness of their legal rights and the tools they 
need to assert such rights.  Currently, each training session 
addresses a different right guaranteed by the new Ecuadorian 
constitution, such as the right to work, right to education 
and right to apply for refugee status.  The recipients 
receive practical hands-on tools to exercise their rights 
(such as how to open a bank account) through scenario 
role-playing.  AAE is also developing Know Your Rights 
sessions on the right to health, right to freedom from 
discrimination, and right not to be a victim of abuse 
(including domestic violence, trafficking, and sexual 
violence). 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The proposed funding will fill a critical gap in 
rights-based refugee assistance in Ecuador, especially for 
those fleeing the conflict in nearby Colombia.  These 
training sessions are crucial because, although the new 
Ecuadorian constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis 
of nationality and migratory status, these prohibitions have 
yet to be implemented in practice.  Refugees continue to face 
widespread violation of their employment rights, which limits 
their ability to provide for themselves and their families, 
and places these already vulnerable groups in greater risk. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) UNHCR estimates that Ecuador is host to at least 
135,000 persons of concern from Colombia, of which 22,000 
were granted refugee status and another 72,000 have pending 
asylum applications with the GOE, prior to the implementation 
of its Enhanced Registration program.  During the past eight 
weeks, the GOE, with UNHCR support, has registered 
approximately 6,000 refugees through this program.  However, 
recent reports by the UNHCR and its implementing partners 
indicate that the number of Colombian refugees crossing into 
 
Ecuador may be on the rise.  There is a critical need for 
targeted legal assistance, counseling and community education 
to reduce the risk that these vulnerable individuals face and 
facilitate their legal integration into the host communities. 
 Asylum Access, through AAE, is providing these much needed 
services and a Taft Fund grant will enable them to reach more 
persons of concern in a more effective manner. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Embassy Quito strongly recommends funding the AAE 
project at the level of $20,000.  We have reviewed the code 
of conduct used by Asylum Access, including in Ecuador, and 
confirm that it meets the standards referenced in reftel. 
Embassy Quito has also forwarded AAE's complete proposal, 
including a budget breakdown, to PRM. 
HODGES