NRC in Ecuador

A growing number of people are fleeing Ecuador, while the country is itself home to a significant population of refugees from other countries. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is supporting these families with the safe water, shelter, education and protection they need to survive and overcome the effects of displacement. 

What’s happening in Ecuador?

Ecuador is experiencing significant violence and humanitarian consequences, from forced displacement and child recruitment to deadly explosives and extortion, as organised criminal groups continue to terrorise neighbourhoods by targeting homes, schools and local businesses. In addition, drug trafficking has been a big problem in Ecuador, thanks to its location between the world’s main cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, and its porous borders and major Pacific Ocean ports. In many communities, the daily reality of organised crime is as devastating as living through an armed conflict.  

For many years, Ecuador has also been a country of arrival and transit for refugees and migrants, particularly people fleeing the crisis in Venezuela. With spiralling levels of violence and continued droughts and flooding, hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, leaving 1.9 million people across Ecuador urgently need humanitarian support.