Writing a chapter of migration in Ecuador

Migration regularization is the process by which a country grants legal status to non-nationals living there without proper documentation. This process aims to protect their human rights—in particular, to reduce exploitation, and further to improve data accuracy on labour markets and migration. In Ecuador, volunteers played a crucial role in the registration and regularization efforts for migrants.

United Nations Volunteers (UNV) collaborated with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Ecuadorian government to deploy more than 250 UN Volunteers in Ecuador. The government ministries, namely the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, played a vital part in making this happen. 

UN Volunteers lent technical support, monitored the registration of unaccompanied children and adolescents, and evaluated recent migration registration and regularization efforts. These efforts took place in 18 cities in Ecuador, where volunteers informed people on the move about migration processes. 

Kristin Mejo, Chief of Mission of IOM Ecuador, states: “UNV was consolidated as a strategic partner, incorporating human talent in the Ministry of the Interior, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion by supporting these institutions in tasks such as regularization, taking biometric data, and reviewing files for the issuance and renewal of certificates of migratory performance.” 

The agile working style of UN Volunteers to evolving needs on the ground benefited the migration processes. 

Federico Augusti, UNHCR Representative in Ecuador, highlights the importance of UNV’s support: “[The participation of UN Volunteers] has been instrumental in helping more than 100,000 people obtain their immigration regularization in the country, allowing them access to fundamental rights such as education, health care or decent work.” 

The impact is evident in numbers. More than 259,000 people registered, more than 200,000 received a certificate of migratory permanence, more than 92,400 regularized their status with a visa, and more than 72,000 obtained their Ecuadorian identity document. 

This highlights volunteering as key to addressing humanitarian challenges and implementing large-scale initiatives. 

Toily Kurbanov, Executive Coordinator of UNV, underlined the important role of UN partner entities and the government. “The chapter that you've just closed is a big chapter in the history of Ecuador, a country that has always strived to be good neighbourly and upholding human dignity for migrants and refugees. This chapter was also a very special chapter for UNHCR and IOM, two outstanding agencies." 

I hope you will remember this chapter for long, maybe forever, but even if you don't know, even if you don't hear it now, out of hundreds of thousands of people whom you helped to start a new beginning, they will remember you because you help them to write their own important chapter in their life.” 

Diego Adrian Munoz Quiroz, UN Volunteer Technical support in the exercise of Migration Registration, helps migrants with the registration process in Ecuador. @UNV, 2023.