Las causas por las que huyen son muy variadas: unas veces perseguidos por sus creencias, en otras por catástrofes naturales como terremotos o inundaciones y, en demasiados casos, el motivo de su huida es la guerra. En todos ellos su única salida es huir.

En Entreculturas trabajamos junto al Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados (JRS, por sus siglas en inglés) acompañando y defendiendo los derechos de estas personas, ayudándoles a encontrar una salida digna y apoyando su derecho a la educación para que recuperen la esperanza en el futuro.

Si quieres contribuir a que estas personas encuentren su salida, te animamos a que te unas a ENTRECULTURAS haciéndote socio o bien realizando una donación. 

Según tu opinión y tu experiencia, ¿cuáles son los principales motivos por los que la gente se desplaza, en concreto, las personas refugiadas y migrantes que llegan a España?

La mayoría de las personas se desplazan a España por la falta de trabajo en sus países de origen y la demanda de trabajadores que hay en Europa. Otro grupo muy importante son personas refugiadas, que huyen de la violencia y persecución en sus países de origen y que tienen derecho a protección internacional.

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¿Cuál es la realidad de Latinoamérica-Caribe en términos de movilidad humana? ¿Es Colombia el "punto caliente de la región"?

En América Latina y el Caribe hay múltiples flujos migratorios: mexicanos y dominicanos que se mueven hacia Estados Unidos; peruanos y ecuatorianos hacia España; y los haitianos y colombianos que se desplazan a distintas latitudes. Estos dos últimos grupos son considerados actualmente migrantes forzados. Por una parte, las condiciones de pobreza y los efectos del terremoto del 2010 han incrementado los índices de movilidad de los haitianos. Respecto a Colombia, el conflicto armado ha convertido a este país en uno de los territorios con mayor índice de desplazamiento interno. Además de las aproximadamente 500 mil personas con necesidad de protección internacional que se encuentran en los países fronterizos como Ecuador, Venezuela y Panamá. En este sentido, se podría decir que Colombia es, efectivamente, el epicentro de la migración en América Latina.

Mediante la Resolución Defensorial N° 008-2011/DP -publicada en el diario oficial El Peruano"- se precisa que la institución educativa "Fe y Alegría" contribuye a la educación de niños, niñas y adolescentes de las zonas más pobres y excluidas de la periferia urbana y zonas rurales en 19 regiones del territorio nacional, contribuyendo así a la formación de ciudadanos valiosos para el país.

 
Por otro lado, con el reconocimiento de la labor del Padre José Ignacio Mantecón Sancho, S.J., conocido como el Padre "Chiqui", la Defensoría del Pueblo se propone destacar su constancia, su paciencia y su creatividad que, desde hace más de 20 años, le permiten atender a jóvenes y adolescentes que pertenecen a pandillas del distrito de El Agustino, motivándolos a redescubrir oportunidades de cambio y transformación a favor de su comunidad y de la sociedad en su conjunto.

Tras año y medio después del terremoto, Haití sigue presentando signos de estancamiento. Gran parte de la población continúa en la calle, bajo las carpas, o sigue sin tener un trabajo que desarrollar después de que el seísmo destruyera su negocio. Ante esta precariedad generalizada, son muchas las personas que, para sobrevivir, se plantean huir del país y salir en busca de un nuevo futuro.

El Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados para Latinoamérica y Caribe (en adelante, SJR-LAC), ha elaborado un documento en el que recoge algunas apreciaciones importantes sobre la situación de los refugiados haitianos en la región.

En la presentación, que ha sido realizada en el CEEI Talavera de la Reina - Toledo, han participado Rafael Sancho Zamora, Director de la Fundación CEEI Talavera de la Reina - Toledo; Juan Carlos Gil Rupérez, delegado de Entreculturas en Castilla - La Mancha y Merlys Mosquera, Directora del Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados para Latinoamérica y Caribe (JRS-LAC).

El CEEI Talavera de la Reina - Toledo colabora activamente en la realización de esta actividad en el marco del convenio de colaboración que posee con la Fundación Entreculturas, como parte esencial del apoyo a cuantas actuaciones se desarrollan en el marco de la RSC, y especialmente aquellas que van destinadas a fomentar el interés por la Educación, como vía primera para lograr personas con capacidades, recursos y talento necesario, que les permita ser los emprendedores del mañana.

"Asumir este papel de Director es un desafío muy grande, pues en Argentina hay una enorme desigualdad de condiciones, pero lo afronto con mucha ilusión", afirma. "Ahora tenemos que fortalecernos como institución, darnos a conocer y expandirnos para poder llegar a cuantas más partes mejor".

A su paso por Entreculturas, donde ha tenido ocasión de reunirse con varias empresas españolas interesadas en seguir apoyando los proyectos de Fe y Alegría, Alejandro nos ha ofrecido una mirada sincera y realista de un país del que poca gente sabe que casi el 30% de la población es pobre.

La Región de Murcia es uno de los puntos fuertes de las Redes Solidarias de Jóvenes promovidas por Entreculturas, y ese gran trabajo de docentes, chicos y chicas se ha visto recompensado en esta ocasión con un premio para la Red del centro Severo Ochoa de los Garres.

Entre otras muchas actividades que la red de este centro promueve y apoya, destacan los conciertos solidarios de Grupo Percuseve, formado por alumnos y alumnas y también premiado varias veces por la calidad de sus espectáculos.

In these last few years a dramatic increase has taken place in the number of internal refugees and displaced people in the world. More than 40 million people in the whole planet were forcibly displaced as a result of armed conflicts, natural disasters, famine and persecution. This is the highest figure since the mid nineties, according to the latest statistics published by UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees). On occasion these people are displaced within their own country, either because other areas offer the necessary security or because they don’t have the means to cross borders: They are the internal displaced people and they are more than 27 million.

If we could see the world population as a map, we would see thousands and thousands of people on the move, relocating to a different city, a different country, crossing oceans, loaded with everything they have – a basin, a bag of clothes – and leaving behind everything that made up their lives up to then. The humanitarian problem that this massive exodus creates is enormous. The places where they go usually don’t have the infrastructure to support their presence or meet their food and shelter necessities.

Five countries are hosts to the majority of refugees and none of them, with the exception of Germany, belong to the G20: Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Germany and Jordan account for 47% of the total refugees. Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Congo Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Colombia present the other face of the coin: the country from where their people must flee.

During these months in which we are aware through the media of the situation at airports, of the massive road exits looking forward to our holiday rest, we want to remember, we want to put ourselves in the shoes of the millions of people that violence, fanaticism, the cruel nature or injustice and corruption have deprived of their past and send to start a new life from zero.  

There are too many emergency exits in this world; will they find us at the other side of the door? , if only the 20th of June,  Refugee World Day, the support of the work we do jointly with the Jesuit Refugee Service to accompany, serve and defend these millions of people,  opens the door to hope.

When one hears about refugees, internal displaced persons or asylum seekers one automatically thinks of Africa. Unfortunately, it is also necessary to remember Latin America: more than 3.5 million men and women, boys, girls, youths and elderly people in this region live far from their places of origin, driven by violence or poverty or both to abandon their homes. They start from the ground, without resources, often in another country and with serious difficulties regularizing their situation.

Ecuador is the country where more people in these circumstances live in the whole of Latin-America. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) calculates that they add to some 250.000. The north border, through which thousands of people enter from Colombia each year fleeing the on going armed conflict, is a particularly turbulent zone because of the repeated incursions by the army and the guerrilla groups from the neighbouring country. An insecurity that affects  the complete population of this region of Amazonia and is worse for the Colombian families in refugee status, moreover when their situation is not regularized (in spite of the efforts that the government of Ecuador has made in the past years,  only 54.000 persons are officially recognized as refugees in the whole country). 

In this context, the Ecuador Jesuit Refugee and Migrants Service (JRMS) works, with Entreculturas support and in collaboration with other local institutions such as ISAMIS and international Such as Red Cross International, in the accompanying, advising and defence of rights of the refugees, to try to tackle the humanitarian crisis derived from successive displacements of large populations from Colombia to Ecuador, that establish themselves in the Amazonian jungle communities.

The Entreculturas technician responsible for Ecuador, Ana Vazquez Ponze, has recently visited the eastern side of this border, and has reported her impressions while accompanying the JRMS: “Half of the river San Miguel belongs to Colombia an the other half to Ecuador. The water flows strongly while long narrow boats fight the current to cross the river. From one side to the other, sporadically crosses the river something much more important than fuel, animals, and food or trade goods: human lives cross risking the little they have in search of peace, escaping from generalized violence or simply looking for a better life. Once again I say to myself that the human being has always moved looking for something better for oneself and for its own. Who wouldn’t? Nobody wants to live under threats and violence, I’m sure of that”.

Zimbabwe has been, since its independence in 1980, a place of settlement for hundreds of thousand refugee people. The neighbouring conflicts, like Congo Democratic Republic, Burundi, Ruanda or Mozambique, forced people to take flight and install themselves there during the decades of the eighties and nineties, in refugee camps like Tongogara, where 3.500 people live still today. In those days, Zimbabwe’s situation looked much more hopeful than that of its neighbours.  However, today the country fins itself in a situation of true chaos and serious humanitarian emergency.

One of the main reasons is the economic crisis, made worse after the 2008 elections that served Robert Mugabe to perpetuate himself in power through fraudulent means.  The outbreak of violence provoked by the elections forced most factories to close, and so all the food in the shops is imported from South Africa and hence very expensive. The rate of unemployment is 80% and it has the highest rate of inflation in the world, which leaves most families in a situation of absolute poverty. Life expectancy has come down to 46 years from 62 due mainly to malnutrition, the health service collapse and the spread of infectious diseases, such as cholera and tuberculosis. Due to unfortunate agricultural policy, bad crop planning and last season’s poor rains, the farm output has been reduced to a minimum. In addition, since the 2002 agricultural reform, items such as seeds, fertilizer or pesticide cannot be bought and the farming sector hasn’t been able to produce enough foodstuffs. The country suffers as well frequent power cuts and supply problems.  

Three and a half tears after the earthquake, Haiti continues to present signs of stagnation. A large portion of the population remains in the streets, under tarpaulins, or lacks a job to do after the quake destroyed their businesses. In the face of this generalized precariousness, many are the people that, to survive, pose themselves questions so as to leave the country in search of a new future.

JRS-LAC has elaborated a document containing some important considerations concerning the situation of the Haitian refugees in the region.

From your experience, tell us your opinion; what are the principal motivations for people to move, specifically, the refugees and migrants arriving to Spain?

The major part of the people coming to Spain does so due to a lack of work in their original countries and the demand for workers in Europe. Another very important group are refugees, escaping violence and persecution in their countries, which have the right to international protection.

Where are they mostly coming from?

In terms of human mobility; what is the reality in Latin America-Caribbean? Is Colombia de “hot spot” in the region?

There are multiple migration flows In Latin America and the Caribbean: Mexicans and Dominicans moving to UUEE; Peruvians and Ecuadorians to Spain and Colombians that move to different latitudes. These last two groups are actually considered forced migrants. In one hand, the pervasive poverty and the effects of the 2010 earthquake have incremented the Haitians mobility indexes. With respect to Colombia, the armed conflict has converted this country into one of the territories with the highest index of internal displacement. In addition there are approximately 500.000 persons in border countries like Ecuador, Venezuela and Panama that need international protection. In this sense, one could say that Colombia is in effect the epicentre of the migration in Latin America.

The CEFOD is a platform of critical reflexion, of dialog and posture interchange beyond the ethnic, political and religious divisions that could appear in Chad. The purpose of this institution is to promote education and training, and citizen participation in creating a peaceful, democratic and developed society.
 
How is Chad right now, after the electoral process? How was CEFOD’s work concerning this issue?

By means of the Defensorial resolution No 008-2011/DP –published in the official daily “El Peruano”- it is communicated that the educational institution “Fe y Alegria” contributes to the education of children, boys and girls, and adolescents in the most poor and excluded zones of the urban periphery and in rural areas in 19 regions of the national territory, so contributing in the forming of valuable citizens for the country.   .

On another issue, the Ombudsman with the recognition of the work of Father José Ignacio Mantecón Sancho, S.J., also known as Padre “Chiqui”, wants to highlight his constancy, his patience and his creativity that, for more than 20 years, enable him to care for the young ones and adolescents who belong to the gangs in the district of El Agustino, motivating them to re-discover opportunities for change and transformation in favour of their communities and society at large.

This will be the sixth edition of the award Medalla Defensoría del pueblo, created in the year 2006 with the institutional purpose of expressing its public recognition to the persons or institutions, national or foreign, that have excelled significantly in the promotion, defence and enforcement of human rights.

In previous editions, this important distinction has been awarded to: the writer Mario Vargas Llosa; Salomón Lerner; Father Gustavo Gutiérrez; Mother Covadonga; USA ex-President Jimmy Carter; Pilar Coll; Liliana Mayo, Centre Director Ann Sullivan and the United Nations (UN) ex Secretary general Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.

We join the demands of thousands of people that have theirs the street, asking for a system that guarantees equality, solidarity, human welfare, gender equality, ecological sustainability, the right to education, to health, to political participation and the full development of all the persons inhabiting the planet.

It is inadmissible as well as ethically blameworthy, using measures to fight the crisis at the expense of the more vulnerable people and their rights, so perpetuating a system based on values alien to justice and solidarity and in which the markets have priority over the people and their needs.

“Assuming this role of Director is a big challenge, as in Argentina exist an enormous inequality of conditions, but I face it full of illusion”, he says. ”Now we have to get stronger as an institution, make ourselves be known and expand so as to get to as many places as possible”.

During his passage by Entreculturas, where he had the occasion to meet with several Spanish companies wanting to continue supporting Fe y Alegría’s projects, Alejandro has given us a true and realistic assessment of a country in which, unknown to most people, almost 30% of the population is poor.

The Acts of the Apostles recounts that one of the first converts to Christianity was Ethiopian. Already in the fourth century Ethiopia declared the Catholic faith an official religion — one of the first countries to do so. Today, however, Catholics are less than 1% of the total population. Despite their small numbers, they are managing as much as 90% of the nation’s social programs.

Q: You were born, raised and ordained in Colombia. How do you find yourself in Ethiopia?

Bishop Mejía: I arrived first in Africa in 1963, not to Ethiopia, but to the Congo, the ex-Belgian Congo at that time, where I worked for around 20 years. Then I moved to Kenya where I worked as a missionary for 14 years, and now I’ve been in Ethiopia for more than 10 years.

¡Hello! My name is Conchi, I come from Tenerife and I am a n occupational counsellor. The first time I heard of Entreculturas was in Bolivia, where I was as a volunteer in 2006. I coincided there with the people working in the “Mi Rancho” project and through them I got to know the VOLPA volunteer program.

When I got back to Bolivia, the opportunity to do the VOLPA training, and I flew from the Canary Islands to Madrid on alternate Saturdays to attend classes. It was intense, but certainly worthwhile. The training was very exhaustive, and above all, it permitted me to question myself to my ideas clear…and, maybe, the most remarkable, is to be able to rely on one or two persons that “accompany” one through the entire process…

Hello, we are Miguela and Daniel, two 57 years old teachers. We are working in Quito (Ecuador) since September 2010.

I am Miguela. In Spain I work as teacher of 6 years old children, and here in Quito they have given the work of coordinating the first and second year teachers in the primary school. Basically I go visiting the schools further from Quito and collect the teacher’s experiences to share them later and enrich the pedagogical practice.

Daniel is my husband. He works with the teachers of the older children, 15 to 17 years old. He gives advice on everything to do with the new baccalaureate and professional training.

La homilía de la misa se destinó a dar a conocer, mediante una presentación en power point, las características del proyecto, el cual está orientado a ofrecer educación primaria por radio a la población mayor de 15 años que no pudo completar sus estudios en seis municipios de Potosí y cuatro de Chuquisaca de Bolivia. Esta propuesta está diseñada con el fin de brindar a estas personas la oportunidad de prolongar sus años de escolaridad a nivel primario, y acceder a otros niveles e instancias de formación que facilite su inserción en el mercado laboral.

El acto fue inaugurado con la intervención de José María Vaca, integrante del Servicio Jesuita al Refugiado, quien expuso las características y evolución de la iniciativa VOLPA y continúo con las experiencias de los proyectos de los que formaron parte antiguos participantes de este programa de voluntariado internacional en países de África y América Latina.
 
Así, Carmen Alexandre compartió sus vivencias en Camerún como profesora de informática y de personas sordas durante le periodo 2006-2007 y Gema Méndez relató su etapa como voluntaria en Perú de 1995 a 1997 y su aportación a un proyecto de apoyo escolar a niños de familias desestructuradas.

El pasado domingo 12 de junio, la delegación de Málaga celebró en la Parroquía del Sagrado Corazón de la ciudad un Domingo Solidario. En la puerta de la Iglesia, distintas asociaciones ligadas a la Compañía de Jesús montaron un mercadillo, cuya recaudación fue para el proyecto de delegación "Maestro en casa" en Honduras.

Durante las distintas misas del día, los voluntarios de la delegación dieron a conocer su labor en Málaga, así como el proyecto de Honduras. La intención de este Domingo Solidario fue sensibilizar a los asistentes de las eucaristías y crear conciencia de la necesidad de crear base social en Málaga.

Merlys subrayó la importancia del derecho a la educación para todos aquellos refugiados y desplazados, no sólo en términos de educación formal, sino como fortalecimiento de valores. Entreculturas junto con el SJR pretenden prevenir y/o evitar la discriminación, la intervención de los niños en conflictos armados y encaminar a las futuras generaciones hacia la construcción de la paz como una vía factible.

Este informe también ha puesto de manifiesto que prácticamente el 60% de las mujeres y niños refugiados o desplazados han sufrido situaciones de violencia intrafamiliar. El impacto que provoca la ruptura con el contexto habitual genera un cambio de roles y en la mayoría de los casos los niños pierden, o simplemente confunden, los referentes o los modelos a seguir al tener que crecer de golpe.

Desde aquí nuestro más sincero agradecimiento a Merlys por acercarnos a la realidad del trabajo que nuestros voluntarios, socios y colaboradores realizan en América Latina y Caribe.