Challenging the Notion that “Refugees Belong in Camps”. Alternative Settlement for Migrants. The Case Study of Ecuador

Abstract

In the last decades, the migration phenomenon has become one of the greatest humanitarian crises. The generalized solution by the international community has been the reception in refugee camps as a temporary solution to the displacement. Nonetheless, conflicts are frequently prolonged in time and migrants are stagnated in protracted situations. The objective of this project is to explore alternatives to refugee camps, namely, the reception of migrants in cities. The project is centered around the idea that this strategy will not only be beneficial for the migrants, who will be able to break the dependency built in the camps, but also for the development of the economies of the host countries, by creating more employment, generating a more competitive market, and promoting the development of the infrastructures of the cities. This is going to be studied from the perspective of Ecuador, the country of Latin America that hosts more refugees and migrants, without the establishment of camps.