The Venezuelan crisis: a mass exodus on foot in search of refuge
The political crisis and economic collapse inside Venezuela has resulted in the largest humanitarian crisis in the history of the region and the second-largest displacement crisis in the world. Since 2015, roughly 5.6 million[i] Venezuelans have been forcible displaced from their home country, fleeing violent repression of their human rights, poverty, hunger, shortages of medical supplies, fuel shortages and unemployment.
Venezuelans migrants and refugees are fleeing Venezuela on foot – walking up to 3500 kilometres to seek refuge in neighbouring countries. Their numbers increasingly include women travelling with their children or with their family, victims of human trafficking, survivors of gender-based violence, LGTBQI+ populations or people with disabilities. Save the Children in Colombia has also noted that many children are crossing the border unaccompanied, putting them at risk from armed groups and exploitation from traffickers.
Host countries across Latin America and the Caribbean are engaged in ongoing efforts to host, assist and integrate the roughly 4.6 million forcibly displaced Venezuelan migrants and refugees who remain in the region. To date Colombia and Peru have received the greatest number of displaced Venezuelans with roughly 1.8 million displaced Venezuelans currently in Colombia and 900,000 in Peru.
These efforts are supported by civil society organizations like Save the Children that are providing life-saving humanitarian assistance and essential services to Venezuelan refugees and migrants, including critical nutrition support and access to schooling for children and adolescents. However, Venezuelan migrants and refugees continue to face challenges related to xenophobia, stigma and exclusion, forced evictions, gender-based violence and inability for children and adolescents to access or remain in education. All of these challenges have been exacerbated by COVID-19.
Despite the dire circumstances of Venezuelan refugees and migrants this crisis has remained under-funded and largely invisible to the world.
But there are glimmers of hope.
Last week, The Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for The Defense of the Rights of Refugee, Migrant and Displaced Populations in Latin America and the Caribbean, chaired by Save the Children and Plan international, organized a high-level civil-society dialogue with the European Union and the Government of Canada. At this event world leaders heard strong calls to action from Venezuelan migrants and refugees, civil society actors and 13-year old Valentina who represented Venezuelan children and youth:
Valentina shared experiences of “bullying and rejection in schools for simply coming from another country”. She spoke about the plight of Venezuelan children in host countries who are unable to go to school due to economic barriers and the lack of technology to assess on-line learning given COVID-19 as well as children who have nothing to eat. Valentina “shared her dreams of a perfect world, a world where there was equality, respect and tolerance” and demanded “that States respect the right to a quality education free of harassment”.
At the virtual International Donor Conference in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants that followed on June 17th Canada brought together donor states, refugee and migrant hosting countries, development banks, international organizations, and civil society in support of Venezuelan migrants and refugees. The conference garnered substantial new contributions totalling $1.5 billion USD. These funds will provide lifesaving assistance, protection and social and economic integration to the most vulnerable refugees and migrants and the countries that receive them.
Similarly, your support has helped children like Valentina and thousands of other children to survive and thrive, live a life free of discrimination and fear and learn and dream of a hopeful future. As Save the Children, we have re-doubled our efforts under our Protect a Generation: Children Cannot Wait campaign to ensure that combined effects of conflict, climate change and food insecurity and the pandemic do not reverse hard-won gains for Venezuelan migrant and refugee children and all children living in conflict and crisis.
We invite to join us! Visit our website and take action on our Protect a Generation: Children Cannot Wait campaign page. You can sign our petition, write to your MP to request Canada to take further action for children in crisis, make a gift or send a message to uplift a child in crisis with words of positivity, love and hope!
# TogetherforVenezuelans.
[i] https://coalicionlacrmd.org/noticias/the-lac-rmd-coalition-issues-a-call-to-action-in-the-framework-of-the-international-donors-conference-in-solidarity-with-venezuelan-refugees-and-migrants/