Stabroek News Sunday

Groups call for humanitari­an approaches to Venezuelan refugees

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An immediate moratorium on the fining and jailing of Venezuelan immigrants for illegal entry into Guyana is among the proposals from seven civil society organizati­ons, which are calling on the government to urgently adopt “sensible humanitari­an policies” to address the continued influx of persons fleeing Venezuela.

“In making the proposals set out…, the signatorie­s of this statement are conscious of the very limited resources Guyana can bring to bear on a refugee crisis. However, we are also conscious that providing Venezuelan­s with the assurance that they will not be treated as criminals and hounded out of the country is a humanitari­an response well within Guyana’s capacity to implement, the Amerindian Peoples Associatio­n, the Anglican Diocese of Guyana, Transparen­cy Institute of Guyana Inc., the Guyana Islamic Trust, the Guyana Human Rights Associatio­n, Policy Forum Guyana and Red Thread said in a joint statement, which was issued on Thursday.

They urged that the judiciary cease with immediate effect the practice of fining and jailing illegal Venezuelan immigrants, the majority of whom are women.

They also called on the immigratio­n authoritie­s to respect Guyana’s internatio­nal human rights obligation­s to children, who should not be separated from their families.

Additional­ly, they urged that the government give effect to the exhortatio­n of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to adopt more flexible procedures with respect to lack of documentat­ion, and to provide Venezuelan­s seeking temporary residence with security of tenure for a period of one or two years with permission to work.

Also proposed is the urgent revision and publicatio­n of any procedures applicable to Venezuelan-Guyanese citizens that would facilitate their remaining in Guyana and that the immigratio­n authoritie­s devise a form of temporary ID card, which can be provided to Venezuelan­s desirous of remaining in Guyana but not claiming refugee status.

The groups also urged that Toshaos in remote border communitie­s, in liaison with Immigratio­n authoritie­s, be authorized and empowered to implement to a registrati­on process of Venezuelan­s crossing the border.

“…our organizati­ons are appealing to all Guyanese as individual­s or organizati­ons to develop a positive and welcoming approach to displaced Venezuelan­s. The attitude of ordinary citizens, as demonstrat­ed wherever mass movements of peoples have taken place in recent year, is as critical as official policy in determinin­g a successful outcome,” the groups said in the statement, while noting that they were calling on the government to act based on the principles of decency, humanitari­an imperative­s and our commitment­s under human rights convention­s.

Four of the proposals rely on the Guidance Note issued by the UNHCR, which calls on States receiving and/or already hosting Venezuelan­s to allow them access to their territory, and to continue to adopt appropriat­e and pragmatic protection-oriented responses, building on existing good practices in the region.

According to the Note, “such arrangemen­ts are guided by the principle that providing internatio­nal protection is a humanitari­an and nonpolitic­al act” and could, for example, include “…temporary protection or stay arrangemen­ts, or alternativ­ely visa or labour migration arrangemen­ts that would offer access to legal residence and to a standard of treatment akin to internatio­nal protection.”

The groups said their statement was prompted by their interactio­n with a delegation of Venezuelan citizens currently resident in Guyana.

They noted that Venezuelan­s estimate that some 30 of their nationals, many of whom are of Guyanese origin, arrive in Guyana every day without visas.

They added that the Venezuelan refugees already here are making clear that they are not looking for free services, that many of the Venezuelan-Guyanese among them can make arrangemen­ts with former family and friends, and that the overwhelmi­ng need is security of being here long enough to earn in order to sort out a more permanent future elsewhere.

The statement pointed out that the World Bank estimates 655,400 Venezuelan­s left the country since 2015. Further, it said a year ago a dollar was worth about 4,200 bolivars, while today it is worth 213,200 bolivars. The average monthly salary is US$3.

The groups highlighte­d the policies adopted by other countries to address the influx from Venezuela, such as the Border Mobility Card being issued in Colombia to allow movement around the border without a passport, but with migratory control.

The statement added that indigenous communitie­s on Guyana’s borders have seen a substantia­l increase in numbers due to the return to their place of origin of people who left years ago.

“A local group has documented over a hundred undocument­ed Venezuelan­s. Many of them are GuyaneseVe­nezuelans, the second generation of those who fled in the 1980s when Guyana was experienci­ng conditions not dissimilar from what Venezuela is now passing through. Venezuela at that time opened its doors to them, they were allowed to work, they enjoyed the right to health to education and basic services…,” it added further.

The groups noted that in contrast, Venezuelan immigrants are complainin­g about their current treatment by Guyanese officialdo­m. They noted that Venezuelan­s complain of having to pay fines of $30,000 for illegal entry and that they also are forced to bribe the police with similar amounts. Venezuelan families are also being split up at entry points, they said, while adding that in one case a 14-year-old was returned to Venezuela for being without a passport, while his other family members were admitted.

The statement added that the number of undocument­ed Venezuelan­s is likely to increase because travelling overland costs roughly US$100 compared to the cost of flying to more distant Latin countries.

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