(Lima, Santiago, and Washington, D.C.) The undersigned organizations, members of the Venezuelan Human Mobility Working Group, express our concern over the decision of the State of Perú on June 6th, 2019 which requires Venezuelan individuals to present a “humanitarian visa” to enter Peruvian territory. Said measure will enter into effect on June 15th 2019 at midnight.
Migration requirements imposed on the Venezuelan migrant and refugee population, which is forced to abandon its homeland in conditions of great need, far from being a humanitarian measure, becomes an impenetrable barrier to entry into Peruvian territory for a population in need of international protection. It is public knowledge that the humanitarian situation in Venezuela has worsened, which in turn has caused more than 4 million people to flee the country according to the latest figures from UNHCR.
This new restriction has a direct impact on the possibility of exercising the right to seek and receive asylum for individuals forced to leave Venezuela, with special concern for the processing of the visa itself or mandatory requirements that need to be processed in Venezuelan territory.
Unfortunately, the kind of visa requirements that Perú has imposed are not new to the region; its restrictive character is similar to the “Visa of Democratic Responsibility” imposed by the State of Chile last year, which has yielded an insufficient response to the migrant flux that has been heading to the south of the continent. Unlike Chile, the measure introduced by Perú allows the processing of the required visa in consulates in Colombia and Ecuador, however measures like these have proven to be difficult or impossible to access for the majority of the Venezuelan people. In the case of Chile, a year after the visa requirement’s issuance, less than 30% of requests have yielded favorable results and the vast majority of migrants have entered with a tourist visa. However, the requirement imposed by Perú restricts entry to the territory to those who have not obtained a visa in a Peruvian consulate abroad. We call for asylum requests made at the border to remain unaffected by these measures.
It is worth noting that one week before the new measures entered into force, the requirements, costs, and instructions for the procedure had not been published in any official website of the Government of Perú; resulting in a disconcerted and insecure state for the Venezuelan community in Perú with relatives in Venezuela who intend to leave their country.
As human rights organizations who offer attention to migrant and refugee populations, we are concerned that a trend exists in the region to restrict the mobility of Venezuelan persons who have a clear need of international protection. It is completely contradictory to affirm the violations of human rights that occur in Venezuelan territory while at the same time virtually closing the borders to that population. On the other hand, instead of offering shelter and establishing best practices, with these actions we will witness an increase in trafficking networks, revenues for illicit entry, number of deaths, human rights violations, and security costs for the State of Perú.
In accordance with their international commitments, states have a duty to respect and guarantee human rights when establishing their migration laws and policies. Any measure must guarantee, among others, the right to seek and receive asylum, as well as the right to equality and non-discrimination. In this sense, it is of utmost importance that states address migration not from a restrictive standpoint, but by heeding the call made by UNHCR which requests that receiving countries allow territorial entry and guarantee access to asylum mechanisms to refugees and migrants, as well as the possibility that states complete the recognition of the condition of refugee for Venezuelan persons via group determinations.
We call on all states to cease the use of actions that in practice hinder the regular entry into their territories to peoples in need of international protection. We also demand that the rights of the Venezuelan people to seek and receive asylum or other forms of international protection, including the possibility of requesting said protections at the border, are protected to their fullest extent. Finally, we request that states reaffirm their commitments derived from the Convention on the Status of Refugees of 1951, its Protocol of 1967, the broadened definition of refugee established in the Declaration of Cartagena, the American Convention on Human Rights of 1969, and other legal instruments that are applicable on this issue.
Signing organizations members of the Venezuelan Human Mobility Working Group. (www.movhuve.org )
Acción Solidaria, Venezuela
Alianza Americas
Amnesty Internacional, Regional
Vinotinto Movement Civil Association
Peace and Hope Diaconal Ministry Association, Perú
Asylum Access, Regional
Caribe Afirmativo, Colombia
Center for Human Rights of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), Venezuela
Center for Justice and Peace (Cepaz), Venezuela
Center for Migrant Observation and Social Development in the Caribbean (OBMICA), Dominican Republic
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Regional
Civilis Human Rights, Venezuela
Judicial Clinic for Migrants, Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile
Judicial Clinic for Migrants and Refugees UDP, Chile
Judicial Clinic for Migrants, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
Pedro Arrupe SJ. Judicial Clinic for Migrants and Refugees, Perú
Argentinian Commission for Regufees and Migrants (CAREF), Argentina
Committee of Relatives of Victims of the Events of February and March of 1989 (COFAVIC), Venezuela
Consulting for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES), Colombia
Convite AC, Venezuela
National Human Rights Coordinator, Perú
Coordinator for the Rights of Infants and Teenagers (CDIA), Paraguay.
Diverse Dialogue, Ecuador
Jesuit Solidarity Service, Perú
Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights, Regional
Misión Scalabriniana, Ecuador
Oxfam, Regional
Prepara Familia, Venezuela
Venezuelan Program on Educaction and Action on Human Rights (PROVEA), Venezuela
Jesuit Network on Migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean (RJM-LAC), Regional
Refugees International, Regional
Jesuit Migrant Service, Chile
Jesuit Refugee Service for Latin America and the Caribbean (JRS LAC), Regional
Jesuit Refugee Service, Ecuador
Jesuit Migrant and Refugee Service – SJMR Brasil
Sin Fronteras IAP, México
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Regional
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