• According to Notes by the UNHCR, migrants and refugees require international protection for being in a situation of vulnerability
  • An August 2021 report by the Human Rights Center of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (CDH-UCAB) revealed that Venezuelan migrant women are at risk of falling victims to modern slavery, including forced labor or sexual exploitation.

The life of Venezuelan migrant and refugee women abroad is not easy. Factors such as gender violence, sexual violence, and femicide, coupled with the complications generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, make them even more vulnerable.

According to reports published by the Center for Justice and Peace (Cepaz), 70 femicides of Venezuelan women abroad have been registered until September 2021, while 7 others have been frustrated. Colombia stands out as one of the countries with the highest number of reported cases.

Since 1981, every November 25 marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The date aims at raising awareness about the violence experienced by women across the world and calling for policies for its eradication, including “any act of gender violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life”, as stated by the United Nations Organization.

According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), 30% of women across the world have experienced physical and/or sexual violence from a partner or sexual violence by third parties at some point in their life, while most of the time the aggressor is the woman’s partner. The WHO adds that 27% of women aged 15 to 49 who have been in a relationship report having experienced some type of physical and/or sexual violence by their partner.

Venezuelan victims

On October 28, feminist organizations brought before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) the reality of women and girls in Venezuela who are denied social protection by the State. The hearing was attended by Venezuelan organizations Asociación Venezolana para una Educación Sexual Alternativa (AVESA), Caleidoscopio Humano, Centro de Justicia y Paz (CEPAZ), 100% Estrogeno, Uquira, Fundamujer, Fundación Vida Jurídica, and by the international organization Women’s Link Worldwide during the 181 Regular Period of Sessions of the IACHR.

During the session, the representative of the Venezuelan NGO Cepaz, Carolina Godoy, denounced that “207 femicides took place between January 1 to September 30, 2021, 207, 30 of them in September alone, which left 7 orphaned children. A further 11 femicides were frustrated”.

These are national figures, but what about migrant women? According to an article published by UN Women, “[f]or many migrant women around the world, pervasive gender inequalities coupled with systemic racism, violence and other forms of discrimination mean the pandemic has had a devastating impact on their livelihoods and health.”

Migration and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are currently 5.9 million Venezuelan migrants across the world, including more than 850 thousand asylum seekers, more than 170 thousand refugees, and more than 2.5 million people residing legally in the countries of the Americas.

Likewise, the UNHCR points out that the majority of Venezuelan refugees and migrants are families with children, pregnant women, elderly people, and people with disabilities. “Often obliged to take irregular routes to reach safety, they may fall prey to smugglers, traffickers, and irregular armed groups,” it warns.

To understand the impact of the pandemic on Venezuelan migrants, the Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) surveyed 1,200 families and published the findings in October 2021.

According to the UN, three-quarters of those who lost their homes during the pandemic began to live on the streets, with 80% of them being women, who also were the main providers of their families in more than half of the cases.

Violence and lack of legal support

In its 2020 report, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) analyzed the 2019 figures captured by the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) that gathers the basic demographic characteristics of migrant and refugee women.

According to the report:

  • The surveyed women reported having suffered physical violence (35%), verbal violence (25%), psychological violence (11%), and sexual violence (10%).
  • Most women who experienced these four forms of violence were between 18 and 34 years old and had a secondary level of education.
  • Among those women who traveled alone, 39% reported being victims of physical violence, 24% reported suffering verbal violence, 12% reported being victims of sexual violence and 9% reported experiencing psychological violence.
  • 40% of the women surveyed responded that they had experienced discrimination and 86% of them reported that it had been based on their nationality.
  • Venezuelan migrant and refugee women reported that their main priority needs are the following: income/employment (28%), legal support (19%), document assistance (16%) and medical help (16%).
  • The four main difficulties during the trip reported by women were: lack of resources (67%), lack of food/water (35%), lack of means of transport (33%) and lack of information (33%).

Evictions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

A study conducted by the Inter-agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) revealed that some 80% of survey respondents who had been evicted were women, of which 22% were pregnant or breastfeeding. What is more, among evicted women, 55% were the family’s breadwinners. Among women at risk of eviction, 58% were also single heads of their households.

“Female-headed households in displacement situations are often more susceptible to discrimination, lack of access to employment or assistance, and gender-based violence – particularly in more patriarchal societies,” the report warns.

The report adds that the “[c]hallenges faced by female-headed households become even greater when combined with particular needs requiring specific assistance, such as chronic diseases, single parenting, disabilities, or the pressure of supporting a large family. Among survey respondents, nearly one-third of families evicted or at risk of eviction with female breadwinners had three or more children.”

Femicides, human trafficking and slavery

The Center for Justice and Peace (Cepaz), which publishes monthly reports of femicides in Venezuela, also studied the femicides of Venezuelan women abroad. According to the organization, 70 violent deaths of Venezuelan women abroad took place between January and August 2021, while six others were frustrated. April registered the highest number of femicides of Venezuelan women abroad (12) with one femicide taking place every 60 hours on average.

In most of the cases documented by Cepaz, the femicide of a Venezuelan woman abroad took place in Colombia. According to the organization, this type of crime was also observed in Peru and Ecuador.

A report published in August 2021 by the Human Rights Center of the Andrés Bello Catholic University (CDH-UCAB) revealed that Venezuelan migrant women are at risk of falling prey to forms of modern slavery such as forced labor or sexual exploitation.

The study notes that Venezuelan migrant women are at risk of falling prey to human trafficking networks, especially at the border with Colombia and Brazil, because they leave the country without documents.

The report found evidence of the existence of criminal organizations that take advantage of migrant women and girls from Venezuela who leave the country without money or their belongings and even with signs of malnutrition. The criminals deceive them with the promise of expediting immigration permits and taking them to safe places.

Likewise, the CDH-UCAB highlights that the use of social media and other communication channels “continues to be one of the main tools for contacting the migrants.”

According to the report, 90% of sex workers in the Colombian region of Norte de Santander are Venezuelan nationals.

But this situation is not unique to Colombia and Brazil, as a report by the IOM revealed that 21% of 4,600 Venezuela nationals surveyed in Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, and Guyana claimed to have been forced to work for any payment or detained against their will after they left the country.

On the other hand, a work published by the news site runrun.es pointed out that 517 Venezuelan women were rescued from human trafficking rings in 2020, citing a report by the non-governmental organization Mulier Venezuela, presented at the III Seminar on Trafficking in Persons, organized by Exodus.

The figure represents a decrease from 2019 when the rescue of 672 women was documented. However, Verónica Mesa, research coordinator at Mulier, wanted that, although the number decreased, it does not imply that the crime is less prevalent.

In need of protection

During a workshop organized by Cepaz, Acceso a la Justicia, and the National Network of Human Rights Activists, lawyer and women’s rights defender Beatriz Borges explained that migrants and refugees are in need of international protection. 

During her intervention at the event that discussed the situation of Venezuelan women on the move, the documentation of cases, and the actions for protection and defense, Borges recalled that migrants and refugees from Venezuela require international protection according to the UNHCR. 

Also, Ms. Borges highlighted the expanded definition of Refugee contained in the Cartagena Declaration, which considers a refugee anyone who has “fled their country because their lives, safety or freedom have been threatened by generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights or other circumstances which have seriously disturbed public order.”

According to information provided by Ms. Borges, Venezuelan migrant women are often the breadwinners in their families, leave the country to give birth due to the lack of healthcare at home, or are at risk of falling prey to human trafficking, especially in areas where illegal mining is practiced.

On the other hand, Borges highlighted that gender-based violence such as sexual abuse and violence by partners “continue to be normalized, silenced, and hidden by men and women.”

Situations such as poverty, unemployment, violence, and the different manifestations of gender inequality are the main reasons why women leave their country of origin.

Translated by José Rafael Medina