This Saturday, June 20, as the world commemorated the Refugee Day, we Venezuelans had to commemorate the What-We-Are-Not-Day.

The 2019 UNHCR report on Global Trends in Forced Displacement, published on June 18th, refers, as every year, to the situation of refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons, people in a situation similar to that of refugees, persons of interest, people under the rule of statelessness and returnees. But this year it incorporates a new category: Venezuelans displaced abroad.

In other words, nowadays Venezuelans are not refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons, persons of interest, stateless persons, or returnees. We are not even something like “people in a refugee-like situation.” We are a new fauna called Venezuelans displaced abroad.

In Chapter 7, the report provides an explanatory note of those that do not lighten or darken. The note says that this category “encompasses people of Venezuelan origin who probably need international protection according to the criteria contained in the Declaration of Cartagena, but who do not request asylum in the country in which they are located. Regardless of their condition, Venezuelans displaced abroad need protection against forced returns and access to basic services ”(emphasis added).

Probably? The UNHCR guidance note of March 2018 urged host countries to apply the Declaration of Cartagena to Venezuelans, considering that we fit the broad definition of refugee contemplated in that Declaration, that is, for having to flee due to a situation of “generalized violence, foreign aggression, internal conflicts, massive violation of human rights or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed public order”. This criterion is ratified in a second guidance note issued in May 2019. What changed in the Geneva bureaucracy to reverse the progress of the two guidance notes?

The recent UNHCR report also indicates that this category of Venezuelans displaced abroad refers to those who do not request asylum. Since when does the refugee application make me the holder of the protection? Many years ago I learned from the good people of the UNHCR – which do exist – that what defines a person as a refugee is not the process, nor the piece of paper that a government gives the person, but the circumstances that motivated that person to flee. For this reason, two guidance notes refer to the circumstances included in the Declaration of Cartagena. If the departure is not voluntary, but due to a well-founded fear of a threat to the person’s life, integrity, or freedom, that person is a refugee, even though the subject in question has not started the process nor has she/he been officially granted the status.

I challenge the UNHCR to tell us that each and every one of the Syrians, Somalis, Yemenis, Afghans, and Rohingyas who appear on their list and their maps as refugees, have applied for status or have a piece of paper that officially accredits them as such. It’s not like that.

Nor is it the case of the Colombians who came to Venezuela and to whom my office provided care for 15 years. Many of those who stayed in towns near the border were afraid to ask for refugee status because they feared visibility and becoming targets of that guerrilla or those paramilitaries from whom they had fled. But that did not detract from their status as people in need of international protection who qualified as refugees. Furthermore, Chávez tried to call them “displaced in transit” to evade obligations related to their protection and my office strongly rejected that fabrication.

And another question arises here: why do Venezuelans not request refugee status? The UNHCR knows the answer but seems to be ignoring it now. The procedures to request refugee status in most countries of the region are dissuasive. If you are given a paper when you apply for refugee status that says you cannot work for the duration of the process, and it turns out that the process takes two or three years, are you going to ask for refugee status? You request a Special Permit of Permanence, a temporary card, whatever, but not refugee status.

The UNHCR’s half-hearted attempt explanation ends by saying that this new fauna needs protection against forced returns and access to basic services. Well, the principle of non-refoulement protects us. Is that it? Access to basic services should be available to anyone, regardless of their immigration status. They are not recognizing anything special.

Since we are just a lot of people stumbling across the continent, that’s why they ask us for visas, even if they give them nice last names, such as democratic or humanitarian responsibility. But a visa is a visa and it is a barrier for those who fee. Are the Rohingya asked for a visa to enter Bangladesh? Since Venezuelans are not considered refugees, but mere migrants, we are required to obtain an apostille for our documents, have a passport, certify qualifications, submit proof of our criminal records. Which Afghan, Syrian, or Yemeni is asked to do that?

Furthermore, there is an inconsistency in the presentation of figures. The report says there were 4.5 million Venezuelans displaced by the end of 2019, and out of those, there are 93,300 refugees, 794,500 asylum seekers, and 3.6 million Venezuelans displaced abroad. It is a confusing presentation that totals or breaks down amounts from one chapter to another in the report. If these figures confuse us, the possibility of confusion for host countries may be greater, because there is no clear message about our condition and needs.

So, there is a category that groups us: Venezuelans displaced abroad. But within that category, there are still refugees and asylum seekers. In the end, what really becomes visible is the fact that there is a crowd that has not asked for refugee status. What is sought with that? It would have been nice if the UNHCR and IOM had made that breakdown and tried to explain that novel concept on the eve of the Donors Conference …

To make us visible they didn’t have to change our name. We were already visible, what we need is protection. It was enough for them to say that the States must provide the Venezuelan population with international protection, as they provide it to any other person fleeing their country to safeguard their life, integrity or freedom.

This separation has never been made, neither with any other group of people nor in any other country. It is an unnecessary categorization, which leads to ambiguity and the evasion of responsibilities by host countries. At this rate, next year we will just be venecos and that’s it.

Translated by: Pascual Díaz