UNHCR provided legal assistance to 5,806 people in need of international protection and 2,062 IDPs. Also, 17,275 people received training (11,291 in topics relating to international protection and 5,984 on rights of victims of the armed conflict). The legal clinics work in close coordination with UNHCR’s Information and Orientation Centres (or PAOs) and field offices.
Additionally, from August to December 2020, UNHCR replied to 2,390 emails sent by population requiring information or feedback. The majority (78%) of those sending emails were women, while 21% of these emails were sent by men. The remaining 1% were sent by groups and people whose gender could not be identified. In terms of nationality, most of the people that sent emails were Venezuelan (82%), and the second most common nationality was Colombian (7%), and 10 people were Colombian-Venezuelan. Emails were also received from small numbers of other people, including from Cuba, El Salvador, Syria, Peru, Palestine, Eritrea, and Chile. In the 10% of the cases, it was not possible to determine the nationality of the sender.
Topics of consultation via email included Humanitarian Aid (1,973 cases), information on asylum or what it takes to be recognized as a refugee in other country (88 cases), livelihoods and employment (70 cases), and complaints about threats and situations of danger (38 cases). In some of emails, people asked for information about how to seek asylum abroad. There were five requests for resettlement and 33 requests for asylum in Colombia, mainly from people from Venezuela and Cuba. Other emails (114 cases) included questions about judiciary processes, letters from organizations or other information.