By January 2021, 1.7 million Venezuelans had settled in Colombia (51% men, 49% women, 24% children, 36% youth) and the number can reach 2 million by the end of the year. Over 716,500 Venezuelans have obtained the Special Stay Permit (PEP), which allows them to stay in Colombia for up to two years with legal access to basic services and employment. In addition, the employment-based Special Stay Permit (PEPFF, per the acronym in Spanish) created by the Government in early 2020 has allowed some 9,119 Venezuelans, as of November. to regularize their status through formal employment. Outflows from Venezuela are expected to increase in 2021 alongside the easing of the pandemic-related restrictions in Colombia. Although it is yet unclear when official borders will be reopened, Venezuelans continue to exit their country via unofficial border points.
As of November 2020, there were some 20,000 pending asylum claims (cumulative figure since 2017), with around 98% lodged by Venezuelans. As of mid-2020, the number of recognized refugees stood at 665, mainly from Venezuela (67%) and Cuba (11%), Ethiopia (5%), Nicaragua (4%) and El Salvador (3%). In addition, the National Refugee Commission (CONARE, per the acronym in Spanish) recognized 19 Venezuelans during the first semester of 2020 and some 339 cases (nearly all Venezuelan) during 2019, the highest number in its history.
Although some 980,000 Colombians and people with dual nationality are estimated to have returned from Venezuela since 2017, the number of assisted refugee returns remains minimal. As such, there is little information about the situation of Colombian returnees inside Colombia. Between January 2019 and March 2020 , UNHCR had worked to strengthen its collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MFA) returnee programme, Colombia Nos Une, and supported Colombian returnees to register with the Government’s National Registry of Returnees. Between 1 January 2020 and 31 October 2020, UNHCR registered in PRIMES 15,848 persons with specific protection needs.
As of January 2021, over 9 million people have been registered as victims of Colombia’s 50-year armed conflict (more than 18% of the total population), of these some 89% (over 8 million) have experienced internal displacement. Despite the 2016 Peace Agreement, conflict and armed violence continue to uproot Colombians and, in a growing and worrying trend, also Venezuelans. According to UNHCR monitoring, from January to November 2020, 76 large-group internal displacements affected 21,703 people (55% Afro-Colombian, 22% small scale farmers, and 19% indigenous people) in the departments of Nariño, Chocó, Antioquia, Cauca, Norte de Santander, Córdoba and Valle del Cauca. There have also been confinements and clashes between armed groups in the departments of Chocó, Norte de Santander, Antioquia, Valle del Cauca, Arauca, and Nariño. More than 61,000 people, mostly Afro-Colombian, were affected by confinements particularly in border and Pacific coast departments.
The number of new forced displacements, including individual and groups declarations registered by the Government, exceeded 150,000 in 2019 and 63,600 in 2020. The actual number could in fact be higher since a significant number of victims have reported difficulties in registering violations, especially since the COVID-19-related restrictions have been imposed.
Large numbers of Colombian IDPs continue to seek a durable solution. The Government of Colombia estimates that 63% of the IDP population lives below the poverty line and 33% percent lives in extreme poverty. Both figures are well below the national average. According to Colombia’s Victims’ Unit, as of December 2020, 6.6 million IDPs were still in need of humanitarian assistance.
In preventing statelessness, UNHCR will continue to support the Government’s widely applauded 2019 initiative, which allows children born in Colombia after January 2015 from Venezuelan parents to acquire Colombian nationality. Colombia also ratified the 1954 Convention relating the Status of Stateless Persons in October 2019. As of 27 December 2020, 50,791 children born in Colombia to Venezuelan parents acquired Colombian nationality by birth. Efforts are thus underway to promote the extension of these measures beyond the current validity of September 2021. Meanwhile, many Colombians born in Venezuela who have returned to Colombia in recent years are yet to have their Colombian nationality confirmed.
The socio-economic and political crisis in Venezuela led to massive movement of Venezuelans into neighbouring countries. The increase in estimated population figures, from 700,000 in 2015 to 5.5 million in early 2021, demonstrates the scale of what is already the largest exodus in the modern history of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean had maintained an open door policy, allowing access to territory for Venezuelan refugees and migrants. As of November 2020, up to 2.5 million residence and regular stay permits were granted to Venezuelans worldwide, while 804,000 asylum claims have been filed globally. Between March 2020 and the beginning of 2021, almost 125,000 people returned to Venezuela through official border crossings in Colombia. During January 2021, this dynamic has changed and the net exit of Venezuelans leaving their country has surpassed returns movements to Venezuela. In addition, a significant number of Venezuelans remain in an irregular situation, due to various factors including lack of documentation, long waiting periods, or high application fees. In some countries, the irregular situation leaves them without access to rights or services, creating a high risk and exposure to all forms of exploitation abuse, violence, and discrimination.
The Regional Inter-agency Coordination Platform, established in September 2018, remains at the centre of these coordination efforts In 2021, the Joint UNHCR-IOM Special Representative for Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants task will promote a coherent and harmonized regional approach in coordination with national governments in the region, international organizations, non-traditional actors, and other relevant stakeholders..
The Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela 2021 (RMRP) priorities at the regional level include:
- Providing and improve safe and dignified access to essential goods and critical services in synergy with sustainable development assistance.
- Enhancing the prevention and mitigation of protection risks and respond to protection needs through supporting the protective environment in affected countries.
- Increasing resilience and socio-economic integration opportunities.
This Plan seeks to complement and strengthen the national responses as well as regional initiatives, such as the government-led Quito Process and its action plan. This approach is consistent with the principles outlined in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, the Global Compact on Refugees and its comprehensive response framework, as well as the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. Activities under the comprehensive plan intend to bridge the nexus between humanitarian and emergency response and the longer-term perspective to build resilience at the individual beneficiary as well as at institutional level, all while firmly engraining the ‘leave no one behind’ commitment enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals.