ReliefWeb

Context

With over 2.6 million refugees and migrants outside Venezuela, Latin America is experiencing the biggest exodus in its history. The outflow of people keeps increasing, while national capacities are increasingly overstretched.

In this context, several Governments seek political solutions, international solidarity and a robust well-coordinated and comprehensive regional approach to steer the operational response in support of refugees and migrants from Venezuela.

On 12 April 2018, the UN Secretary-General, tasked UNHCR and IOM to lead and coordinate the response at the regional level. On 28 May 2018, the IOM Director General, and the High Commissioner for Refugees, sent to the Secretary General a joint letter informing him of the establishment by the two agencies of an inclusive, overarching Regional Inter-Agency Platform to steer the response to the Venezuelan refugees and migrants.

On 19 September the first meeting of the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela took place in Panama, showcasing the achievement of an inclusive mechanism with a consistent approach, a common vision, and a concrete operational response at both national and regional level.

Objectives

The Regional Platform aims at addressing the protection, assistance and integration needs of both refugees and migrants through accompanying, complementing and strengthening national and regional responses of governments, international organisations and civil society consistent with the principles outlined in the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants.

By supporting country–level inter-agency coordination, planning, resource mobilisation, monitoring and reporting on coherent and consistent country operational strategies, the Regional Platform facilitates interagency information management and reporting on the situation in an aligned and coordinated manner and, in this connection, collects, analyses and disseminates regional data and information on the situation.