ReliefWeb

INTRODUCTION

OSE OBJECTIVE, FUNCTION AND GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE

Following the UN Secretary General’s request to IOM and UNHCR to co-lead the regional interagency response, the Office of the Director General’s Special Envoy for the Regional Response to the Venezuela Situation (OSE) was established in 2019 to coordinate IOM´s response to the Venezuelan Situation. In the same year, Dr. Eduardo Stein was appointed by the IOM Director General and the High Commissioner of UNHCR as the UNHCR-IOM Special Joint Representative for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela. The OSE, located in Panama City, Panama, oversees coordination and operational programming for 17 countries in LAC which operate under the framework of the RMRP while serving as co-lead with UNHCR of the R4V. OSE also coordinates with and extends support to the IOM Venezuela office.

OSE provides support to national platforms and assists IOM missions with information management, communication and resource mobilization linked to the Venezuela response. The office is also responsible for political liaison and co-leads the Technical Secretariat of the Quito Process, together with UNHCR.

The geographical coverage of the OSE extends to the areas as covered by R4V and RMRP and includes the following 17 host countries: Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. For all activities and strategies linked to the Regional Venezuela response, OSE works in close coordination with IOM country offices in LAC, as well as with the Regional Offices (ROs) for South America in Buenos Aires, and for Central and North America and the Caribbean in San Jose.