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Joint Statement of the VII International Technical Meeting on Human Mobility of Venezuelan Citizens in the Region - Quito Process - Lima Chapter, May 27 and 28, 2021 [EN/PT]

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Govt. Peru
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The representatives of the Governments of the Argentine Republic, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Chile, the Republic of Colombia, the Republic of Costa Rica, the Republic of Ecuador, the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, the United Mexican States, the Republic of Panama, the Republic of Paraguay, the Republic of Peru, the Dominican Republic and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay who participated in the VII Meeting - Lima Chapter of the Quito Process - on May 27 and 28, 2021 to follow up on the Declarations of Quito, Buenos Aires, Bogota and Santiago, and the Plan of Action signed on November 23, 2018, as well as the Roadmap of the Buenos Aires Chapter of July 5, 2019, agree:

1. To reaffirm their concern regarding the Venezuelan migratory and humanitarian crisis that now has a migratory flow of approximately 5.6 million Venezuelans, of whom 4.6 million are in Latin America and the Caribbean; and to ratify the Quito Process, convened and promoted by the Republic of Ecuador in 2018, as an intergovernmental technical space for the development of proposals, the exchange of best practices and the monitoring of shared problems with a view to promoting an increasingly coordinated regional response.

2. To reiterate their commitment to address the Venezuelan migratory and humanitarian crisis in the midst of the challenges arising in the current context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and to highlight the financial, logistical, health and border management efforts made by member countries for the reception, protection, care and integration of migrants and refugees in the region, especially those who are in situations of increased vulnerability.

3. To recognize the historical heritage that the processes of integration and regional dialogue have generated in the area of migration and refuge and express their willingness to gradually advance towards a mechanism for the exchange of information that will facilitate a synergy process to strengthen these processes, consolidate existing achievements and optimize the time and resources that our countries have allocated and continue to allocate to this issue.

4. To highlight the commitment of member countries to the development of strategies that promote socioeconomic integration, employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship and allow Venezuelan migrants and refugees to exercise their rights, participate in social dialogue and contribute positively to receptor societies as engines of development, avoiding discrimination, intolerance and xenophobia.

5. To express their concern about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region and to urge member countries to continue to identify mechanisms for the exchange of information and best practices in order to provide coordinated and inclusive health care for Venezuelan migrants and refugees, particularly with regard to vaccination and mental health mechanisms;

6. To recognize the sustained efforts of the countries in the region for the design of norms and procedures that facilitate and simplify the regularization of Venezuelan migrants and refugees while promoting their integration into host societies and ensuring their fundamental rights.

7. To highlight the organization of thematic preparatory workshops for the VII Technical Meeting - Lima Chapter - held between April 5 and 23, 2021, which, through the exchange of knowledge, information and best practices, made it possible to continue with the implementation of technical proposals that are adapted to the new regional and national realities.

8. To invite member countries, in accordance with their domestic legislation and taking into account their different realities, policies, capacities and priorities, to implement the following recommendations produced during the thematic workshops:

a) Make progress with the implementation of the Quito Process Regional Socioeconomic Integration Strategy for Venezuelan migrants and refugees and to call on the Group of Friends of the Quito Process to accompany these efforts. Of special relevance for the implementation of the Regional Strategy is the involvement of actors from the sector, in particular the Ministries of Labor or relevant entities, employers' organizations and workers' organizations;

b) Continue and expand work on the strengthening and interconnectivity of the Public Employment Services of the participating countries; the strengthening of Vocational Training Institutions; and the creation of a system for the recognition and certification of competencies, as priority actions to promote regional labor mobility;

c) Reaffirm our commitment to the right to education of refugees and migrants, guaranteeing that this goes beyond access to ensure learning and progress in their educational trajectories. We recognize the need to make progress with the implementation of the Regional Monitoring Framework for students in situations of human mobility as a tool for the generation of evidence for public policy, as well as the formation of technical working groups for the implementation of the Framework in the regular updating of information on the educational participation of refugee and migrant students and in strengthening regional cooperation and coordination bodies.

d) Continue strengthening actions that guarantee the protection of Venezuelan migrant and refugee children and adolescents in accordance with international principles and standards, promoting the exchange of information and best practices for regional cooperation through the development of an operational guide on assistance and protection of the rights of children and adolescents in a situation of human mobility, which facilitates the consolidation of national, binational and regional transnational cooperation efforts based on international principles and standards;

e) Make progress with the consolidation of a network of focal points for the Child and Adolescent Protection Systems, which is based on the operational guide and promotes and formulates the spaces and technical instruments that are necessary to strengthen the capacities of children, migration and refugee authorities and information exchange and communication channels to provide comprehensive assistance to children and adolescents in the face of the different risks in which they may be immersed in the context of human mobility;

f) Take into account the guiding principles and standards for orientation centers, temporary reception centers, support spaces and other structures to strengthen the systems of care for migrants and refugees in Venezuela, which constitute technical working documents to guide the Quito Process, and disseminate these documents with authorities and national and international civil society as a technical contribution that can be adopted voluntarily in each country according to their needs and specificities;

g) Make progress with updating data for the service mapping online platform established by the Regional Platform for Interagency Coordination for Refugees and Migrants of Venezuela (R4V) to promote access, with the support of UNHCR and IOM to collect information for the mapping of support spaces in the region; welcome the suggestion to generate exchange spaces between managers of support spaces and orientation centers; and welcome the participation of civil society entities in the thematic workshop;

h) Receive the results and progress presented regarding the implementation of regional cooperation projects proposed by UNHCR; note the importance of continuing to strengthen national asylum and refugee capacities, with the support of the Group of Friends of the Quito Process and the Asylum Capacity Support Group when appropriate; and develop a complementarity approach to international protection statutes;

i) Welcome the interest of members of the Group of Friends to identify areas of cooperation in the area of international refugee protection within the framework of the Quito Process and analyze possible mechanisms to support the identification of best practices and areas of cooperation in this area;

j) Strengthen mechanisms for assistance and provision of health services to the migrant population with HIV/AIDS by improving the tools for sentinel surveillance in order to provide an adequate response to the specific requirements of this population at the different stages of their migratory process;

k) Adopt the standardization of antiretroviral therapy and form a Regional Commission to design a cross-border Action Plan, based on the particularities of each health system and thus guarantee care coverage for people on the move living with HIV, accelerating the transition to TLD (Tenofovir, Lamivudine and Dolutegravir). This action is directly complementary to the actions aimed at responding to COVID-19 and will take into account technical recommendations from the international organizations that accompanied the discussions between the host countries on this topic;

l) Urge the countries of the region not to give up their efforts to eliminate the stigma and xenophobia affecting people living with HIV/AIDS, especially the migrant population, through ongoing communication and awareness campaigns and specific actions aimed at the full labor and social integration of all those affected in host communities;

m) Support the development of a regional assessment on family reunification mechanisms for migrants and refugees focused on policies, regulations, procedures and existing practices, systematizing information on challenges, opportunities and best practices that facilitate the expansion of family reunification as a solution to promote safe, orderly and regular migration;

n) Make progress with joint efforts to implement the Regional Coordination Mechanism for the Prevention, Protection and Assistance, and Prosecution of the crime of trafficking in persons, including the establishment of a baseline; the countries also welcome progress made in the design and execution of the regional campaign for the prevention of trafficking in persons and the accompaniment of specialist international organizations. In addition, IOM's comprehensive support in this area, which is expressed in inter-agency coordination, technical cooperation and the relationship with the specialized agencies of each member country, is also noteworthy.

o) Reaffirm the commitment to comprehensive protection and assistance for Venezuelan migrant and refugee girls, adolescents and women, especially in relation to their access to information and justice for cases of gender-based violence; their access to health, education and social assistance services; as well as their socioeconomic insertion as a driving force in the post-COVID-19 recovery, supporting entrepreneurship and labor insertion initiatives that contribute to both their economic empowerment and local development in the host countries; and coordinating actions aimed at implementing regional humanitarian responses, with an emphasis on gender mainstreaming in family reunification policies and the fight against human trafficking;

p) Urge member countries to coordinate and implement actions to assist and address the needs of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, counteracting the situation of vulnerability in which they find themselves due to the different social determinants that may affect their exercising of the right to health including prevention actions, universal vaccination and psychosocial support for community mental health care, as well as care for the after-effects of COVID-19 infection, relatives of deceased persons and health care workers;

9. Highlight the II Meeting of Ministers of Labor held on May 25 within the framework of the Quito Process, an opportunity where they discussed the regional strategy for socioeconomic integration, as well as what the main advances have been in terms of labor insertion of the Venezuelan migrant and refugee population and the lines of work that could be prioritized in the regional work in the Quito Process and the contributions that could be made to promote the aforementioned initiative.

10. To highlight the work carried out before the VII Meeting - Lima Chapter - in the workshops and meetings convened by the Pro Tempore Presidency in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the high level of participation of the States, the Champion Countries for the thematic axes, the Group of Friends, the Technical Secretariat, the International Organizations, the Technical Focal Points and representatives of civil society;

11. To highlight and thank the Government of Canada for convening the next International Conference of Donors in Solidarity with Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean, which will be held on June 17, 2021 and organized within the framework of international cooperation and the principle of shared responsibility;

12. To emphasize the need for adequate, predictable and sustained financing for the programs of the Regional Response Plan for Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees and reiterate the importance of increasing technical and financial cooperation for the countries that receive the Venezuelan migrant and refugee population on behalf of donor States, international financial institutions and civil society entities;

13. To highlight the work carried out with the Group of Friends in order to identify areas for technical assistance, the exchange of best practices and training; acknowledge the formal adhesion of the Italian Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Inter-American Development Bank; and thank them for their willingness to consolidate technical assistance and cooperation, financing and international awareness of the Venezuelan migratory and humanitarian crisis;

14. To highlight the admission of Curacao as an observer member and reiterate the invitation to countries that have participated in the Quito Process meetings to adhere to its Declarations and Plan of Action;

15. To highlight and express appreciation for the work carried out by the Technical Secretariat of the Quito Process, consisting of officials from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who are recognized for their technical assistance, follow-up of the Quito Process, development and maintenance of the Quito Process web page, inter-agency coordination and support in many areas;

16. To thank the Government of Federative Republic of Brazil for its offer to assume the planning and organization of the VIII Meeting of the Quito Process; and

17. To recognize the Government of the Republic of Peru for the organization and development of the VII Round - Lima Chapter of the Quito Process.

This Joint Declaration of the VII Meeting - Lima Chapter has been prepared in Spanish, Portuguese and English, in order to ensure its wider dissemination.

Lima, May 28, 2021