Regional Protection Sector: RMRP 2021 End-Year Report
- Pays
- Colombie
- + 16
- Sources
- R4V
- Date de publication
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SITUATION
In 2021, despite the extension of border closures and mobility restrictions, refugees and migrants from Venezuela in need of protection and assistance crossed borders both regularly and irregularly, with those in irregular transit particularly exposed to serious protection risks, including trafficking, disappearances, kidnappings, family separation and gender-based violence (GBV). Access to territory was restricted in multiple countries. In some countries, detention, interception at sea and deportation increased, putting in danger the lives of Venezuelan refugees and migrants. In addition, onward movements of Venezuelans from Peru, Ecuador and Colombia towards Mexico and the United States registered a sharp rise.
Venezuelans in an irregular situation were significantly hindered in their access to rights and basic services. Asylum systems continued to be overstretched, with over 721,946 pending Venezuelan asylum claims across the region as of June 2021. Multiple governments in the region announced or initiated regularization initiatives to offer alternatives for documentation of the population.
Groups particularly impacted by protection risks in the region included indigenous persons, youth, evicted persons and sex workers or persons engaged in prostitution. Discrimination and acts of xenophobic violence were notably detected in 2021.