DIIS POLICY BRIEF MARCH 2019
Venezuelans flee accelerating collapse LATIN AMERICAS EVOLVING MIGRATION CRISIS
Venezuela is facing a deep economic, political, RECOMMENDATIONS and social crisis, with acute shortages of food, medicine and other basic goods. Over 3.4 ■ The exodus illustrates increasing difficulty distin- million Venezuelans, a tenth of the population, guishing between voluntary and forced migration. have left the country, presenting Latin America To overcome barriers in accessing protection and with an unprecedented migration crisis. social services, migrants and refugees must be However, diaspora engagement in humani- granted legal status in receiving countries. tarian efforts could also be part of the solution ■ The migration crisis is politicized by many actors. to the crisis. Supply routes for vital humanitarian assistance are needed, but historical experiences should Latin America is experiencing one of the largest warn against the use of military force or other displacement crises in its history with Venezuelan forms of intervention. migrants and refuges crossing into or transiting ■ UN efforts to complement humanitarian help through neighbouring countries such as Colombia, with development assistance to poorer reception Brazil, Ecuador and Peru, before reaching destinations areas should be supported. Ways to connect the further afield in the Southern Cone (Argentina and Venezuelan diaspora to ongoing humanitarian and Chile), Central America and Mexico, and smaller island future development efforts directed at Venezuela states in the Caribbean. During 2018 over 838,000 should also be pursued. Venezuelans exited Colombia, of whom more than 70 A growing number of countries in the region are introducing restrictions on regular migration and reinstating visa requirements for Venezuelans. Instances of refoulement, detention and deportation are on the rise.
percent crossed into Ecuador. In Europe, Spain has attracted migrants and refugees. In the period seen the largest influx of Venezuelans, with over following World War II, many southern Europeans 150,000 having entered the country over the past found refuge in Venezuela, as did Latin Americans three years. The United Nations High Commissioner fleeing dictatorships and civil wars during the 1970s for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organiza- and early 1980s, as well as Colombia’s more than tion for Migration (IOM) estimate that the number of fifthy years of armed conflicts. While many less internationally displaced Venezuelans will reach settled migrants returned to their countries of origin 5,385,000 by the end of 2019, few of whom have any when crisis hit the Venezuelan economy in the late prospects returning in the short to medium term. 1980s/early 1990s, others add to the group who are currently leaving the country. If this happens, the Venezuelan exodus could eventually produce a refugee crisis comparable to Many reasons for leaving those seen in war-ravaged countries such as Syria, People leave Venezuela for a combination of reasons, Afghanistan and South Sudan. including a lack of access to food and medicine, a loss Ironically, Venezuela’s booming oil economy once of income and the absence of effective national