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Ageing on the Move. Regional Assessment on The A claim to dignity: Ageing on the move Regional assessment on the situation and needs of older persons on the move in the Americas April 2021 Authors: Marcela Bustamante Torres Research director Felipe Aliaga Sáez Conceptual and analytical researcher Francisco Osuna Currea Field researcher and tools designer Flavia Galvani Technical and methodological advisor April 2021 2 REGIONAL ASSESMENT ON THE SITUATION AND NEEDS OF OLDER PERSONS ON THE MOVE IN THE AMERICAS HelpAge International is a global network of organisations promoting the right of all older persons to lead dignified, healthy and safe lives. A claim to dignity: Ageing on the move Regional assessment on the situation and needs of older persons on the move in the Americas Published by HelpAge International with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) HelpAge International oficina regional Calle 59B # 8-83 Edificio Carmenza Bogotá-Colombia (571) 7432968 Email [email protected] www.helpage.org Registered charity no. 288180 Cover photo: Sixty-three-year-old displaced woman from Venezuela. Photo: Edson Moreno O. All rights reserved, HelpAge LA ISBN 978-958-53443-1-0 @HelpAge @HelpAgeInternational Copyright © HelpAge International [2021] This work is licensed under the creative commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 The information provided in this report is based on surveys and interviews with a range of actors, including refugees, migrants and displaced persons, and cannot be taken to reflect the views of HelpAge or UNCHR. Any part of this publication may be reproduced without permission for educational and not-for-profit purposes, provided that HelpAge International is clearly credited and a copy or link is sent. Participants and roles in the regional assessment UNCHR Americas Regional Ofce support team Pilar González Rams María del Pilar Peña Briceño Cristina Sousa Rodríguez Technical team Lisa Pinto, research assistant Alex Goldsworthy, data analysis Whendy Ruiz, case studies Faye Coggins, figures and tables Janet Dufeld, review of secondary sources of recommendations Fieldwork coordinators Lublanc Prieto (Colombia) María del Pilar Zuluaga (Colombia) Daniel Regalado (Ecuador) Magda Guzmán, Mercedes Viera y Luis Descalzi (Peru) Maribel Aguilar (El Salvador) Karen Valladares (Honduras) Local partners Fundación Colombo Venezolana (Fundacolven, Colombia) Asociación Civil Venezuela en Ecuador (Ecuador) Mesa Peru (Peru) Alianza de Salvadoreños Retornados (Alsare, El Salvador) Foro Nacional para la Migración en Honduras (Fonamih, Honduras) Design and layout Paula Bustamante, art leader Hernán Páez, designer Andrea Mahlstein, designer Lista de abreviaturas © Daniele Volpe/ UNCHR © Daniele Volpe/ Seventy-two-year-old Salvadoran refugee found a new life in southern Mexico. REGIONAL ASSESMENT ON THE SITUATION AND NEEDS OF OLDER PERSONS ON THE MOVE IN THE AMERICAS 5 Acknowledgements The authors of this document express special thanks to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR), regional ofce for the Americas, for their financial support, technical guidance and feedback. We would also like to thank the UNCHR technical teams in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador and Honduras, especially the focal points Saskia Loochkartt, Daniela Buendia, Diego Nardi, Luca Guanziroli, Inti Alvarado, Morgana Salvador, Mario Ortiz, Juan Camilo Jiménez, Jean Marc Goncalves, Silviya Shtiliyanova, among others, for their guidance and support throughout the course of this assessment. We also thank government entities at all levels, service providers and international and national humanitarian actors in these five countries for their availability and generosity in providing us with the required information; our local partners, without whom this assessment would not have been possible; and the surveyors in our fieldwork teams. We are especially grateful to the older persons who are refugees, asylum-seekers, deportees, migrants, returnees and internally displaced persons, who generously agreed to share their needs and life situations with us. We also thank the local organisations that supported our data collection on the services provided. We hope that this work will contribute to building sustainable solutions for their present and future. List of abbreviations UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees IDB Inter-American Development Bank CAMR Returned Migrants Attention Center ECLAC Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean IACPHROP Inter-American Convention on the Protection of the Human Rights of Older Persons Conaipam National Council for Integral Attention to Programmes for Older Persons Conpes National Council for Economic and Social Policy DANE National Administrative Department of Statistics FAO UN Food and Agriculture Organisation GIFFM Interagency Group for Mixed Migration Flows GTRM Refugee and Migrant Working Group INEI National Institute of Statistics and Informatics Mercosur Southern Common Market MIRPS Comprehensive Regional Protection and Solutions Framework SDG Sustainable Development Goals OAS Organisation of America States IOM International Organisation for Migration ILO International Labour Organisation WHO World Health Organisation UN United Nations PAHO Pan American Health Organisation RMRP Refugee and Migrant Response Plan for Venezuela Siamir Comprehensive System for Assistance to Returning Migrants Sicremi Continuous Reporting System on International Migration in the Americas Table of contents Acknowledgements Regional assessment 06 31 methodology 07 List of abbreviations 37 Terminology Table of contents Regulatory frameworks for the 08 40 protection of older persons: Ageing and human mobility Index of Tables Human mobility profiles in the 10 57 five countries Index of Figures Characterisation of older 12 65 persons consulteds Executive summary The main causes of 14 73 human mobility Introduction: Older persons on Documentation 27 the move 78 Humanitarian aid COVID-19: Impacts and 86 154 guidelines Health and care Recommendations 94 157 and actions 106 Economic security 168 References Food security Annexes Country Reports 117 180 A. El Salvador B. Honduras C. Colombia D. Ecuador E. Peru Housing and 123 accommodation Safety and non- 132 discrimination Participation, information and 143 empowerment Table of Index Table 1. Data collected for the Table 7. Reception and 32 regional assessment of older 89 types of humanitarian persons on the move aid Table 2. Type of actors on Table 8. Entities providing 33 the online survey 90 humanitarian aid Table 3. Age disaggregation Table 9. Main health 66 by number and percentages 97 problems, treatment and satisfaction Table 4. Human mobility Table 10. Mental health 67 flows according to country, 99 impacts, treatment and sex, and numbers satisfaction Table 5. Documentation in Table 11. Limitations in 80 countries of the Andean 101 access to health services region Table 6. Documentation in Table 12. Older persons’ 80 countries of the Andean region 109 income before and during the pandemic, by country and by type of human mobility Table 13. Working Table 19. Forms of 110 conditions before and 140 discrimination during the pandemic, by country and by type of human mobility Table 14. Dependants Table 20. Participation in 113 147 the community Table 15. Forms of Table 21. Main 120 access to food 150 technological equipment and connectivity Table 16. Types of Table 22. Use 127 accommodation and 151 of technological overcrowding equipment Table 17. Difculties 128 in obtaining accommodation or housing 136 Table 18. Type of abuse Index of Figures Figure 1. Characterisation Figure 5. Level of 65 by sex 69 education Figure 2. Age and Figure 6. Persons they 66 percentages 69 live with Figure 3. Types of human Figure 7. Types of civil 67 mobility 69 status Figure 4. Ethnic afliation Figure 8. Degrees of 68 70 disability Lista de abreviaturas © Pedro Pinilla Seijas/ HelpAge © Pedro Ninety-one-year-old man on the move from Venezuela. Executive summary Human mobility is no longer a temporary displacement flows resulting from gang phenomenon but a prolonged one, lasting or mara violence, deportees mainly from on average 20 years for refugees and more the United States and Mexico, and the than 10 years for 90% of internally displaced socio-economic difficulties caused by persons (IDPs). This means that while on the COVID-19. In the Andean region, mixed move- move, persons age in most cases, without the ments (refugees and migrants) are mainly ob- support of a social protection system (ECHO, served as a result of the humanitarian crisis 2020). in Venezuela, which has led to the exodus of millions of persons. In the case of Colombia, The main purpose of this assessment is to within the flows studied, there are older per- present an overview of the situation and the sons in a situation of internal displacement, priority needs of older persons on the move due to the internal armed conflict. in Latin America, with a focus on some coun- tries in the Andean region and the northern Most of the older persons interviewed in host part of Central America. The analysis also countries in the region shared information re- includes the impact and worsening of older flecting their international protection needs, persons’ access to and exercise of their in particular their fears of possible forced re- rights and services, under the current situa- turn to their countries of origin or difculties in tion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. To efectively
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