NO STRANGERS at the GATE Collective Responsibility and a Region’S Response to the Venezuelan Refugee and Migration Crisis
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NO STRANGERS AT THE GATE Collective Responsibility and a Region’s Response to the Venezuelan Refugee and Migration Crisis Michael J. Camilleri and Fen Osler Hampson OCTOBER 2018 © 2018. Centre for International Governance Innovation and Inter-American Dialogue. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Centre for International Governance Innovation or its Board of Directors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution – No Derivatives License. To view this license, visit (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0). For re-use or distribution, please include this copyright notice. First Edition Printed In Washington, DC Cover photo: Policia Nacional de los Colombianos / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 Layout: Tamar Ziff / Inter-American Dialogue NO STRANGERS AT THE GATE Collective Responsibility and a Region’s Response to the Venezuelan Refugee and Migration Crisis Michael J. Camilleri and Fen Osler Hampson Michael J. Camilleri is the director of the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program at the Inter- American Dialogue in Washington, DC Fen Osler Hampson is a Distinguished Fellow and director of CIGI’s Global Security & Politics Program. He is also the Chancellor's Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. Acknowledgments and Methodology This report was produced for the World Refugee Council American Dialogue, and Fen Osler Hampson, a Distinguished jointly by the Centre for International Governance Innovation Fellow and director of CIGI’s Global Security & Politics Program. (CIGI) and the Inter-American Dialogue in consultation with its The authors thank Liliana Araujo, Bonnie Klapper, Michael Venezuela Working Group. Shifter, Tamar Ziff, Manuel Orozco, Sarah Cliffe, Elizabeth Ferris, Susan Martin, Andrew Selee, Anna Egas, Leonie Rauls, The World Refugee Council is an independent global body made and Milan Vivanco for valuable assistance in the organization, up of 24 political leaders, policy advisors, academic experts research, writing, review and editing of this report. For funding and civil society representatives from around the world. support, CIGI thanks the International Development Research Established in May 2017 by CIGI and under the leadership of Center (IDRC) and the Inter-American Dialogue thanks the former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy, Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation. the World Refugee Council has analyzed the present refugee system and developed innovative ideas for addressing its principal shortcomings. The Inter-American Dialogue’s Venezuela Working Group is a task force of prominent hemispheric leaders and experts committed to formulating and actively promoting policy responses to the crisis in Venezuela. This is the first of a series of a reports that will be published under the Venezuela Working Group’s guidance. Chaired by former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla and former US Ambassador Donna Hrinak, its members include Andrés Serbin (Argentina), Diego García-Sayán (Peru), Feliciano Reyna (Venezuela), Jamal Khokhar (Canada), Jeff Davidow (United States), José Ignacio Hernández (Venezuela), Juan Carlos Pinzón (Colombia), Juan Gabriel Valdés (Chile), Roberta Jacobson (United States), Rosario Córdoba (Colombia), Serena Joseph-Harris (Trinidad and Tobago), Vanessa Rubio (Mexico), and Verónica Zubillaga (Venezuela). This report is based on documentary research as well as interviews with officials from governments, multilateral organizations, academia, and non-profit, humanitarian and religious organizations. Some of these interviews took place during a fact-finding visit to Colombia by the honourable Lloyd Axworthy, Michael Camillieri, Fen Osler Hampson, Allan Rock, and Eduardo Stein in July 2018. The authors thank each of the individuals who provided insights and information for the report. In keeping with the commitments made to the individuals, we have not identified them by name. The report was researched and written by Michael Camilleri, director of the Peter D. Bell Rule of Law Program at the Inter- 4 No Strangers At the Gate: Collective Responsibility and a Region’s Response to the Venezuelan Refugee and Migration Crisis | OCTOBER 2018 Table of Contents Executive Summary...................................................................................................... 6 1. Introduction............................................................................................................ 7 2. The Venezuelan Exodus.......................................................................................... 8 2.1 Shifting Migrant Profiles............................................................................... 8 2.2 Regional Response.................................................................................... 10 2.3 Key Gaps and Challenges........................................................................... 12 3. Recommendations for Action...................................................................................14 3.1 Humanitarian Relief and Response.............................................................. 14 3.2 Improved Frameworks for Protection of Migrants and Refugees.................................................................... 15 3.3 Harmonization and Responsibility Sharing.................................................. 16 3.4 Sustainable Solutions................................................................................. 16 3.5 Politics of Accountability............................................................................ 17 Notes....................................................................................................................... 18 Comision Intermaericana de Drechos Humanos / Flickr / CC BY 2.0 No Strangers At the Gate: Collective Responsibility and a Region’s Response to the Venezuelan Refugee and Migration Crisis 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY enezuelans are leaving their country in growing In order to overcome the aforementioned challenges, numbers, fleeing the country’s acute economic, this report lays out a plan of action that includes the fol- Vhumanitarian, and governance crisis. Since 2015, lowing: an estimated 1.6 million have emigrated as a result of this crisis—the largest such exodus in the history of the • The international community invests in collecting Americas. An increasing number of Venezuelans are and assessing data on the needs, characteristics, seeking asylum around the world, while an even greater and vulnerabilities of Venezuelan refugees and number have benefited from alternative forms of regular- migrants, including differentiated impacts among ization elsewhere in South America. The existing patch- women and girls, children, and indigenous and work response to the forced displacement of Venezue- afrodescendant communities. lans has proven a useful band-aid, reflecting a laudable • The Organization of American States (OAS), the solidarity among Venezuela’s neighbors, albeit one that United Nations (UN), and other stakeholders, includ- is straining under growing pressure. While some coun- ing relevant states, convene a donors’ conference to tries are reducing barriers to regularization, others have address the humanitarian budget shortfall. implemented policies that hinder Venezuelans’ ability to • Stakeholders increase the predictability and amount seek asylum or even cross their borders. With no end in of long term funding mechanisms using private sec- sight to the crisis in Venezuela and the forced exodus tor funding and the proceeds of confiscated assets of its citizens, the situation urgently requires a bolder from corrupt Venezuelan officials and other criminal and better coordinated response. With adequate creativ- actors. ity and political will, collective action problems can be solved and a race to the bottom averted—to the benefit • Governments avoid border closures and maintain, of both displaced Venezuelans and the countries that strengthen, and harmonize mechanisms that allow receive them. displaced Venezuelans to regularize their status, obtain employment opportunities, and access basic The challenges posed to destination countries by mass social services such as health, education, and hous- migration from Venezuela are undeniable. Host coun- ing. tries, at the national and local levels, often struggle to • Major destination countries agree to commitments expand their fragile social safety nets to meet the needs on refugee and migration policies based on their of both host populations and displaced Venezuelans. international legal obligations and the principle of However, experience shows that treating the challenge collective responsibility. as a passing one—or worse, trying to cut off migratory • Efforts are made to integrate Venezuelans into host flows without addressing the root causes of the crisis— communities, in light of the protracted nature of the will prove counterproductive for all involved. It will fuel crisis. exploitation, marginalization, and criminal enterprises, while delaying the productive integration of Venezuelan • International organizations assist local and national refugees and migrants into their adopted communities. governments, as well as civil society organizations, Sustainable solutions for both recipient countries and in tackling xenophobia. forcibly displaced Venezuelans must be grounded in this • High-ranking Venezuelan officials responsible for reality and based on the principle of shared responsi-