Recognising refugees 53 FMR 65 November 2020 www.fmreview.org/recognising-refugees Group approach: The activation and scope to facilitate processing of cases. Finally, of the Order were designed on the basis of the Portuguese model demonstrates that an identified group of similarly situated solutions can be found within the existing persons, thereby allowing for a flexible and asylum system, rather than requiring the immediate response to a situation in which development of new procedures or statuses. individual processing was impractical and Angela Moore [email protected] ultimately impossible given the unusual Senior Protection Officer, Afghanistan circumstances. Beyond the application of the cut-off date to define the group, no further Periklis Kortsaris [email protected] distinctions were made in terms of status. Head of RSD Section, Division of International Protection Reinforcing the asylum procedure: Rather UNHCR www.unhcr.org than create a new status or parallel structure, The authors would like to thank in particular the Order leveraged existing systems to Filipe Doutel, Advocacy and Legal Officer of the benefit a broader cross-section of the asylum- Jesuit Refugee Service-Portugal, Mónica Farinha, seeking population. This had the advantage of President of the Portuguese Refugee Council, reducing the extent to which new definitions and Marina Portugal, Head of Asylum and and rights had to be established, while Refugees Department, SEF, for their support in promising to permit seamless transition drafting this article. The views expressed here back to the pre-existing system upon the are the authors’ own and do not necessarily eventual relaxation of emergency measures. represent those of UNHCR. 1. Global Compact on Refugees, para 62 While this solution does not necessarily www.unhcr.org/5c658aed4.pdf speak to all situations in which adaptability is 2. Order No 3683-B/2020, 27 March 2020 bit.ly/2UtBPxB required in processing asylum applications, 3. Schengenvisainfo news ‘Portugal Grants Migrants and Asylum Seekers Full Citizenship Rights During COVID-19 Outbreak’, 2 it does offer a model for addressing certain April 2020 bit.ly/Portugal-grants-asylum-rights-2April2020 types of challenges. It does so, moreover, in a 4. It should be noted, however, that non-citizens who are manner that is accessible even to States that irregularly present in the country may access national health may not have the resources to dramatically services if they can prove (with documentation issued by their local authorities) that they have been present in the area for 90 increase staffing or deploy technology days. Order No. 25360/2001 (2nd series). Asylum under pressure in Peru: the impact of the Venezuelan crisis and COVID-19 Paula Camino and Uber López Montreuil The continuing crisis in Venezuela has generated a significant increase in applications for asylum in neighbouring Peru. This has exceeded the government’s capacity to respond adequately and in a timely manner – difficulties that are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the Venezuelan migration complementary form of protection and helped crisis, Peru was one of the few States that to streamline the legal migration process. implemented policies to facilitate legal entry However, with the rapid increase in and stay. With the introduction in 2018 of arrivals – 482,571 asylum claims lodged in the Temporary Residency Permit (Permiso 2019, compared with 192,000 in 2018 and Temporal de Permanencia, PTP), thousands of 34,167 in 2017 – and with the structural Venezuelans were allowed to regularise their problems being experienced in Peru, the immigration status. This permit offered a general feeling of solidarity with Venezuelans 54 Recognising refugees FMR 65 www.fmreview.org/recognising-refugees November 2020 soon turned to rejection. A 2019 analysis time the applicant must wait at the border by Oxfam found that around 70% of people – without any access to basic services. in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia would The RSD procedure has become an support stricter migration control, while effective barrier to the entry of Venezuelan 64.3% of Peruvians believe that migrants migrants to Peru. Between June and “take much more than they put in”.1 December 2019, only 13% of asylum seekers This growing rejection of the Venezuelan were allowed entry into the country. This population was echoed by the government leaves the remaining 87% in a vulnerable through the implementation of a series of state, unable to enter Peru and, in most cases, measures designed to curb their entry into unable to legally return to Ecuador since re- the country. The measures adopted were: a) entry to Ecuador – without documentation calling a halt to issuing Temporary Residency – after more than 48 hours is not allowed. Permits; b) introducing the requirement Creating this type of bureaucratic barrier is for a passport to anyone entering Peru; incompatible with international human rights and c) introducing a tightly controlled law and international refugee law. Under both humanitarian visa. Access to this visa is legal frameworks, all immigration procedures very limited, since it requires applicants must comply with guarantees of due process; to present documents that are difficult to by using an ad hoc mechanism, there is obtain under current conditions – such as a no way to ensure that the prior evaluation notarised record of any criminal convictions complies with international legal standards, or a passport itself. These barriers led to a since there is no procedure to appeal the sudden increase in requests for asylum since decision to allow or deny entry to the country. for many refugees this became the only Furthermore, prior evaluation ignores the way of entering Peru in a regular manner. international principle of non-refoulement whereby an asylum seeker cannot be rejected Difficulties in the RSD procedure at the border or expelled from a State without Peru’s General Refugee Law – Law 27891 adequate analysis of their request for asylum. – provides for a rapid recognition process, Along the same lines, UNHCR established in which should take just 60 days. This its Conclusion No. 8 that States must allow comprises presentation of an application asylum seekers to remain in the territory for asylum; an interview; evaluation by throughout the determination procedure. It is the government’s Special Commission clear to us that this prior evaluation process, for Refugees (Comisión Especial para los which lacks clear standards and takes up to Refugiados, CEPR); and then approval 70 days, during which time the applicant is or rejection of the request for asylum. denied entry to the State and to the services Presentation of an asylum claim was it offers, is openly contrary to this principle. initially sufficient to enter Peru. However, After passing the prior evaluation, more stages and criteria have been applicants face a further long wait for established, aimed at limiting the entry of assessment. Because of the numbers involved Venezuelan migrants. One of these is the and CEPR’s lack of resources, the 60-day pre-screening undertaken at Peru’s border assessment period may actually last up to with Ecuador. According to Peruvian a couple of years (according to anonymous officials, once the request for asylum has CEPR employees, in mid-2019 CEPR’s plans been submitted, applicants are interviewed included interviews scheduled to take place by CEPR personnel at the border. Their in 2021 – that is, two years hence). files are then sent via WhatsApp2 to the The slowdown in the RSD procedure also CEPR office in Lima, where the decision has an extremely negative impact on access to is taken on whether or not to allow the basic services for survival. As part of the RSD applicant to enter the country to continue procedure, applicants are entitled to receive a the recognition procedure. This prior refugee applicant card (Carnet de Solicitante evaluation takes 30 to 70 days, during which de Refugio), which allows them to work and Recognising refugees 55 FMR 65 November 2020 www.fmreview.org/recognising-refugees access public services in the interim period. access the registration process or because they However, since the card can only be obtained do not have the necessary documentation. In after going through the official interview with March 2020, UNHCR protection monitoring CEPR in Lima, most applicants cannot get one. showed that fewer than 1% of migrants had their own home – which evidently The impact of COVID-19 makes the house inspection process an Difficulties in accessing basic services impossibility in the vast majority of cases. have been dangerously exacerbated by The Peruvian government ordered that COVID-19. As of March 2020, 60% of people anyone with symptoms or a confirmed interviewed by UNHCR in Peru reported case of COVID-19 should have access to difficulties in meeting their basic needs, and medical care regardless of their nationality, since May the Working Group on Refuge immigration status or documentation status. and Migration (Grupo de Trabajo sobre However, it appears that some hospitals have Refugio y Migración, GTRM) – in charge required that patients present a National of implementing the R4V Coordination Identity Document in order to access care. Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela in Peru – has continually reported Opportunities for improvement an increased risk of eviction, food insecurity With the support of the UN and the private and economic vulnerability among refugees.3 sector, by late May 2020 the government To combat the spread of COVID-19, had distributed food to 5,000 refugee and the Peruvian government shut down most migrant families.5 In parallel, through the economic activities in the country. To GTRM US$2.5 million has been distributed compensate people for the impact of these to more than 53,000 refugees and migrants restrictions, the government established in Peru, with a total distribution of $5.7 measures to ensure continuity of salaries million planned.6 However, these short- and employment contracts, and introduced term relief measures do not solve the emergency payments for families living in systemic problem faced by asylum seekers poverty.