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STORY: UNHCR / VENEZUELAN REFUGEES
TRT: 05:38
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: NATS
DATELINE: 6 FEBRUARY 2021, PARAGUACHÓN CROSSING POINT, MAICAO, LA GUAJIRA, COLOMBIA / 5,6 FEBRUARY 2021, INTEGRATED ASSISTANCE CENTER (CAI), MAICAO, LA GUAJIRA, COLOMBIA / MARCH 2020, CÚCUTA, COLOMBIA / MARCH 2020, BOA VISTA, RORAIMA, BRAZIL / MARCH 2021 BOA VISTA, RIO DE JANEIRO AND SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL / FEBRUARY 8, 2021, INTEGRATED ASSISTANCE CENTRE (CIAMI), BOGOTA, COLOMBIA / MAY 2021, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR / JANUARY 2021, LIMA, PERU / APRIL 2021, MONTERREY, SALTILLO, GUANAJUATO, MEXICO / 9 JUNE 2021, COLCHANE, CHILE
6 FEBRUARY 2021, PARAGUACHÓN CROSSING POINT, MAICAO, LA GUAJIRA, COLOMBIA
1. Wide shot, Paraguachón border crossing, between Colombia and Venezuela
2. Wide shot, people passing through crossing point
3. Wide shot, border crossing
4. Med shot, people crossing through one of the irregular crossing points in Paraguanchón border
5. Med shot, people crossing through one of the irregular crossing points in Paraguanchón border
5,6 FEBRUARY 2021, INTEGRATED ASSISTANCE CENTER (CAI), MAICAO, LA GUAJIRA, COLOMBIA
6. Aerial shot, CAI
7. Med shot, kid smiles to the camera while playing with plastic bag
8. Wide shot, kid plays with plastic bags
9. Various shots, two women and a child at the door of temporary shelter
10. Wide shot, UNHCR Officers walks by mural of Venezuela and Colombia’s maps
11. Various shots, Veronica combing Franyimar’s hair inside temporary shelter
12. Close up, Franyimar’s face looking to the camera
13. Close up, Veronica’s face combing Franyimar’s hair
14. Wide shot, Veronica and her children walks outside their temporary shelter towards medic’s office
15. Close up, Franyimar’s feet being checked by doctor
16. Med shot, CMS doctor asks a question to Franyimar, and she shakes her head.
17. Med shot, doctor moves Franyimar’s leg softly up and down
MARCH 2020, CÚCUTA, COLOMBIA
18. Wide shot, people lifting a temporary shelter’s roof
19. Wide shot, people walking with a roof above their heads
20. Med shot, people walking with a roof above their heads with UNHCR Officer
21. Aerial shot, newly built hospital units
MARCH 2020, BOA VISTA, RORAIMA, BRAZIL
22. Med shot, UNHCR staff talk to worker inside the health centre
23. Med shot, UNHCR site planners review the layout of the health centre
MARCH 2021 BOA VISTA, RIO DE JANEIRO AND SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL
24. Med shot, UNHCR Officer talking to POC’s
25. Med shot, POC woman filling a registration sheet
26. Close up, UNHCR and EU flyer
27. Close up, POC woman holding a passport and her baby
28. Med shot, POC woman waving her hand
29. Med shot, POC old man grabbing his belongings
30. Wide shot, POC’s inside an airplane
31. Close up, UNHCR Officer talking to woman inside the airplane
32. Med shot, baby boy descending bus at Brazil’s city
33. Wide shot, people in line waiting for instruction at the sidewalk
FEBRUARY 8, 2021, INTEGRATED ASSISTANCE CENTRE (CIAMI), BOGOTA, COLOMBIA
34. Wide shot, people performing activities in tables at Scalabrini Shelter in Bogotá, Colombia
35. Wide shot, Sikiu talking with her son, while he’s doing homework
36. Close up, Sikiu’s son painting a cartoon sun
37. Med shot, Sikiu’s son painting a cartoon sun
38. Med shot, Sikiu’s talking with her son
39. Close up, Sikiu’s talking with her son
40. Med shot, Sikiu’s watching a recorded video with her son
41. Close up, Sikiu’s watching a recorded video with her son
MAY 2021, GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR
42. Wide shot, Sara Pérez (77), a Venezuelan refugee woman in Ecuador, receives the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine
43. Med shot, health worker preparing COVID-19 vaccine shot
44. Close up, health worker preparing COVID-19 vaccine shot
45. Med shot, Pérez receiving the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine
JANUARY 2021, LIMA, PERU
46. Dr. Carmen Parra walking in the park
47. Med shot, Parra walking in the park
48. Close up, Parra’s hands
49. Close up, Parra putting on her medical cap
50. Close up, Parra checking her phone
51. Close up, Parra’s phone with a picture of her children
52. Wide shot, Sofia taking a selfie with her two brothers
53. Med shot, Sofia cleaning the face of her little brother
54. Wide shot, Sofia sitting with her family
55. Close up, Sofia laughing and playing “thumb wars” with her mother
56. Med shot, Sofia taking a selfie with her two brothers
57. Wide shot, Ruth and her family descending the hill
APRIL 2021, MONTERREY, SALTILLO, GUANAJUATO, MEXICO
58. Wide shot, Venezuelan family in a park.
59. Med shot, Venezuelan mother calling her son in her house yard.
04:06 WS Venezuelan mother playing ball with her son.
9 JUNE 2021, COLCHANE, CHILE
60. Various shots, Atacama Desert
61. Wide shot, emergency accommodation for refugees and migrants arriving to Colchane
62. Various shots, UNHCR staff revising the emergency accommodation for refugees and migrants arriving to Colchane
63. Various shots, Venezuelans refugees and migrants arriving to the subdivision of Colchane’s National Police Department
64. Med shot, Venezuelans refugees and migrants at the entrance of the subdivision of Colchane’s National Police Department as they wait to receive further assistance
65. Med shot, UNHCR staff assisting Venezuelans refugees and migrants at the entrance of the subdivision of Colchane’s National Police Department as they wait to receive further assistance
66. Various shots, Venezuelans refugees and migrants at the entrance of the subdivision of Colchane’s National Police Department as they wait to receive further assistance
67. Various shots, UNHCR staff delivering winter kits to the Colchane’s National Police
68. Med shot, Colchane’s National Police organizing UNHCR winter kits for Venezuelans refugees and migrants
69. Close up, UNHCR winter kits for Venezuelans refugees and migrants
The outflow of refugees and migrants from Venezuela is one of the largest external displacement crises in the world. To date, over 5.6 million people have left their country. On June 17th, Canada will host an international donor conference bringing together governments and key actors involved in the response to the Venezuela situation, including the private sector, development banks and civil society.
Canada will host the Donors’ Conference in collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), co-leads of the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V).
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed refugees and migrants from Venezuela to even greater hardship. Prolonged border closures, lockdowns, loss of livelihoods and impoverishment force many to become increasingly dependent on emergency humanitarian assistance. The impact of the pandemic is also resulting in a dramatic increase in gender-based violence, mental health needs, evictions, food insecurity, and rising xenophobia.
Veronica is a single mother with four kids, one of them (Franyimar, five-year-old) has a motor disability that prevents her from walking properly. The family entered Colombia through an irregular crossing on 27th November 2020 with the purpose of finding health care for Franyimar. The family entered the Integrated Assistance Center supported by UNHCR and the Colombian Government the first week of December 2020. Now at the Center Veronica has received medicine to treat her daughter’s condition.
The Center has a capacity to shelter up to 1,400 people, in 220 Refugee Housing Units (RHU) and has provided assistance and orientation to 4,114 people (1,131 families, 2,382 children and adolescents) since it opened in March 2019.
17 percent of Venezuelans that live in Colombia are in the departments of Norte de Santander (202,727) and Santander (99,659), according to Colombian Migration authorities. After the closer of the Colombo-Venezuelan border on 14 March, Colombian authorities have opened a humanitarian corridor at the Simon Bolivar International Bridge so Venezuelans with critical health conditions can still enter to Colombia to receive treatment; however, there are currently no identifications or entry protocols for people in need of international protection.
In order to step up national health efforts to prevent and respond to coronavirus, UNHCR Brazil is providing vital assistance to thousands of Venezuelans and supporting the construction of a health facility in Boa Vista which will attend refugees, migrants, and the host community. In addition to these efforts, over 14,400 NFIs were distributed in Boa Vista, Pacaraima (State of Roraima), Belém (Pará) and Manaus (Amazonas) and information on prevention and hygiene measures have been share to all refugees across the country.
Brazil’s strategy to relocate Venezuelan refugees and migrants from the isolated northern state of Roraima to other cities in the country reached the significant mark of 50,000 relocated Venezuelans since the initiative started in April 2018. This strategy has proved to improve the economic, housing, and education status of the families who have benefitted from the programme. The voluntary relocation strategy is a government-led initiative framed into the Operação Acolhida, the federal response to the influx of Venezuelans refugees and migrants to Brazil. It aims at reducing the pressure on host communities in the border areas where refugees and migrants have been arriving from Venezuela. Amongst the beneficiaries of the relocation strategy, 47 percent are women and girls, and 37 percent are below 18 years old (boys and girls). Mendoza’s family already benefited from this voluntary relocation program. The two brothers they now work in a bakery in Sao Paulo.
Colombia announced in February 2021 that the country would grant a ten-year Temporary Protection Status (TPS) to Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the country, including nearly one million people currently lacking regular status. For Venezuelan refugee Sikíu, it means her son Lucas can finally get the help he needs. Colombia is hosting the largest population of refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide. Thanks to the TPS, more than 1.74 million Venezuelans currently in Colombia, as well as new arrivals over the next two years, will have access to identification documents, work permits, and state services, including the COVID-19 vaccination.
As most of its neighbors in the Andes region, Ecuador has been hardly hit by the pandemic. Almost 20,000 people had died due to Covid-19 until the third week of May 2021, and more than 410,000 cases had been confirmed. Since the first batches of the vaccine arrived in Quito’s airport by the end of January, more than half a million of doses have been administered. Frontline health workers, people over 65 years old, persons with health vulnerabilities, and essential workers are receiving the jab during the first phase, which is still in place. With UNHCR support, refugees and migrants are being vaccinated within the national vaccination plan.
Carmen Parra is a Venezuelan doctor living in Peru working as part of an emergency response to fight against COVID-19. She has been on 24-hour shifts to reach people at home who suspect they have the virus or get critical cases to hospital. But Carmen has one other characteristic that makes her stand out: she is an asylum-seeker. After she fled Venezuela, Carmen spent more than two years working as a waitress, a receptionist, and a sales attendant until UNHCR and a Venezuelan grass-root organization called Union Venezolana helped her to validate her medical qualifications in Peru.
Sofía Brito is 12 years old and came to Peru walking with her mother and brothers from Venezuela. Her dreams and aspirations had to be paused to take care of her siblings while her mother went to work to get them food and shelter. More than one million Venezuelans have arrived in Peru. Over half a million have applied for refugee status, making it the primary host country for Venezuelan asylum seekers in the world.
In May 2021 UNHCR Mexico's local integration program for refugees hit the milestone of successfully relocating 10,000 refugees from Mexico's economically struggling south to boom towns in central and northern states. There, refugees are matched with steady jobs, and their children are enrolled in schools for a successful integration. After enrolling in the integration programme, they are relocated to one of nine locations central and northern Mexico.
Despite prolonged border closures, Venezuelans continue to trek along highways into Andean states and Brazil in search of safety and a place to settle. Along the Chile’s northern border, where Venezuelans arrive on foot without appropriate clothing, night temperatures are already well below freezing. UNHCR is working to provide 1,000 winter kits and 8,600 thermal blankets, emergency accommodation, cash assistance and electronic vouchers for the purchase of heaters, fuel, and winter clothes.
Countries in the region are committed to help, including Venezuelans in national COVID-19 plans and vaccination campaigns, and putting in place large-scale regularization and documentation exercises. As refugees and migrants lose their income and needs soar, emergency relief and greater inclusion are immediately required.
Despite the generosity of countries in the region and international donors, commitments for financial support made by the international community continue to be insufficient to meet the needs of refugees and migrants and their host countries. The Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP) funding requirements in 2021 amount to US$ 1.44 billion. So far, only 5 percent has been funded.
