One year into the pandemic, displaced Venezuelans in Peru are struggling and cannot be left behind.

Mas de 5 millones de personas venezolanas han tomado la difícil decisión de abandonar sus hogares debido a la grave crisis humanitaria en Venezuela. Muchas de las más de 1 millón de personas venezolanas que viven hoy en Perú hicieron viajes en condiciones extremadamente difíciles y enfrentaron barreras de entrada para encontrar refugio en un nuevo país. Este informe documenta la experiencia de las personas venezolanas que viven en Perú un año después de la pandemia del COVID-19.

The Biden team has proposed a bold 4-year, $4 billion plan to provide assistance to Central America. The plan aims to address the factors that drive migration from the region and usher in a new era of U.S. leadership. But the plan misses one important truth: meaningful change will take time, and Central Americans will continue to flee their homes in search of refuge in the years to come.

El sistema de protección internacional en México es potencialmente generoso y justo, pero se ve obstaculizado por una serie de factores que impiden que las personas que necesitan esta protección accedan a sus derechos y beneficios. Aunque los recursos financieros, la voluntad política, la pandemia de COVID‑19 y la presión de EE. UU. son retos considerables que deben superarse para conseguir un sistema justo, son muchos los cambios prácticos que el Gobierno mexicano puede implementar. Si el INM y la COMAR ponen en marcha estos cambios, el impacto será extraordinario para las vidas de miles de personas que solicitan protección internacional en México.

As the number of people seeking asylum in Mexico has sharply increased and the United States has effectively ended asylum at its southern border, Mexico’s asylum system confronts several challenges. In this report, Rachel Schmidtke outlines policy changes for the Mexican government that can relieve some of this pressure and strengthen the country’s asylum system for the future.

En los últimos años, Estados Unidos y México han adoptado una serie de medidas que facilitan la devolución de guatemaltecos a su país de origen. Tales medidas obligan a devolver a su país de origen a muchos guatemaltecos con solicitudes de refugiado válidas, que están en riesgo de sufrir persecución al regresar. Las deportaciones y los retornos realizados en mitad de la pandemia de COVID-19 agravan estos desafíos y contribuyen a la propagación del virus.

In recent years, the United States and Mexico have taken a series of steps that make it easier to return Guatemalans back to their home country. These measures force home many Guatemalans with valid refugee claims who are at risk of persecution upon return. Deportations and returns carried out in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic compound these challenges and contribute to the spread of the virus.

Bajo el Acuerdo Cooperativo de Asilo (ACA) con Guatemala, los Estados Unidos ha transferido rápidamente a solicitantes de asilo no guatemaltecos a Guatemala sin permitirles solicitar asilo en los Estados Unidos. Dada la incapacidad de Guatemala para proporcionar una protección efectiva y también el riesgo que enfrentan algunos transferidos en Guatemala o después de regresar a sus países de origen, los Estados Unidos viola su obligación de examinar los solicitudes de asilo al implementar el acuerdo.

Aunque Colombia ha dado una bienvenida relativamente generosa a sus vecinos venezolanos, las conmociones del coronavirus han dejado a los venezolanos desplazados en una situación de mayor vulnerabilidad. Muchos han perdido o corren el riesgo de perder el acceso a ingresos, vivienda, alimentos y otras necesidades básicas.

Though Colombia has given its Venezuelan neighbors a relatively generous welcome, the shocks of the coronavirus have left displaced Venezuelans in a situation of heightened vulnerability. Many have lost or risk losing access to income, housing, food, and other basic needs. 

Staffers from Colombia's Secretary of Health check Venezuelans while leaving Colombia and returning to their country, as a preventive measure against the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, at the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, in Cucuta, Colombia-Venezuela border, on April 28, 2020. (Photo by Schneyder MENDOZA / AFP) (Photo by SCHNEYDER MENDOZA/AFP via Getty Images)

On March 1, Colombian President Ivan Duque issued a decree that would give temporary protective legal status to most of the 1.8 million forcibly displaced Venezuelans in the country. Martha Guerrero Ble and Rachel Schmidtke explain what this means for displaced Venezuelans in Colombia and other countries hosting migrants and refugees.

In Central America, the threat of climate displacement is becoming more urgent by the day. Swift action from the Biden administration will ensure that the region remains stable and secure in the face of increasing and frequent climate impacts.

There are 1,043,60 Venezuelans currently living in Peru. Many of them migrated to the country following Venezuela’s economic and political collapse, and roughly half of them are women. Rachel Schmidtke interviews three Venezuelan women, Efigenia, Estefania, and Maria Virginia, about their successes and the hurdles they face while developing businesses in Peru.

El gobierno peruano debe de actuar rápidamente para incluir a todos los venezolanos en su respuesta nacional para el alivio y la recuperación frente al COVID-19.

Armed groups from Boko Haram and al-Shabaab in Africa to Hayat Tahrir as-Sham in Syria to MS13 and Barrio 18 gangs in El Salvador continue to engage in violence despite the United Nations’ Secretary-General call for a global ceasefire amid COVID-19.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Mexico could reach up to 700,000, according to the Pan American Health Organization. As the crisis deepens, many of the most vulnerable in Mexico are at higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus because of their living conditions. This is especially true for those detained in migration stations in Mexico.

Guatemalans are forced to migrate daily — over half a million people have fled to the United States in the past three years. Now a lack of a coherent and some unethical U.S. policies are exacerbating root causes of displacement. Moreover, these policies are fueling a vicious feedback loop of danger and vulnerability for Guatemalans and other asylum seekers.

As Venezuela’s political and economic crisis deepens, the risks facing Venezuelans who are fleeing the country are getting significantly worse as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Refugees International and Human Rights watch hosted a conversation on the findings of their recent joint report, “Deportation with a Layover: Failure of Protection under the U.S.-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement.” The conversation featured commentary from the report authors Yael Schacher, Rachel Schmidtke, and Ariana Sawyer, a video from a woman from El Salvador who was transferred to Guatemala through the ACA, and commentary from Linda Corchado, a leading immigration attorney in El Paso, where implementation of the ACA began.

Refugees International Latin America Advocate Rachel Schmidtke reacts to news that the Biden administration has secured agreements with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala to put more troops on their borders.

Refugees International applauds Colombia’s commitment to regularize displaced Venezuelans and allow them the right to work for ten years.