Colombia Grants Legal Status to Undocumented Venezuelan Migrants
- Jorge M Zurek
- May 7, 2021
- 4 min read
A historic decision by the neighboring country that will guarantee labor protections, health benefits, and even the Covid vaccine to undocumented Venezuelans living in Colombia.
Venezuela, throughout the past decade, has been consumed by a man-made economic, political, and humanitarian crisis that has caused millions to leave their country in search of a better life for themselves and their children. The crisis is so large that as a result of hyperinflation, people don’t even bother to count bills when paying for goods, instead opting to weigh the money.
As a result of this, many have resorted to extreme measures to exit the country and travel to neighboring countries such as Colombia, but also to Ecuador and Peru by going through Colombia, this as a result of the porous nature of the border with Colombia. Currently, there are about five million Venezuelan migrants in Latin-America and a total of seven million worldwide .
Situation in Colombia:
In Colombia, there are approximately 1.8 million Venezuelan migrants of which the Colombian ‘Census Bureau’ (DANE) approximates 800,000 of them are undocumented. Due to the ‘relaxed’ nature of Colombia’s border with Venezuela, most immigrants have not been required a passport to enter the country— since these are only issued by the Maduro Regime— but they can cross with what’s called a “Border Card” which allows them to stay in settlements near the border for at most seven days. The purpose of this being that Venezuelans who live close to the border can cross to buy groceries and goods that they would otherwise not have in Venezuela. This along with many other factors such as the Pandemic has led to an exponential increase of undocumented Venezuelans in Colombia.
During the pandemic of COVID-19 Colombia had one of the longest national lockdowns in the world, lasting from March to September of 2020. During the lockdown, many undocumented Venezuelans returned to Venezuela in search of jobs since the Colombian economy had been paralysed. This, of course, led to even more Venezuelans arriving in Colombia after the lockdowns ended in early September of last year.
Protected Legal Status:
On February 8th, 2021, Colombian President Ivan Duque announced that the National Government, through executive action, would be granting legal protection status to all Venezuelan Migrants who had entered the country before January 30th for ten years. The statute includes labor protections for Venezuelan migrants such as pension and social security benefits, as well as the affiliation of them to the subsidized health regime. The decision was described as “the most important humanitarian gesture” in the region since the 1980s, as well as “an example to the region and the rest of the world”, by Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency who attended the ceremony in Bogotá where the statute was signed.
Indeed it goes without saying that the decision to grant legal status to undocumented migrants was a monumental one and one from which the developed world can learn. “We [Colombia] can, not being a rich country, make [migration] policy based on fraternal solidarity.” Said Duque in an interview with CNN. In fact, the fraternal nature of Colombia’s migration policy has been one of historic nature due to the long-standing relationship between Colombia and Venezuela. “In fact” Duque added: “Our republic was [envisioned] by the liberator [...] who gave us our freedom: Simon Bolívar, a Venezuelan.” This, alongside the warm welcome Venezuelans gave to Colombians in the 1980s at the peak of Colombia’s armed conflict and drug cartels, has made the decision popular among Colombians, though not without its critics.
Purpose of the Statute and its effects on Colombia:
The purpose of the statute is primarily to legalize Venezuelan migrants in Colombia to grant them the health and economic protections they need, but this, in turn, is also intended to benefit Colombian workers as well as Venezuelans. This is because employers are now required by law to pay Venezuelan workers (at least) the minimum wage, their social security benefits, and health care benefits, which eliminates the preference of some employers to hire Venezuelans so as to not have to pay them as much as colombians. The statute would benefit Colombian employees by giving them an equal standing in the labor market.
Critics of the statute say that it puts a heavier burden than what the Colombian government can handle since it requires the government to divert funds in order to pay for it. Duque in turn, argues that the opposite is true since according to him, the money was already spent on them without the government having an accurate registry of the Venezuelan migrants or a documentary about how much money was being spent. He adds that by formalizing this process, the Colombian government can now know exactly how much money is being spent and can ask the international community, through the UN, OAS and the OECD, for more humanitarian aid, in terms of money, relieving the Colombian government, at least to some extent, of the burden.
Edited by: Sarra Alwani
How can You Help?
You can help by staying informed, sharing articles like these and most importantly donating to causes that help venezuelan refugees all across latinamerica:
UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency):
IsraAID (Humanitarian NGO):
Venezuelan Refugee Fund (Humanitarian NGO):
Sources:
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