Analysis of the context, crisis and needs

Since its creation four years ago, the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform (also known as the Response for Venezuelans, or R4V)¹ and its partners have continuously expanded efforts to respond to the unprecedented outflow of refugees and migrants from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter, Venezuela). By the end of 2021, an estimated 6.5 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela will be outside their home country. Seventeen countries of Latin America and the Caribbean covered by the regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP)² 2022 are hosting an estimated 84 per cent, or 5.4 million people, of this population.

The large outflows caused by the complex political, human rights and socioeconomic situation inside Venezuela, compounded by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past 18 months in the entire region, have severely tested the capacities of authorities, host communities and the international aid community to respond to the needs of refugees and migrants.

Considering recent trends in Venezuela, as well as political and socioeconomic developments in several key host countries, the outlook for 2022 remains complex and volatile. Due to pandemic-related border closures and continued travel restrictions, refugees and migrants from Venezuela have adopted riskier coping strategies, including irregular means of travel and border crossings, which expose them to increased protection risks. As a result, a growing number of Venezuelans are in an irregular situation in countries of transit and destination.

In the described context, those refugees and migrants from Venezuela who are considered most vulnerable include survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), victims of human trafficking, persons with disabilities, pregnant and lactating women, young children with nutritional deficiencies, members of traditionally marginalized communities (including the indigenous, elderly and LGBTQI+ communities), as well as those who face a broad range of protection risks and challenges in accessing available services due to their irregular situation.

Projected situation in 2022 and beyond

The 2022 RMRP takes into account national dynamics (including country-specific socioeconomic, political and response capacity-related elements) within an agreed regional planning outlook. Through a participatory survey with R4V partners³ in all 17 host countries and dialogue with key interlocutors, the following key assumptions were elaborated and guide the RMRP 2022:

• 2022 will be characterized by continued outflows from Venezuela at an overall moderate rate amid a gradual lifting of COVID-19 travel restrictions across the region. This will further aggravate the challenging situation faced by host countries, affected communities, refugees and migrants.
• Challenges related to irregularity will further increase in 2022, including for newly arriving individuals from Venezuela who cannot meet entry requirements, as well as for refugees and migrants already in countries of transit and destination in an irregular situation.
• Secondary and/or onward movements of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, relocating from one host country to another and on new routes, including northwards, will increase.
• New outflows and onward movements will outnumber by far possible return movements to Venezuela.

Given this context, the Regional Platform considers that in the countries covered by the RMRP there are some 8.4 million persons in need of assistance. This number includes 4.6 million persons projected as being in-destination, 1.12 million in pendular situations, 645,235 returnees from Venezuela and 2.03 million affected host communities. Of these persons in need, 3.81 million will be targeted to receive sectoral or multisectoral assistance from R4V partners coordinated through the RMRP. This target population comprises 2.55 million in destination, 202,417 in pendular situations and 241,350 returnees. It is also estimated that 824,218 affected host communities will be targeted to receive some form of assistance.

Response priorities in 2022

The RMRP 2022 will bring together an unparalleled number of 192 partners (compared to 159 in 2021) – including 117 NGOs and 23 refugee- and migrant-led diaspora and community-based organizations – to carry out 11,829 proposed activities to benefit 3.81 million refugees, migrants and host communities. The total financial ask of these 192 partners amounts to US$1.79 billion.

The response is organized across nine sectors – Education, Food Security, Health, Humanitarian Transportation, Integration, Nutrition, Protection, Shelter, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene – and three sub-sectors of the Protection Sector (Gender-Based Violence, Child Protection, and Human Trafficking and Smuggling). The RMRP 2022 also incorporates cross-cutting modalities (such as cash and voucher assistance, or CVA) and cross-cutting themes and priorities, including gender, the environment, communication with communities, centrality of protection, accountability to affected populations and the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, to ensure that these considerations are incorporated across all response activities.

Due to the general health and COVID-19 situation affecting refugees and migrants from Venezuela across the region, addressing primary health care, reproductive health and mental health will be another crucial priority under the RMRP 2022. Direct health interventions, in combination with CVA, will be used to respond to and assist with the costs of treatments, medicines and vaccines. R4V partners across the region will support host authorities in the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines to all refugees and migrants from Venezuela, irrespective of their situation, including with logistics, equipment (such as refrigeration units) and outreach for immunization campaigns.

Moreover, the RMRP 2022 will prioritize and improve accountability and transparency, including through enhanced mechanisms used to monitor and report on activities implemented and funds received under the response (RMRP Activity Explorer).⁴ For the first time, in 2022, the RMRP will also include a results framework linked to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals to measure the impact and effectiveness of assistance provided by R4V actors. Meanwhile, activities and people reached by R4V partners will continue to be reported monthly through public databases, such as the 5Ws dashboard available on R4V.info,⁵ and funds received⁶ by R4V partners in support of the RMRP 2022 will be reported using UNOCHA’s Financial Tracking Service.

Regularization and Integration

By 2022, the majority of refugees and migrants from Venezuela will have spent multiple years in their host communities. As a result, their needs go beyond immediate life-saving interventions and include access to regularization and documentation, protection, self-reliance and integration. For this reason, supporting national regularization and documentation initiatives for refugees and migrants from Venezuela in an irregular situation, as part of a process to facilitate successful local integration, is a key priority under the RMRP 2022. R4V partners in countries including Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Trinidad and Tobago, among others, will work collaboratively with host governments to ensure that refugees and migrants from Venezuela have access to regularization and documentation through multiple channels, but including through residence permits (permanent or temporary), humanitarian visas, refugee status determination and asylum procedures, as well as complementary protection statuses.

Based on encouraging developments in a number of countries in 2021, R4V members will advocate for these measures to include as many refugees and migrants from Venezuela as possible. In collaboration with international financial institutions and other development actors, R4V partners will also work towards the socioeconomic integration of refugees and migrants and their inclusion into public policies and services, including COVID-19 recovery and vaccination plans, as well as more long-term social protection systems, such as health, education, housing and other essential services.