Displaced persons in Colombia and Venezuela

With a shared border more than 2.000 kilometres long, Colombia and Venezuela are facing a serious challenge with the massive forced migration of people coming from Venezuela.

According to United Nations estimates, more than two million people have fled Venezuela as a result of the internal crisis and the government’s economic policies. It is estimated that there are already close to one million forced migrants in Colombia, in different cities of the country, although some are returned Colombians.

A large part of the migratory flow of those crossing to Colombia by land, as walking migrants are forced to leave everything behind to seek new and better conditions of life in Colombia or other countries in the region. This is the case in the border crossing between Apure, Venezuela and Arauca, Colombia.

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is working to cover their basic needs and provide fundamental rights for thousands of forced, displaced, and refugee migrants in the region. JRS strives to provide legal, psychosocial, and humanitarian assistance in this important area of the broad, binational border.

[Jesuit Refugee Service]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation by Grant Montgomery.