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Cease fining and jailing illegal Venezuelan immigrants

Apr 01, 2018 News

 

– GHRA appeals for compassion

Five non-governmental organizations have called on the Government to implement humanitarian procedures which will assist Venezuelans fleeing severe economic and political hardships.
The groups, who issued a joint statement yesterday after a meeting with delegation of Venezuelan citizens currently resident in Guyana, included Amerindian People’s Association, Guyana Human Rights Association, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc., Roman Catholic Church in Guyana and the Policy Forum Guyana.
Among other things, the organizations are calling on the Judiciary and Director of Public Prosecutions to cease with immediate effect the practice of fining and jailing illegal Venezuelan immigrants.
“Our organizations are appealing to all Guyanese as individuals or organizations to develop a positive and welcoming approach to displaced Venezuelans. The attitude of ordinary citizens, as demonstrated wherever mass movements of peoples have taken place in recent year, is as critical as official policy in determining a successful outcome,” the groups stated.
Based on the statement, the organizations are calling on the Government to use principles of decency, humanitarian imperatives and commitments under human rights Conventions to undertake several tasks.
Additionally, the organizations call on the immigration authorities to respect Guyana’s international human rights obligations to children who should not be separated from their families.
Government is being urged to give effect to the exhortation of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to adopt more flexible procedures with respect to lack of documentation and to provide Venezuelans seeking temporary residence with security of tenure for a period of one or two years with permission to work.
The organizations also proposed that immigration authorities devise a form of temporary ID card which can be provided to Venezuelans desirous of remaining in Guyana but not claiming refugee status.
There is also a recommendation for liaison with immigration authorities that Toshaos in remote border communities be authorized and empowered to implement a registration process of Venezuelans crossing the border.
The organizations also called for the urgent revision and publication of any procedures applicable to Venezuelan-Guyanese citizens which would facilitate their remaining in Guyana.
According to the groups, Guyana has remained remarkably untouched by the massive humanitarian crisis playing out across the Venezuelan border over the past two years.
It is estimated that some 30 of their nationals are arriving in Guyana every day without visas, many of them of Guyanese origin whose family migrated during the 1980s.
“Guyana urgently needs to adopt sensible, humanitarian policies along the lines adopted by Colombia, Brazil and the majority of South American countries,” the organizations stated.
The signatories in their statement noted that they are conscious of the very limited resources Guyana can bring to bear on a refugee crisis.
“We are also conscious that providing Venezuelans with the assurance that they will not be treated as criminals and hounded out of the country is a humanitarian response well within Guyana’s capacity to implement,” the groups pointed out.

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