Eduardo González
Canada will host next Thursday the second International Conference of Donors in Solidarity with Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants, which will give continuity to the one co-organized a year ago by Spain and the EU and which will be attended, virtually, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha González Laya.
The conference has been organized by the Government of Canada under the leadership of its Minister of International Development, Karina Gould, in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), co-leaders of the Regional Platform for Inter-Agency Coordination for Refugees and Migrants in Venezuela (R4V).
The meeting will bring together host and donor governments, as well as other key actors, including civil society and the private sector, and will provide a space to hear directly from affected refugees and migrants, according to the Canadian Executive. To this end, the conference will have four key objectives: to reflect on progress to date by host countries and the international community; to raise awareness of challenges, priorities, gaps and opportunities; to mobilize additional financial and technical resources; and to identify future actions to maintain focus on the crisis and help ensure commitments are met.
The number of refugees and migrants leaving Venezuela is increasing daily, making it the second largest external displacement crisis in the world, with more than 5.6 million people having fled the country since 2015. The current global COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation for both Venezuelan refugees and migrants, as well as host communities. As a result, Canada has called on the international community to mobilize the additional resources needed to help respond to the urgent needs of millions of people.
The first conference was organized in May 2020 by the European Union and the Government of Spain, also in collaboration with UNHCR and IOM, and concluded with participants pledging $2.79 billion, $653 million of it in the form of donations. This funding, according to the organizers, has improved the lives of 3.18 million vulnerable Venezuelan refugees and migrants, including women and girls, and their host communities. Specifically, 1.9 million people received food aid, 1.2 million received health assistance, 907,000 received protection assistance and 657,000 received cash assistance.
Spain pledged at the 2020 conference to contribute 50 million euros over a three-year period to help, in the medium and long term, the host countries, especially Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. According to sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to date 36.5 million euros have already been disbursed or programmed, 73% of the total committed, both for humanitarian assistance actions and for development programs. The same sources have not been able to specify what Spain’s commitments or proposals will be at the Canadian conference.
Despite all these efforts, financial needs remain considerable. For this reason, the Regional Response Plan for Refugees and Migrants 2021 has requested, through its 159 partners, a contribution of US$1.44 billion in 2021 to provide support to 3.3 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela and host communities facing the greatest needs in 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
