Venezuelan outflow continues unabated at 3.4 million

The Refugee Brief, 22 February

By Kate Bond | 22 February, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Venezuelan outflow continues unabated at 3.4 million. New figures released by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration show that the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide now stands at 3.4 million. On average, during 2018, an estimated 5,000 people left Venezuela every day in search of protection. According to the data, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are hosting an estimated 2.7 million Venezuelans, while other regions account for the rest. “These figures underscore the strain on host communities and the continued need for support from the international community, at a time when the world’s attention is on political developments inside Venezuela,” said Eduardo Stein, joint UNHCR-IOM Special Representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants. Greece races to move refugees from Samos. Greek authorities are struggling to house almost 4,000 refugees and migrants who live in an overcrowded centre on the island of Samos, with the country’s migration minister calling it “our biggest problem”. According to UNHCR, over 1,500 people are now living in unheated tents and shelters outside the centre, which is six times over capacity. “The camp there is very overcrowded, with all the problems that this means,” Dimitris Vitsas told the Guardian. “I have to move at least 2,000 people from the island as soon as possible.” On Tuesday, the Council of Europe raised concerns over what it called the “inhuman and degrading” conditions in Greece’s refugee camps. The latest data from the Greek Coast Guard shows that over 2,000 refugees and migrants arrived on Greek shores last month. WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR Mauritania urgently needs funds to deal with ongoing refugee crisis. Aid agencies in Mauritania urgently need funds to deal with the 56,000 refugees in the country, many of whom fled violence and persecution in neighbouring Mali. "We are simply not receiving the funds that we need,” Fadela Novak from UNHCR’s office in Mauritania told Euronews. Hungary takes ‘hundreds of Venezuelan refugees with Hungarian ancestry’. According to national media reports, Hungary has accepted hundreds of refugees from Venezuela. The refugees, who are thought to have Hungarian ancestry, are understood to have been welcomed into the country with the support of Viktor Orban’s administration and a Maltese charity. Transgender woman who sought asylum in the US killed after being deported. BuzzFeed reports that a transgender woman who had sought asylum in the US and was subsequently deported to El Salvador was killed earlier this month. According to a UNHCR study cited, 88 per cent of LGBT asylum-seekers and refugees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador who were interviewed suffered sexual or gender-based violence in their countries of origin. GET INSPIRED A 14-year-old Syrian refugee who stars in the film "Capernaum" is preparing to travel from Norway, where he is now living, to California for the Oscars ceremony. Discover how his incredible journey began. DID YOU KNOW? Since 2014, more than 390,000 asylum claims have been lodged by Venezuelans in Latin American countries – over 232,000 in 2018 alone.

Follow UNHCR DONATE Produced by the Communications and Public Information Service.  Managing Editors: Melissa Fleming, Christopher Reardon and Sybella Wilkes Contributing Editor: Kate Bond Subscribe to The Refugee Brief or view recent issues HQP100 P.O. Box 2500 CH-1211 Geneva 2 Tel +41 22 739 85 02   |   Fax: +41 22 739 73 14 Views expressed in reports highlighted in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR. Unsubscribe   |   Update Profile   |   Privacy Policy   |   View this email in your browser