The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has confirmed that Brazil has already recognized 37,000 Venezuelan refugees to be at the head of Latin America when facilitating their accommodation.
Brazil acquired this category last Friday after announcing the recognition of 17,000 new Venezuelan citizens as refugees, under the simplified procedure for prima facie recognition approved in December 2019 by the National Committee for Refugees (CONARE).
Under this regulation, Venezuelans who apply for refugee status in Brazil and who meet the necessary criteria are eligible for a procedure without the need for an interview.
“This measure strengthens the role of Brazil in the protection of refugees in the region and is based on the recognition of a situation of grave and widespread violation of human rights in Venezuela,” according to the UN agency.
The UNHCR Representative in Brazil, José Egas, explained that the adoption of the simplified procedure “strengthens the commitment of the Government of Brazil to guarantee the rights of thousands of Venezuelan people seeking protection in Brazil.”
UNHCR recalls that the flow of Venezuelans and Venezuelans is the largest human exodus in the recent history of Latin America and the UN estimates that more than 4.7 million people have already left Venezuela.
Brazilian authorities estimate that around 264,000 Venezuelan people currently live in the country, while on average about 500 Venezuelan people continue to cross the border with Brazil every day, mainly in the state of Roraima.
To date, they have registered more than 768,000 applications for refugee status submitted by Venezuelan people worldwide, mostly in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.
UNHCR, finally, “encourages the governments of the region to recognize the refugee status of Venezuelan people, following if possible the pattern set by Brazil, given the magnitude of the current flow of displaced persons, which” entails complex challenges and can overload national asylum systems “.
