Migration from Venezuela: Opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean (Regional Socio-Economic Integration Strategy)

Since 2015, more than 5.4 million people have had to leave their country as a result of the economic, social and political crisis facing Venezuela. Around 85% went to another country in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This figure, which does not include hundreds of thousands of returnees, makes this the most serious migration crisis in the history of the region. Often, destination countries view refugees and migrants as a burden that affects the provision of public services and the national and local fiscal balance. However, international experience shows that migrants, including refugees, also contribute to the development of host countries (OECD-ILO, 2018). Turning migration into a factor for sustainable development requires that public authorities at both the local and national levels promote the socioeconomic integration of the refugee and migrant population.

While humanitarian aid seeks to meet the basic needs of the refugee and migrant population, in particular food, health and housing, a regional economic integration strategy aims to make its recipients the promoters of their own subsistence by promoting their sustainable inclusion in host communities and their contribution to local economies.

The Regional Strategy is aimed at the main host countries for the refugee and migrant population from Venezuela; in particular, to government institutions that have some degree of competence in the socioeconomic integration of this population, and to employers’ and workers’ organizations, with the aim of promoting social dialogue around this area. The countries participating in the Quito Process identified socioeconomic integration as one of the priority axes of their work agenda. In addition, the Regional Response Plan for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (RMRP, 2020), designed within the framework of the Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V), includes socioeconomic and cultural integration among its four axes for priority action.