Lessons from Colombia’s response to Venezuelan forced displacement

Abstract

Nearly 80 percent of the world’s refugees are hosted by low to middle-income countries, a figure that has remained fairly constant for decades in the annual data provided by the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugee (UNHCR). These countries, which usually neighbor nations from which the largest forced displacement of peoples originate, have responded to millions of refugees within their territory usually with little notice from nations outside the region. Yet, their response, by necessity, have varied substantially from that of upper to high income countries which, with few exceptions, have restricted the flows of refugees into their territories through policies that include interdiction and externalization. In contrast, nations hosting the largest flows of refugees have adopted laws and policies that grapple, with varying degrees of success, with the presence of refugees in-country. Colombia, which in recent years has occupied second or third place as a host to one of the largest forced displacement of peoples, primarily Venezuelans, is exceptional among these few nations for their remarkable efforts to secure the legal, economic and social integration of approximately 2.5 million Venezuelans in its territory. This article documents these efforts. We examine Colombia’s path toward its adoption of a 10-year temporary protection program with the option to stay permanently which it has granted to date to over a million Venezuelans. We also document the program’s implementation with a focus on the social and economic integration of Venezuelans in Colombia as well as the overall impact of the program on Colombia’s economic and social indicators. In general, Colombia’s experience offers a hopeful story of how a burden sharing model can function to permit a nation to provide a more welcoming and humane response to refugees.

Keywords: forced displacement, asylum and refugee law, people in need of international protection, Cartagena Declaration