Venezuela (RMRP)

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REGIONAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Since the creation of the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform (also known as “Response for Venezuelans” or “R4V”) in 2018, an unprecedented number of refugees¹ and migrants from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (hereinafter “Venezuela”) have left their country of origin, driven by a continuously challenging political, socio-economic, and human rights situation – by November 2022 there were some 7.13 million globally, and close to 6 million² across the 17 countries³ that form part of the R4V response.

The 17 Latin American and Caribbean R4V countries have faced equally unprecedented challenges, brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic – the effects of which cost countless lives, and which continue to impact the region – as well as other regional and global events, including the impact of the war in Ukraine, which prompted rising food and energy prices, and contributed to spiralling levels of inflation and costs of living.⁴ Amidst these challenges, host communities and their governments continue to offer protection, humanitarian assistance and socio-economic integration opportunities to millions of refugees and migrants from Venezuela.

Notwithstanding this generosity, evidenced through the integration of millions of refugee and migrant children in local schools, the provision of vital COVID-19 vaccinations and the issuance of millions of national identification documents to refugees and migrants from Venezuela, an increasingly sizable proportion of refugees and migrants, including those of other nationalities, are unable to access asylum, residency or other forms of regularization, social protection systems, as well as longer-term protection, self-reliance, and socio-economic integration opportunities. As a result, refugees and migrants, including those who previously had settled in host communities, have increasingly resorted to onward movements.

For the first time, the evolving movement dynamics of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, as well as their particular needs, sorted by country and thematic sector, have been presented in a dedicated regional Refugee and Migrant Needs Analysis (RMNA).⁵ This in-depth analysis of the situation, trends and relating needs of refugees and migrants from Venezuela and their affected host communities underscores and informs this Regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP), which covers the R4V response for the years 2023 and 2024.

The two-year coverage of the RMRP takes into account the increasing need for R4V actors to engage in midand longer-term planning and response activities to complement refugees’ and migrants’ integration objectives, and to more adequately consider the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (HDPN) in planning, providing ample time for actions with medium/ longer-term scope.

Reflective of the complementary nature of the R4V response, the RMRP is a regional strategic response plan and advocacy tool that supports country- and sub-regional level operations. It focuses on immediate humanitarian and protection assistance, and activities that bridge the Nexus by responding to longer-term resilience and integration needs of refugees and migrants, as well as affected host communities.

Through its intra-regional and field-driven strategic planning process, and building on continuous consultations with host governments, refugee- and migrant-led organizations and the donor community, R4V serves to complement and support the leadership of host governments through a regionally coherent Response Plan. It brings together the particular skills, expertise and resources of 228 actors, including United Nations (UN) agencies, international and national NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) and civil society actors (among them 46 refugee- and migrant-led diaspora organizations), faith-based organizations and the Red Cross Movement.⁶ Led and coordinated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the R4V and its RMRP: (i) raise the profile of refugees and migrants from Venezuela and drive consistent advocacy and fundraising efforts to the benefit of R4V actors, including through constant engagement with institutional and non-traditional donors and annual donor events; (ii) ensure an informed, efficient and coordinated response, including through a wealth of information management and reporting tools, reports and briefings; (iii) promote positive policies and related dialogues for refugees and migrants, including with the Quito Process;⁷ (iv) convene all relevant stakeholders, including R4V response actors, host governments, donor community and affected refugee and migrant communities; and (v) deliver humanitarian and development-focused assistance, including through the activities and strategies that are elaborated in the different Sector and Platform chapters of this document; which have been developed by the different Platforms and Sectors, both at the regional, national and subregional levels.

To maintain the commitment of R4V to the principles of accountability and transparency, R4V actors commit to systematically, regularly and transparently report on the implementation of activities reflected in this Plan, using the dedicated monitoring and reporting framework of the RMRP, while maintaining an open and transparent dialogue with all stakeholders on the financial requirements of the Plan through regular reporting of amounts received using the Financial Tracking System (FTS) of UN-OCHA.