WILLEMSTAD - The International Organization for Migration (IOM) will continue the humanitarian aid that the Red Cross previously granted to undocumented people in Curaçao in the coming months. The coordinator Joeri Arion coordinator announced this via a press release.
With large financing of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (BZK), the IOM will work closely with local partners to offer much needed help to undocumented migrants based on the Curaçao 'Cash-based Covid-19 Response Project'.
Thousands of Venezuelans
Thousands of Venezuelans have come to Curaçao in recent years to escape the poor political and social situation in their home country. According to Ieteke 'Inchi' Witteveen, spokesperson for Human Rights Defense Curaçao, this is a reasonable 'new' problem for the island. "The refugee issues is something that has only been manifested in Curaçao in recent years, since the situation in neighboring Venezuela has drastically deteriorated."
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about seventeen thousand Venezuelans without valid residence papers live in Curaçao. These people live and work under the radar on the island and have children who go to school on the island. It is often confusing for the children to grow up in these circumstances and to be called illegal. To explain to them what the word illegal actually means, Hubert Penza has written a children's book. In the context of World Refugee Day, he read the book to a number of undocumented children.
Exploited
“The majority of Venezuelan migrants are undocumented. This makes them vulnerable and at risk of being exploited," said Kelly Bendelow, protection officer for the United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR. “For example, they have difficulty finding legal work, they are only eligible for low-paid jobs and they have no rights. The vast majority of problems faced by undocumented migrants are related to their status.”
According to the protection officer of Aruba and Curaçao, they often encounter a language barrier, they do not know how local authorities work, and people with health problems such as HIV or cancer often do not know where to get the right help. According to Bendelow, the impact of the pandemic is also clearly visible. “This target group is extremely vulnerable. Now that they can no longer work due to the pandemic, many did not know how to get money to buy food.”
Food aid
According to the protection officer, steps have also been taken in Curaçao in recent times that benefit undocumented migrants. For example, primary health care has been available free of charge through the Salú pa Tur clinic since 2018 and the Covid pandemic has ensured that some of the undocumented have been imaged when they could register to receive the Covid vaccine. In this way, important information has been collected about the age, physical health and circumstances in which this group of people lives.
Undocumented migrants have also been included in the Food Aid program made available by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior, which has since been converted into more structural aid facilitated by the IOM. The previous cabinet has initiated a procedure whereby, under a number of conditions and for those who can afford it, legal status can be requested.