OAS task force: Venezuelan migrants need refugee status
Posted June 28, 2019 2:11 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MEDELLIN, Colombia — A team of specialists working for the Organization of American States is urging regional leaders to grant refugee status to a growing flood of migrants fleeing Venezuela.
The working group co-ordinated by Venezuelan opposition leader David Smolansky issued its recommendation Friday.
Smolansky told leaders gathered at the OAS general assembly meeting in Medellin, Colombia, on Friday that as many as 8 million Venezuelans will have left the country by the end of 2020.
United Nations figures currently put the exodus at 4 million people.
Smolansky said the flight of Venezuelans is tantamount to a forced migration and that those fleeing should be given refugee protections. Many are entering new countries illegally without a hard-to-obtain Venezuelan passport.
The group reported that it has documented 101 migrant deaths by land and sea.
The Associated Press
