Venezuela Displacement Crisis

Economic collapse, human rights violations, a breakdown of public services, widespread violence, and a lack of food, water and medicine have caused a mass exodus of Venezuelans –The largest in Latin American and Caribbean history.

Venezuela Displacement Crisis

Over 5 million Venezuelans have already fled to neighboring countries Latin America and the Caribbean. 2,000 people flee the country everyday.

More women and children are replacing men on the roads.

Since 2014, the number of Venezuelans applying for refugee status has increased 8,000%.

Migrant women and are more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

The Venezuelan Response is largely underfunded. $3,150 has been raised per Syrian refugee, and just $265 per Venezuelan migrant.

The COVID -19 pandemic has strained neighboring countries’ financial, technical and organizational resources, threatening their capacity to receive Venezuelan migrants.

Multisectoral collaboration is required to meet the growing needs of Venezuelan migrants and refugees.

Funding Needs

Your support helps IOM address the following community needs:

– Access to Education
– Improved Healthcare
– Humanitarian Transportation
– Socioeconomic Integration
– Emergency Shelter and Housing
– Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

IOM's Response

IOM and UNHCR co-lead the Regional Platform for Interagency Coordination for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) that facilitates interagency coordination across 200+ organizations to respond to the crisis.

Read the 2022 Refugee and Migrant Response Plan here.

Socioeconomic Integration

Integrating Venezuelan migrants into their host communities through entrepreneurship and job training.

Through entrepreneurship and job training, we are supporting sustainable livelihoods for Venezuelan migrants and local communities.

Thanks to the generous support of Citi Foundation, USA for IOM is identifying gaps in labor demand in host countries and empowering migrants to fill them with skills training and tools for entrepreneurship.

By contributing to host countries’ economies, Venezuelan migrants are seen as motors of local development, combating xenophobia.

Podcast: “What Can the Private Sector
Do to Help Venezuela?”

Maria Moreno, USA for IOM’s CEO, sits down with Moises Rendon to talk about the private sector’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

Working with CSIS, IOM is bringing its operational expertise to inform the international policy making community of Venezuela’s rapidly evolving political, economic, and humanitarian landscape.

Listen to the full conversation.

“The conditions that Venezuelans face daily aren’t much different than modern warzones.”

“[Migrants] have a need for security, to be able to say ‘look, I’m going to start a business here–– to be able to feed my family’.”

“The arrival of COVID-19 presents an additional challenge of unforeseeable magnitude. Putting health and social welfare systems to the test as well as the countries’ own ability to maintain an inclusive society.”

Virtual Briefing: “Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants: COVID-19, Multilateral Aid and the Role of the Private Sector”

“This problem, for the foreseeable future, can only get worse. … We have a huge global crisis on our hands that will continue to impact the entire Western Hemisphere.”

– Francisco Santos, Ambassador of Colombia to the US

USA for IOM, the Embassy of Colombia in the US, and Citi Foundation cohosted a briefing call on the challenges the pandemic posed for Venezuelan migrants.

IOM is working with governments and the private sector to ensure migrants are taken into consideration in COVID-19 planning and response.