[News] A look at migration with a gender approach between Colombia and Venezuela is urgently needed

[Draeno]

 

With the arrival at the Casa de Nariño of Gustavo Petro, in different areas there have been efforts to normalize bilateral relations between Colombia and Venezuela, which reached a critical point during the administration of Iván Duque. An example of this is the announced reopening of consular offices in Caracas, Maracaibo, San Antonio de Táchira and San Cristóbal, as well as plans to open another five. Recently, in immigration matters, a strategy was also announced to expedite the normalization of migrants from the neighboring country through the delivery of the Temporary Protection Permit (PPT).

"The objective is to resolve the delivery of the PPT documents that could not be carried out due to deficiencies in the process that have come from its beginning in 2021," said the general director of Colombian Migration, Fernando García.

In this last week, Migration affirmed that there are 118,032 PPT available in the 12 regional offices of the country that have not been collected by their owners. This document, it is worth remembering, allows migrants residing in the country to enter, stay and leave Colombia and access the offer of public and private services.

However, despite the efforts to make the outlook for migrants from both countries more favorable, the remaining challenges are enormous. According to Ana María Cerón, head of humanitarian affairs at the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) mission for Colombia and Panama, only in January 2023 the number of Venezuelans who crossed the Darién, seeking to reach Panama, one of the most common routes and dangerous for migrants, increased by almost 400% over the same period in 2022.

Regarding those who remain in Colombia, according to the NGO Dejusticia, of the almost 2.5 million migrants in the country until September of the previous year, 51% are women, the majority between 5 and 40 years old. That is why it becomes necessary to ask about the gender approach that the new immigration and diplomatic policies have in the reestablishment of bilateral relations between Colombia and Venezuela.

Both Cerón and Lucía Ramírez Bolívar, Dejusticia's Gender Coordinator, point out that many of the migrant women are victims of different types of violence from the moment they are in their place of origin, before they decide to set out on their journey. “One reason that causes migration is the violence they face in terms of care in services, for example, health. So, there is no access to contraceptives, speaking in terms of institutional violence and violation of sexual and reproductive rights, the lack of care for pregnant women during pregnancy, gynecological and obstetric violence, which causes many women to come here to Colombia, especially everything in the border areas, to request medical services for childbirth care,” says Ramírez.

 

https://www.elespectador.com/mundo/america/urge-una-mirada-de-la-migracion-con-enfoque-de-genero-entre-colombia-y-venezuela-noticias-hoy/