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The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) welcomed today Brazil’s decision to recognize thousands of Venezuelans asylum-seekers as refugees on a prima facie basis, meaning that they will be assumed to be refugees.
The decision, announced yesterday by Brazil’s National Committee for Refugees (CONARE), means that Venezuelans claiming asylum in Brazil will be processed through an accelerated procedure without the need for an interview, assuming they fulfill the necessary criteria.
“This move constitutes a milestone in refugee protection in the region and follows a decision in June this year by CONARE to recognize that the situation in Venezuela amounted to serious and generalized human rights violations, as described under the 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees, ” Babar Baloch, a spokesperson of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told the media in Geneva.
According to the new provision, Venezuelan asylum seekers must be living in Brazil, not hold any other residence permit in the country, be over 18 years, possess a Venezuelan identity document, and have no criminal record in Brazil. Some 21,000 Venezuelan refugees already in the country benefited immediately from this decision.
“The Brazilian authorities estimate that some 224,000 Venezuelans are currently living in the country. An average of 500 Venezuelans continue to cross into Brazil every day, mostly into the northern and isolated state of Roraima,” Baloch said. “The Brazilian government continues to lead the humanitarian response for the most vulnerable Venezuelans arriving in the country, while also promoting innovative, open and generous ways to support their socio-economic inclusion”, he added.
To date, over 750,000 asylum claims have been filed by Venezuelans worldwide, the majority in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the last official data, Brazil has registered over 120,000 asylum seekers.
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