Venezuela: Delcy Rodriguez meets the UNHCR High Commissioner for the return of migrants
Quick Look
Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez met with UNHCR High Commissioner Barham Salih to discuss the voluntary return and reintegration plan for the approximately 6.9 million Venezuelans who have emigrated due to the crisis.
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Why It Matters
Around 6.9 million Venezuelans have left the country in recent years due to the economic and social crisis. The government has recently urged the return of citizens abroad.
The voluntary return and reintegration into society of Venezuelan migrants who have taken refuge abroad in recent years to escape the economic and social crisis were at the center of the talks between interim president Delcy Rodriguez and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Barham Salih, who is visiting Venezuela for the first time.
The meeting follows Rodriguez's appeal to the UN General Assembly in September, when he invited Venezuelans abroad to return to the country. In his account of the meeting with Rodriguez, Salih referred to the plan for voluntary return and reintegration as "a new chapter of cooperation." “An important vision of inclusion, stability and prosperity that UNHCR stands ready to support,” he wrote on X.
According to data from the joint platform of UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), approximately 6.9 million Venezuelans have left the country in recent years. During the visit, Salih and Rodriguez also addressed the recovery after the earthquakes of 24 June, in which UNHCR coordinated protection and housing assistance interventions.
Open Questions
- What are the concrete guarantees for social reintegration?
- How many migrants actually joined the return plan?
