ILO supports socio-economic integration and decent work for migrants and refugees from Venezuela
At a workshop in Brussels, the ILO discussed its interventions aimed at responding to the challenge of the socio-economic integration of Venezuelans arriving in other countries of Latin America.
The ILO took part in a Regional workshop on the outflow of migrants and refugees from Venezuela, organized by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) in co-operation with the European External Action Service and the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments.
According to UN estimates until June, some 4 million people had left their homes in Venezuela as a result of the worsening social, economic, human rights and political situation. Eighty percent of them live in South America. Colombia and Peru receive the most migrants and refugees from Venezuela, 1.3 million and 768,100 respectively.
The Regional Coordination Platform for refugees and migrants from Venezuela, an inter-agency platform, aims to support government authorities, focussing on information management, communication and resource mobilization. The ILO is a member of this Platform and leads on the socio-economic and cultural integration of Venezuelan refugees and migrants by supporting livelihood opportunities for them and investing in the resilience of host communities.
The ILO carries out the following activities:
support access to formal employment
mitigate the socio-economic effects of large scale displacement by fostering social cohesion
support and build capacity of labour market actors and institutions
develop and strengthen social protection systems, and facilitate access to migrant workers and their families.
promote training opportunities
The ILO response is part of the regional Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP), developed by 95 organizations in line with governments’ priorities. The plan addresses the protection, assistance and integration needs of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the affected states of Latin America and the Caribbean.
