– than not accept it, ILO representative

LOSING or not getting a job is the fear of any adult with responsibilities but that fear inevitably increases when a country experiences an influx of migrants, similar to the case of Guyana where migrants from Venezuela have been entering the country because of a deteriorating Venezuelan economy.

Whether the locals like it, migrants will make their way into Guyana where they hope to get opportunities that might not be available in their country.

“It is important to realise that what is happening with Venezuela… there is an outflow from Venezuela because the people there have no options left,” said International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director of Decent Work for the Caribbean, Claudia Coenjaerts during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

According to a report from the International Monetary Fund, the inflation rate in Venezuela will rise to 1.37 million per cent by the end of the year as the government there fails to cover widening budget shortfall by printing money.

Looking ahead, consumer prices will rise 10 million per cent in 2019, according to the report. The reality behind those figures is Venezuelans would not be able to neither sustain themselves nor their families.

The lack of options has basically caused what Coenjaerts termed as “forced migration.” And no matter what, she believes that people will find a way to enter another country, especially if they have to do so to survive.

Though the people will move, the ILO director said it does not mean everyone is a refugee or asylum seeker; it simply means that they were pushed out of their country.
In such cases, the ILO believes that it is important for countries to manage the influx of migrants instead of not accepting them.

Guyanese, in some cases, have complained that migrants have been taking up jobs and working for below the national minimum wage but, most of those migrants have been working in the informal economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by government.

USUALLY UNDOCUMENTED

Coenjaerts said cases like those occur when migration is not managed. She explained that many migrants are usually undocumented so they have to work illegally.
“By not managing the problem, we risk to aggravate a problem… the issue with Venezuela translates to one like the Middle East, with Syria, where the ILO has been involved by helping governments to set up temporary work permits… in doing so we help them to not create two labour markets,” she said.

The ILO director believes that once the system is regulated, Venezuelans would work for the same salaries and wages there would be no “competition”.
In order to manage the situation, comprehensive migration policies are needed; policies which include a comprehensive approach which analyses human rights, economic conditions, health, social wellbeing and security.

“If you have the policy, you can bring all of that together… involve all stakeholders, social partners to bring in their angle so you can agree how to manage migration,” said Coenjaerts, noting that those approaches would also assist in the collection of data and facts.

Although the ILO has not conducted a study to determine what the situation is with Venezuelans in the Caribbean, she said the organisation is ready to do such a study.

LONG-TERM SUPPORT

The Government of Guyana recently said it is making plans for long-term support for Venezuelan migrants, some 2,588 of whom have so far been documented in Guyana.
Guyana adopted the 2016 New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, which streamlines migration. What this means, is that the country has an international and humanitarian obligation to cater for migrants.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM)’s Regional Coordination Officer for the Caribbean, Robert Natiello had said in a Guyana Chronicle report that an influx of a migrant population can be very taxing on local infrastructure such as schools, health centres and so forth; hence, knowing a figure would allow stakeholders to make critical economical decisions.

“So far, the government has been exemplary and shown solidarity with Venezuelans; the government has shown a willingness to support them….They said they do not want to just deport them, but instead regularise them, especially because Venezuela had received a lot of Guyanese migrants in the 1980s.”

“The Government is developing a policy to provide them with temporary permits that are renewable,” said Natiello.