-Guyana’s efforts regarding Venezuelan migrants appear to have gone unnoticed on int’l stage, gov’t says

THE Guyana government is disappointed that, despite considerable efforts, the international community does not seem to be taking notice of the assistance being given to Venezuelan migrants.

The administration addressed issues brought up about the granting of citizenship to migrants during a recent meeting with the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC).

In a detailed submission on corrections to factual errors and comments regarding concluding remarks emanating from the consideration and review of Guyana’s third periodic report under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the government explained that Guyanese citizenship is conferred automatically on children born overseas to Guyanese parents.

This, it noted, is stipulated in the country’s constitution.

According to the current legislative framework, those who fall within this group can receive a Guyanese birth certificate from the General Register Office by simply following the prescribed process, which entails presenting their birth certificate which was issued abroad along with their parents’ Guyanese birth certificates.

This official document is the key to affirming their Guyanese citizenship status.

Furthermore, the government emphasised that the country’s laws strictly prohibit refoulement, underscoring its commitment to upholding human rights standards and ensuring the protection of migrants within its borders. The process of sending refugees or asylum seekers who are those persons attempting to flee conflict, danger, threats, etc., back to their home country or to another, where they may face harsh punishment, is known as refoulement, according to the Cambridge Dictionary. International law prohibits refoulement.

Considering the above, the government expressed: “It is regrettable that all the efforts of Guyana regarding migrants from Venezuela appear to have gone unnoticed.”

The Government of Guyana has stated that it is dedicated to creating a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for those requiring humanitarian aid, while simultaneously pushing for increased recognition and understanding of its contributions on the international scene. Guyana is committed to upholding human rights principles and protecting the rights of all people, including migrants.

During a Multi-Agency Coordinating Committee meeting last month to address the influx of migrants from Venezuela into Guyana, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hugh Todd, underscored that the long-term objective is to integrate them into the Guyanese society. But in the meantime, respective agencies are tasked with combining resources to provide services in key areas such as healthcare, education, labour, sanitation, shelter, food and clothing for the most vulnerable.

The government’s estimate of registered migrants who had entered Guyana from Venezuela was more than 21,000, the majority of whom are either Guyanese or of Guyanese parentage.

Venezuela, a Spanish-speaking nation and Guyana’s eastern neighbour is currently experiencing economic and political crises which have resulted in more than 7.5 million people leaving the country since 2010.

The situation has worsened under the presidency of Nicolás Maduro.

Large-scale emigration from that nation resulted from those crises, which are characterised by hyperinflation, rising rates of illness, starvation, violence, and mortality.