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International Partnerships
News announcement16 October 2020Directorate-General for International Partnerships

Venezuela crisis, ‘Lives in Dignity’ – the EU scales up support to refugees and host communities

Lima, Peru

The Commission is supporting Venezuelan refugees, their host communities, and forcibly displaced persons worldwide with €47.5 million through Global Public Goods and Challenges (GPGC) migration programmes in 2020.

Support to Venezuelan refugees and host communities

Supporting hosting communities and integration of Venezuelan refugees (€27.5 million) is a core GPGC migration programme in 2020. It aims to relieve the financial and social stress on the hosting communities in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, and to support the socio-economic inclusion of the refugees.

The number of refugees and migrants forced to leave Venezuela in the last five years already amounts to over five million people, with 80% of them displaced in countries in the region. It is one of largest and most serious external displacement crises in the world.

The new programme complements ongoing humanitarian, stabilisation and development actions by focusing on relations with host communities. In context of the COVID-19 crisis, it emphasises improving socio-economic inclusion, and access to basic health, education and housing services. Planned activities include strengthening Venezuelans’ legal rights and security, and improving their integration in local labour markets under appropriate employment conditions.

The activities will involve local authorities, private sector, national financial institutions, Chambers of Commerce and Production, competent ministries and other international and local organisations, including civil society organisations.

'Lives in Dignity' EU Global Facility

Globally, the 'Lives in Dignity' EU Global Facility (€20 million) will help establish a development-oriented approach to forced displacement. Implemented by UNOPS, it promotes the engagement of national and multi-lateral institutions, civil society organisations and host governments in development-led and whole-of-society responses to forced displacement situations. The Facility builds on successful pilots across the Middle East, the Horn of Africa and South Asia, and embodies the EU’s commitment to international responsibility sharing and engagements at the first Global Refugee Forum in 2019. A first phase of the Facility was funded with €10 million in 2019.

Background information

The Global Public Goods and Challenges programme aims to contribute inclusive and sustainable development solutions to global problems. In the area of Migration and Asylum, it is promoting migration and mobility governance, improving the management of migratory flows, maximising the development impact of increased regional and global mobility, promoting and protecting migrants’ human rights, and improving understanding of the migration-development nexus.

For the period 2014-2020, the EU has dedicated €716 million to global programmes on migration and forced displacement.

22 AUGUST 2020
Annual action programme 2020 on "Global Public Goods and Challenges in the area of Migration and Asylum"
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22 AUGUST 2020
Annual action programme 2020 on "Global Public Goods and Challenges in the area of Migration and Asylum" - Annex 1
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22 AUGUST 2020
Annual action programme 2020 on "Global Public Goods and Challenges in the area of Migration and Asylum" - Annex 2
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22 AUGUST 2020
Annual action programme 2020 on "Global Public Goods and Challenges in the area of Migration and Asylum" - Annex 3
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Details

Publication date
16 October 2020
Author
Directorate-General for International Partnerships