The Response of the Colombian State to Venezuelan Migration: Migratory Regularization to the Detriment of Asylum

Abstract

The migration of Venezuelans nationals to other Latin-American countries has been defined as the most significant migratory phenomenon in the recent story of the region, with Colombia being the country that hosts the highest number of Venezuelan nationals. From a human rights perspective, this article critically analyzes the response of the Colombian State to address migration from Venezuela. The objective of this article is to show that Colombia has preferred to govern this migration through the creation of ad hoc permits, instead of recognizing the need for international protection of this population and their status as refugees. To this end, this paper analyzes the Colombian regulatory framework on migration and refuge and, in particular, the response of the Colombian State to the migration of people from Venezuela. Its central argument is that the Colombian authorities have opted for the design and implementation of alternative measures of migratory regularization, as it was at the time the Special Permit of Permanence and is today the Permit for Temporary Protection. This article concludes by stating that the approach to Venezuelan migration has led to a clear detriment to the refugee system, today collapsed and with no prospect of reform or strengthening. This is so because the institutional design of the Colombian refuge entails a host of obstacles that discourage applicants from following this path, even when they require international protection. The authors of this paper use legal dogmatic as the main research methodology.