Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to all of you for the opportunity to address you on this important subject this evening.
As you may be aware, the UN's refugee agency has operations on the ground inside Venezuela and in neighbouring countries in the region. Our colleagues have stayed and delivered humanitarian assistance throughout the pandemic, and the information I share with you this evening is coming directly from their observations on the front lines of the response.
I'm certain that you may heard this from the panellists before me, but it bears repeating that more than five million Venezuelans have been displaced over the last several years, of whom over four million have remained in the region, with Colombia hosting close to two million.
In terms of scale, we're talking about Syrian proportions, which makes this one of the biggest displacement crises we are dealing with globally. For several months running, the Americas region was the epicentre of the pandemic, and we currently have 17 million confirmed cases and over half a million deaths recorded.
The main message I want to leave with you this evening is that COVID-19 has exposed refugees and migrants from Venezuela to even greater hardship and a heightened risk of destitution, homelessness, exploitation and abuse.
One of the most dramatic impacts has been the loss of livelihoods for hundreds of thousands of displaced persons virtually overnight. A recent World Bank study found that before the pandemic, more than 70% of the four million Venezuelans in neighbouring countries were employed in the informal sector of the economy. With border closures and lockdowns, this meant livelihoods and the means to independently sustain one's family vanished, triggering several knock-on effects, including loss of all income, food insecurity and evictions. The result is that the vast majority of Venezuelans are now in need of urgent assistance to meet all their basic needs, including shelter, food and health care.
Amid growing political discontent and the deteriorating socio-economic situation in some countries of the region, many refugees and migrants are being scapegoated, increasing the risk of stigmatization.
Those living without regular status or documentation also face the challenge of limited or no access to social protections or safety nets, and with schools and universities closed across the region, children and youth are losing out on an education due to limited access to online schooling and other forms of learning available to nationals. Rising poverty and homelessness are also forcing desperate refugees and migrants to return to Venezuela, often in conditions that are unsafe.
Tight border restrictions to curb the spread of the virus have forced many Venezuelans to resort to irregular means of crossing borders in search of safety, thereby increasing the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, especially for women and girls. Loss of income, xenophobia, homelessness, isolation from support networks and heightened exposure to violent partners have all resulted in a dramatic rise of sexual and gender-based violence, and the very same conditions driving increased violence against women are also having a deeply disturbing impact on children. Increased irregular movements have increased as well the risk of abuse, neglect, recruitment by armed groups, and labour and sex trafficking of children.
Neighbouring countries have been generous and welcoming, and efforts have been made by governments throughout the region to provide protection, rights and documentation to those who have left Venezuela, but as the economic impact of the pandemic begins to be felt across the region, national capacities are being stretched to a breaking point. Host countries need solidarity and support. This can take the form of increased humanitarian assistance, inclusion of refugees and migrants in development aid packages and the expansion of resettlement opportunities for refugees. Here, Canada's generous contribution must be acknowledged and appreciated.
Similar to our message to all states in the world, we're asking governments in the region to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers and migrants are included in national social protection schemes, including health and education systems, to ensure that no one is left behind. While the pandemic has exacerbated the plight of refugees and migrants from Venezuela, there are ways to mitigate the impact, and we count on the continued support of Canada and the international community to continue meeting the needs of all those who are disproportionately suffering its effects.
Thank you.