EASO COI Report. Country Focus

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The purpose of this report is to provide relevant information for the assessment of international protection status, including the determination of refugee status and subsidiary protection.

This report is organised into the following chapters:

Chapter 1 provides an overview of recent developments in the economy, security situation, the implications of institutional duality, demonstrations, abuses by authorities and monitoring, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chapter 2 gives a brief summary on recent developments on the humanitarian situation and its impact on migration flows, health care, food security and access and availability of basic services such as electricity, gas, and water.

Chapter 3 discusses the most recurring targeted profiles by the government and its security forces.

Chapter 4 describes the security situation at the border with Colombia. The chapter provides information on the main armed actors present at the border, main criminal activities, and state protection for victims of crime in that area of the country.

Chapter 5 reports on the colectivos, including types, activities, recruitment, areas of operation, targeted profiles, modus operandi, financing and support from the government, relationship with security forces and state response for victims of colectivos.

Chapter 6 provides information on two sets of documents: documents related to identification, and those related to courts and criminal proceedings.

Chapter 7 gives information on entry and exit procedures. Information on the actual procedures was scarce among the sources consulted. Available information included in the report centres on irregular border crossings, the treatment upon entry and exit of critics of the government, and the situation of returnees.

Chapter 8 discusses the situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans (LGBT) persons, including legislation, discrimination and violence, the situation of LGBT organisations, and state recourse.

This COI report is a joint initiative of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees (IGC). It builds on the first joint COI workshop between EASO and IGC, which covered Colombia and Venezuela and was held in Geneva in September 2019.

This report was drafted by James Restrepo. Mr. Restrepo is an independent expert on Country of Origin Information (COI), particularly for Latin America, having worked 9 years in the Research Directorate of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada and with over 12 years of combined experience researching migration issues in the region in both academic and institutional roles. Mr. Restrepo has led COI research missions to Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador, as well as numerous COI capacity-development projects in the Americas.

The following national asylum and migration departments contributed by reviewing this report:

- Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) of Canada, and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)

- Norway: Norwegian Country of Origin Information Centre, Landinfo

- Switzerland: State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), Division Analysis (Länderanalyse SEM)

- United States: Refugee Asylum and International Operations (RAIO), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

In addition, EASO and IGC reviewed this report.

The drafting of this report was finalised on 20 July 2020. Any event taking place after this date is not included in this report.

This report was written according to the EASO COI Report Methodology (2019).

Politique de traitement

La politique définie par le commissaire général se fonde sur une analyse approfondie d’informations récentes et détaillées sur la situation générale dans le pays. Ces informations ont été recueillies de manière professionnelle auprès de diverses sources objectives, dont le Bureau européen d’appui en matière d’asile, le Haut-Commissariat aux réfugiés des Nations unies, des organisations internationales de défense des droits de l’homme, des organisations non gouvernementales, ainsi que la littérature spécialisée et les médias. Pour définir sa politique, le commissaire général ne se fonde donc pas exclusivement sur les COI Focus publiés sur le site du CGRA, qui ne traitent que de certains aspects particuliers de la situation du pays. Le fait qu’un COI Focus date d’un certain temps déjà ne signifie donc pas que la politique menée par le commissaire général ne soit plus d’actualité.

Pour examiner une demande d’asile, le commissaire général tient non seulement compte de la situation objective dans le pays d’origine à la date de la décision mais également de la situation individuelle et des circonstances personnelles du demandeur. Chaque demande d’asile est examinée au cas par cas. Le demandeur d’asile doit montrer de manière suffisamment concrète qu’il éprouve une crainte fondée de persécution ou court un risque réel d’atteintes graves. Il ne peut donc se contenter de renvoyer à la situation générale dans son pays mais doit également présenter des faits concrets et crédibles le concernant personnellement.

Pour ce pays, il n’y a pas une note de politique de traitement disponible sur le site Internet du CGRA.

Land: 
Venezuela