MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2023) The Venezuelan women who fled their country and moved to Chile have to face a critical lack of protection from the Chilean government that fails to comply with its obligations concerning refugees, a prominent international rights organization said on Tuesday.
Amnesty International conducted a survey on the position of Venezuelan refugees in Chile, including the testimonies of 12 Venezuelan women, which illustrates some of the obstacles they had to overcome, including the imposition of entry visas, denial of entry at the border, insufficient information about their right to international protection, as well as the existing requirement for the refugees to report themselves to the authorities for irregular entry into the country.
"As we approach the commemoration of International Women's Day, this is an ideal moment to publicize the injustices that Venezuelan women face in Chile and, at the same time, an opportunity to call on the government to respond to the human rights violations that are being committed in our country, including by guaranteeing urgent access to international protection," Sofia Lanyon, president of Amnesty International Chile, said.
She added that the reforms concerning the immigration law must be aimed at protecting the extremely vulnerable groups of refugees, "including women, girls and boys, instead of seeking to facilitate their expulsion and exacerbate the stigmatization they suffer."
About 444,000 Venezuelan refugees fled to Chile, according to the data of Amnesty International. The survey by the organization was carried out from November 2022 to January 2023. Along with the testimonies of 12 women, the report contains the interviews with 23 representatives of civil society organizations, four international organizations, and nine government agencies.
