Venezuela Regional Migration Crisis: Who are the children most at risk?

Since 2014, over 10% of the population of Venezuela has left the country (3.4 million), triggering substantial cross-border outflows of people in the region. The number leaving is likely to reach more than 5 million people by the end of 2019 (UNHCR 2018). This crisis has directly affected children. As of December 2018, in addition to children in need inside Venezuela, UNICEF reports more than 460,000 Venezuelan children in need of assistance in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Peru and Trinidad, and Tobago.

As the crisis continues to unfold, we lack the data to understand how different categories of vulnerable populations are affected and how they respond to pre-existing and new challenges alike. To address this gap, Save the Children (SC) commissioned a study to analyse the specific impact of the crisis on children in the border departments of Colombia. The analysis adopts a gender- and age-sensitive lens, assessing shifting protection needs against the background of underlying vulnerabilities. The findings are primarily meant for SC’s teams and partners who are engaged in responding to the crisis in La Guajira and Arauca. The analysis may also be of interest to other actors working on protecting children in the region in the current situation.