Trinidad and Tobago

A short documentary follows the life of a Venezuelan refugee family as they get back on their – sky-high – feet learning how to stilt walk.

By Marta Martinez in New York | 20 March 2019

When he speaks of his home country, Carlos’ big, mahogany eyes well up. “It is too beautiful,” he says, “Venezuela has a variety of everything.” The 13-year-old has since moved with his family to Trinidad and Tobago – an island barely 11 kilometres away from Venezuela, yet a completely different world.

The year 2018 posed enormous challenges for the ICRC´s work in Venezuela due to the difficult economic and social situation that the country is experiencing. The organization helped the nation's most vulnerable people, especially migrants and those affected by violence, working in partnership with the Venezuelan Red Cross (VRC) and the National Societies of the CARICOM countries. Volunteers were given first-aid training, and people living in areas of risk were trained in primary health care.

FUNDING THE RESPONSE

While many governments in the region have been generous in their response, more support by the international community is needed to complement their efforts. Venezuelans continue facing difficulties in accessing services, impacting their ability to provide food, housing, health care, and other basic needs for their families. Families are exhausting their savings and resources, and are falling further into poverty.

Crisis regional por la situación de Venezuela - Hoja informativa N.°1, Año fiscal (AF) 2019

By Desmond Brown

BRIGDETOWN, Mar 3 2019 (IPS) - Caribbean countries have been signalling their willingness to dedicate time and resources to implement and sustain effective multi-hazard early warning systems.

Most countries located in the hurricane belt face being impacted during the yearly Atlantic Hurricane Season. But all Caribbean countries face another challenge—climate change

Venezuela Regional Crisis - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #1, Fiscal Year (FY) 2019

As the Caribbean is one of the regions most impacted by natural hazards, HIV and non-communicable diseases globally, enhancing community resilience will be the primary focus of the Red Cross in the Caribbean over the next two years. IFRC will support Caribbean National Societies (NS) to ensure that communities are organized and prepared for emergencies, resilient to climate change, and can withstand public health challenges. The Caribbean Office applies an integrated approach to create appropriate linkages between the various initiatives within the countries.

Countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region are vulnerable to a range of natural hazards, including droughts, earthquakes, forest fires, floods, hurricanes, and volcanic eruptions, as well as political and economic crises. Between FY 2009 and FY 2018, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/ OFDA) and USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/ FFP) provided humanitarian assistance in response to a diverse range of emergencies in the region.

$146.0 million UNHCR's financial requirements 2019

By Desmond Brown

IPS correspondent Desmond Brown interviews DOUGLAS SLATER, Assistant Secretary General at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat

GEORGETOWN, Feb 5 2019 (IPS) - In recent years Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have experienced escalated climate change impacts from hurricanes, tropical storms and other weather-related events thanks to global warming of 1.0 ° Celsius (C) above pre-industrial levels. And it has had adverse effects on particularly vulnerable countries and communities.

A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

By December of 2019, an estimated 5.3 million Venezuelans would have left the country, migrating in search of opportunities, health services and an overall search to improve the socio-economic conditions of themselves and their families. This is the largest migration in the history of the Americas. Migrants are one of the most vulnerable populations, exposed to human trafficking, abuse, exploitation and violence.

Refugees International welcomes the comments by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago this week that his government is working to grant Venezuelans on the islands the right to work and to an education. Venezuelans and other refugees and asylum seekers on the islands currently have no legal status. They live under the constant threat of arrest, detention, and deportation.

Over the past years, the Americas region has been experiencing a population movement situation with no precedents. Approximately 3 million people have fled Venezuela, and 2.4 million migrants have settled in Latin America and the Caribbean Islands. The IFRC network of National Societies are responding to the needs of over 283,000 people in 8 countries. However, the situation is highly fluid and requires constant analysis and adaptation to changing needs.

BRUSSELS, January 31, 2019 ─ The European Union (EU) has signed two agreements with the World Bank’s (WB) Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) to provide funding totaling EUR 30.7 million that will strengthen disaster risk management (DRM) in the Caribbean. The programs will support Caribbean countries to plan for long-term resilience and climate-smart growth strategies, and to design and implement innovative policy and investment initiatives.

Port of Spain: Stakeholders responsible for the provision of Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief are participating in a four-day training workshop aimed at enhancing national capabilities for effective and efficient humanitarian supply chain management in crisis events.