Attachments
Background
• South America currently hosts more than 10.9 million migrants. Venezuelan migrants continue to move across the region, alongside growing numbers of migrants from other nationalities, including Colombians, Ecuadorians, Peruvians, and Haitians.
• Over the past year, migration policies in key countries along routes through South America have become stricter, and border controls have been reinforced. Peru imposed new visa requirements on Venezuelans earlier this year and augmented immigration enforcement along the borders with Ecuador. Similarly, Chile expanded its military presence along its borders with Peru and Bolivia and introduced new entry requirements, resulting in detention, expulsions, and the forced return of migrants.
• These restrictions on pathways and visa requirements have made regular, orderly, and safe migration processes more difficult across the region. In the absence of regular pathways, migrants resort to more dangerous and less monitored routes, increasing their exposure to risks such as human trafficking, bribery and sexual violence.