Evictions of vulnerable people
On 14 March 2020 the Peruvian government led by President Martín Vizcarra declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A strict lockdown and curfew are among the measures taken to prevent the spread of the virus, as well as other restrictions to the right to transit. In Perú, where most people work in the informal economy, these measures have severely affected people’s capacity to access basic goods and keep up with rent payments. Over 1.2 million people who lost their jobs between February and April in Lima alone due to the ecomonic impact of COVID-19 measures.
According to the UNHCR, in recent years 5,1 million people have fled Venezuela seeking international protection. Of those, more than 861,000 Venezuelans are in Perú with limited access to asylum and diverse obstacles to regularize their migration status -and work permits- in Peru.
Even though Perú has included some vulnerable groups in its response plan to COVID-19, in the form of special subsidies and social plans, regrettably it has not included any provision regarding the right to housing, nor the special situation of refugees and migrants in the country. Old regulations such as the Civil Code and outdated case law are the only valid legal framework that apply the housing situation in this context and they do not match the current reality and are inadequately enforced or even ignored (for instance, they are carried out without a court order).
According to Venezuelan National Assembly representative in Perú, Carlos Scull, around 55,000 Venezuelan families are currently at risk of being evicted. Amnesty International has noted with concern numerous media reports of evictions of Venezuelans and other vulnerable groups due to lack of payment of rent as a result of the economic impact of COVID-19 related measures.
Although President Martín Vizcarra did mentioned the need to incorporate Venezuelans in the government’s aid plans, the efforts taken to do so have been insufficient and do not cover in any extent the situation of forced and arbitrary evictions, nor the situation of informal rental agreements that are common in the country, leaving the population at risk of being evicted and forced to violate quarantine measures as many of them do not have anywhere to go.
The office of the Ombudsperson in Perú stated the urgent need to protect Venezuelan population and to include them in a more inclusive response to address the health emergency caused by the pandemic.
The lack of protection of Venezuelans seeking refuge in Perú is also pushing many of them to decide whether to stay under these adverse circumstances or return to Venezuela (through the Northern of Perú, Ecuador and Colombia), many of them by foot, even though borders are closed and the lockdown measures limit the freedom to transit. Different sources report between 20,000 and 33,000 Venezuelans have returned to their home country by different means.
The alarming lack of protection of Venezuelans in the Americas during COVID-19 has prompted an emergency Donors Conference convened by the European Union and Spain on 26 May, in an effort to “mobilise resources to support the displaced population and the main host communities, tackle the aggravated situation created by COVID-19, and facilitate greater commitment and coordination of the key actors”, according to the EU.
Amnesty International has already expressed its concern over the situation of Venezuelan nationals returning to the country, due to forced quarantine mechanisms in place, the stigma under which authorities in Venezuela have been treating returnees, and the risk of having their basic human rights violated in these excruciating circumstances.