WILLEMSTAD - Amnesty International is requesting a meeting with the Parliament of Curaçao to discuss the treatment of refugees on the island following its report in February of this year titled "Curaçao, little improvement in the protection of Venezuelans."
This report provides an update on the situation of Venezuelan refugees seeking protection in Curaçao and evaluates the authorities' compliance with international human rights standards.
The main findings of this report were that the Curaçao authorities use Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to reject protection requests instead of providing protection. The local protection procedure established in 2019 has not granted protection to any refugee so far, and there is still no guaranteed access to legal assistance and information.
Adults and children without a judicial review are said to be held in immigration detention.
Amnesty International conducted a field visit to Curaçao in October of last year and had valuable discussions with officials from the Ministry of Justice. They also visited SDKK, and this visit was highly appreciated.
The human rights organization is currently researching the situation of refugees in Aruba while simultaneously monitoring the situation in Curaçao. Amnesty will visit both countries from September 18 to 20.