Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 15 May 2019

Venezuela exodus raises worries of babies being stateless

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO At the present moment,
Associated Press Venezuelan parents can
CÚCUTA, Colombia (AP) — try going through the courts
Arelys Pulido had already to get Colombian citizen-
lost one baby in a neglect- ship for their children, but
ed Venezuelan hospital few have succeeded. Two
where doctors and medi- cases are currently being
cal gear are in increasingly considered by the consti-
short supply, so when she tutional court, said Lucía
got pregnant again she Ramírez, a coordinator for
decided to give birth in a investigations and migra-
foreign land. tion issues at the human
She packed suitcases filled rights non-profit Dejusticia.
with clothes and a few Others have tried going
prized ceramic statues through the Ministry of
of saints that she hoped Foreign Relations, which
would grant her and her must consider any cases in
unborn child protection as which a foreign consulate
they passed through one of does not provide citizen-
the perilous illegal crossings ship within three months.
into Colombia. Ramírez said Dejusticia is
Earlier this year, Zuleidys An- only aware of one case
tonella Primera was born, a that has succeeded to
lively girl with dark hair and Arelys Pulido holds her two-month-old daughter Zuleidys Antonella Primera after she had her feet date. That child, however,
eyes bearing no hint of the prints taken for her birth certificate at the Erazmo Meoz hospital in Cucuta, on Colombia’s border was not born to Venezu-
odyssey her mother went with Venezuela, Thursday, May 2, 2019. elan migrants.
through so she could de- Associated Press “It’s not a pathway that
liver her in a hospital across Colombia’s National Civil ther who can prove legal David Baluarte, an expert people are using,” she said.
the border in the city of Cú- Registry counts at least residency based on visa on statelessness at Wash- At the Erasmo Meoz Uni-
cuta. 3,290 children born since status. ington and Lee University. versity Hospital in the bor-
Yet little Zuleidys so far has December 2017 who have Many Venezuelan arrivals The issue caused height- der city of Cúcuta, parents
neither the citizenship of been unable to obtain citi- do not have a passport, let ened alarm during World clutching newborns stand
the country her parents zenship. Rights groups con- alone a visa. A temporary, War II when Jews were outside a registry office,
fled nor that of the nation tend the numbers could be two-year visa that Colom- stripped of their citizenship eager to ink their children’s
where she was born. She is as high as 25,000. bia’s government has pro- in Nazi Germany before feet and obtain their of-
one of a growing number Even by the lowest count, vided as a stopgap mea- being sent to concentra- ficial birth record, only to
of children who have been advocates say, the num- sure to nearly 600,000 Ven- tion camps. find out the country isn’t
left essentially stateless. ber of children at risk of ezuelans does not qualify Two United Nations treaties granting them citizenship.
“It’s one more thing to statelessness now living in babies for citizenship. were created protecting “The normal thing to do
worry about,” said José An- Colombia is worrisome. That has left many babies in the right to citizenship, but would be for them to all get
tonio Primera, the baby’s “It is a significant number a legal limbo. today an estimated 10 to Colombian citizenship,”
father, a former military offi- when you think of it being Colombian officials say it 15 million people around said Eduardo Bravo, a for-
cer who now paints motor- created out of one crisis,” is Venezuela’s fault that a the globe are considered mer police officer, while
cycles for a living. said Amal de Chickera, co- new generation of children stateless. bouncing his infant daugh-
While the children born to director of the Netherlands- born abroad are virtually Statelessness experts say ter in his arms. “We aren’t
migrants qualify for Venezu- based Institute on Stateless- statelessness, but they are the onus is on Colombia to here in Colombia because
elan citizenship, they would ness and Inclusion. “And if working on finding a rem- rectify the status of Venezu- we want to be. It’s out of
need to formally register it is prolonged and if it’s not edy. elan children born on its ter- necessity.”
at a consulate or travel to nipped in the bud it can “We’re all in agreement ritory. Pulido, 44, first crossed the
Venezuela to obtain it. Both become much bigger.” that exceptional measures “In the present moment, border into Colombia four
options are out of the ques- Nearly 1.3 million Venezu- need to be taken,” said these children would be months into her pregnancy
tion for many families. They elans now reside in Colom- Alfredo Posada, a spokes- stateless in Colombia, so for ultrasounds she couldn’t
do not want to return until bia, about 40% of whom man for Colombia’s Na- the obligation is on them get in her home country.
conditions improve and are in the country without tional Civil Registry. to grant citizenship,” de The journey on foot and
consulates are closed after any legal status. Colombia A government proposal in Chickera said. “That would over a river on a makeshift
President Nicolás Maduro has received more Ven- the works would allow any be a really strict reading of canoe wore on her, as did
severed diplomatic rela- ezuelan migrants than any Venezuelan child born in the law, but I think it’s im- painful memories of her
tions with Colombia in Feb- other nation, and the num- Colombia since the current portant to take into consid- last pregnancy: The child
ruary. bers are not expected to exodus began in August eration that this is quite an died during childbirth after
Colombia’s government dip any time soon. Even 2015 to qualify for citizen- extraordinary moment.” a usually minor complica-
grants the newborns full with the border between ship and is expected to When born in Colombia, tion. Pulido blames that on
health care during the first the neighboring countries be approved in the weeks the children are given Venezuela’s worsening hu-
year of life and allows them officially closed, thousands ahead while legislators are a birth certificate, but it manitarian crisis.
to enroll in school, but ex- stream into Colombia each considering a similar bill in clearly states at the bot- “Several friends died giv-
perts on statelessness fear day using the same dirt congress. tom, “Not valid for nation- ing birth there,” she said.
that if Venezuela’s crisis roads that Pulido crossed Statelessness first became ality.” “I had to come.” On a re-
drags on for years, they while pregnant. an international concern “The fact that the parent is cent afternoon, Pulido and
could approach adult- Colombia’s constitution between World War I and an undocumented migrant her husband Primera ex-
hood without key rights only offers birthright citizen- World War II as the popu- shouldn’t mean that the amined the piece of white
such as the ability to travel ship to children who have lation of those fleeing per- child is born an undocu- paper with their daughter’s
legally, buy property or get at least one Colombian secution or excluded from mented migrant,” lawyer tiny black footprints provid-
married. parent or a mother or fa- nationality laws rose, said Xiomara Rauseo said. ed by the hospital.q