Venezuela, Red Cross sign agreement to repatriate children

CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuela and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) signed an agreement Monday on the repatriation of Venezuelan children and adolescents who are in a situation of vulnerability.

The policy will allow them to be reunited with their families in Venezuela.

"This June 14, a framework agreement for the reunification of Venezuelan children and adolescents abroad with their relatives or representatives in Venezuela was signed between the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the International Committee of the Red Cross," Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry announced on its website.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said after meeting with the head of the delegation of the ICRC in the country, Arnaud de Baecque, that the agreement will bring “happiness and smiles to these children, adolescents and relatives."

Arreaza also reiterated his gratitude to the ICRC for its “professionalism” and the "rigorous and prudent work they have done in Venezuela."

For his part, De Baecque thanked the Venezuelan government for its initiative to work on this project, which the ICRC is also carrying out in other countries.

"Thanks to the ICRC's presence in various countries, children and adolescents can be identified, recognized and reconnected with their families," he said.

During the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, the Venezuelan government repatriated roughly a hundred children after their migrant parents died from COVID-19.

Most of these children were living in other Latin American countries

Overall, the number of Venezuelan migrants stands at 5.4 million, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).