Chicago City Council June 12th, 2019 Referred to Human Relations and Health
RESOLUTION CALLING FOR ACTION ON VENEZULA CRISIS
WHEREAS, Venezuela is enduring an unprecedented economic, humanitarian, security, and refugee crisis, consisting of extreme food and medicine shortages, severe infant and child malnutrition, rampant crime, and government-sponsored repression; and
WHEREAS, Venezuela's economic crisis continues unabated and the International Monetary Fund projects that inflation in Venezuela could reach an annual rate of 10,000,000 percent in 2019;and
WHEREAS, As evidence of the significant effect that Venezuela's economic crisis has on public health, Venezuela's Health Ministry reported that in 2016: (a) there was a 30-percent increase in the infant mortality rate; and (b) there was a 60-percent increase in the maternal mortality rate; and
WHEREAS, According to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, Venezuelan intelligence and security forces have increasingly used arbitrary arrests and detentions to repress and intimidate civil society, political opponents, and any voices of dissent; and
WHEREAS, Zeid Ra'ad A1 Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated, "The failure to hold security forces accountable for such serious human rights violations suggests that the rule of law is virtually absent in Venezuela."; and
WHEREAS, According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, on Friday June 07, 2019 more than 4,000.000 Venezuelans have fled the country for reasons including violence, political oppression, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis; and
WHEREAS, The United Nations has estimated 5.3 million Venezuelans will have fled by the end of 2019, and only a small fraction of them seek protection in the US; and
WHEREAS, The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nation Refugee Agency (UNHCR), described the scale of the exodus as "staggering", with the number of displaced people increasing to a million over a seven-month period, from November 2018; and
WHEREAS, The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has shown concerns for millions of children who still remain in the country and need help accessing basic nutrition, and health and education services; and
WHEREAS, The number of Venezuelans seeking asylum in the US monthly has increased significantly since 2014. In February of that year, just 92 applications were filed. By September 2018, that number had increased by nearly 2,300%, with 2,190 applications filed. By April 2019, Venezuela has overtaken China to become the No. 1 country of origin for those claiming asylum in the U.S. upon arrival or shortly after, with nearly 30,000 Venezuelans applying for asylum with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in 2018. Nearly one-third of claims filed with the agency come from Venezuelans, the most of any country by far, according to the latest data; and