Violencia estructural y refugio de facto en América Latina. Una propuesta de revisión de la declaración de Cartagena sobre los refugiados, 1984-2024

Abstract

This work focuses on the study of the structural violence in Latin America, which is the cause of forced abandonment of the country of residence and the need for its victims to be recognized as internationally protected refugees or de facto refugees. In addition, it analyzes the limitations and insufficiencies of the International Refugee Law to grant international protection to those who suffer this structural violence or, having a well-founded fear of seeing their Human Rights seriously and repeatedly violated, are forced to abandon their country of residence. We are speaking, then, of the ¿extra-conventional¿ refugees, which are those who do not meet the definition of refugee in the 1951 Geneva Convention and its Protocol. The basic thesis is the need to achieve a broader and internationally agreed legal definition of refugee, which includes all the causes that force a person to leave their country and that are not contemplated in current international legislation. The figure of the de facto refugee seeks to broaden this protection and make visible all those people forced to emigrate due to violence, armed conflicts, erroneous economic policies or natural calamities. The Cartagena Declaration on Refugees of 1984 includes, in the Latin American legal space, an expanded definition of the concept of refugee that serves as a regional complement to the Geneva Convention of 1951, which has contributed to reinforcing the avant-garde character of Latin America in matter of protection of Asylum and Refuge. The current migration crisis in Venezuela is impacting Latin America and the Caribbean with an intensity and speed never seen before. Nearly 7 million Venezuelans have been forced to leave their country, most of whom have sought protection in the region, especially in Colombia. Faced with this crisis, the 40th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration, in 2024, presents a unique opportunity to analyze the progress and existing gaps on the protection of refugees and migrants in the region and propose comprehensive and harmonized legislation on the figure of the refugee that contains a human rights approach.