Antonio Ledezma said that the Icelandic authorities are violating a principle of asylum for Venezuelan migrants by denying them their right to international protection.
Former mayor Antonio Ledezma indicated on Sunday, October 6, that the Government of Spain admitted a group of Venezuelans from Iceland and said that the migrants were forced to sign alleged “voluntary returns” to return them to the country.
In his opinion, the action of the Icelandic authorities violates the principle of non-refoulement that all those who request asylum in a country have. For this reason, he denounced that these people were denied their right to international protection.
Ledezma, in social networkspointed out that the lawyers of this group of Venezuelan migrants will begin a process of requesting international protection in Spain, coupled with the complaint of the violation of the Dublin Treaty, which establishes which country in particular is responsible for examining their asylum application. , which means that you may be transferred to a different country that is responsible for examining your application.
After the arrival of 180 Venezuelans from Iceland on November 15, 2023After their request for asylum in that country was denied and they received mistreatment by the Venezuelan authorities at the Simón Bolívar International Airport, several questions have arisen about the situation of these compatriots, of others who remain in this nation. Nordic and suffer the same fate, in addition to the absence of information that creates a kind of “gray zone”.
In search of some clarifications, SuchWhich spoke with Ligia Bolívar, human rights specialist and coordinator of Alerta Venezuela, and with Huáskar Vásquez, who belongs to the Planning Committee of the Ad Hoc Group for the Defense of the Human Rights of Venezuelans in Iceland.
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Although these Venezuelans who returned from Iceland did so for “own motivation,” Vásquez assures that the background “is that they actually want (Icelandic authorities) for Venezuelans to leave voluntarily,” which is why they offer an incentive of just over 2,000 euros to return to their country; either because they decided not to appeal the asylum denial and others because they consider that the response takes a long time.
Regarding this measure, Ligia Bolívar explains that “it is not a deportation, but it is not easy to classify it as a voluntary return either because they are denied refuge and the conditions to remain there are very adverse.” He then emphasized that the return of these Venezuelans “does not fit within the Return to the Homeland,” as the Government wants to make it clear, even with those deported from the United States.
Huáskar Vásquez adds that the voluntary return from Iceland was done “under psychological pressure and other factors.”
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