The Venezuela Briefing Ep 14: The Impact of Venezuela’s Crisis on Women and Girls

Much has been written about Venezuela’s human rights and humanitarian crises but there’s something that is often overlooked: the many ways these particularly affect women and girls.

This is why a group of Venezuelan NGOs has been working, since 2020, to document and raise awareness of this important issue. The coalition, known as the “Plataforma Con Ellas,” is made up of the Center for Justice and Peace (CEPAZ), Funcamama, Prepara Familia, Unión Afirmativa, Acción Solidaria, and Uniandes, and recently presented a set of recommendations to international actors on the sidelines of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

In an episode of WOLA’s Venezuela Briefing podcast, Venezuela Director Geoff Ramsey and Venezuela Program Assistant, Kristen Martinez-Gugerli spoke to Cristina Ciordia of CEPAZ about these recommendations and the work of the Con Ellas platform in emphasizing the need to analyze human rights in Venezuela through a gender and diversity lens.

“The international community focuses its conversation on Venezuela in terms of the political tug of war and political polarization but when you leave the conversation at that you don’t see the work that is being done on the ground through NGOs,” Ciordia explained.

Con Ellas seeks to strengthen and prioritize humanitarian programs directed towards women and girls in the South American nation. This platform has issued seven recommendations for the international community responding to Venezuela’s complex humanitarian emergency. These are:

1. Publish reliable information. The Venezuelan state has failed to publish credible data on the emergency. For humanitarian actors, the publication of disaggregated data with an intersectional perspective would allow for better planning and thus, better service.
2. Funding. Prioritizing women-led projects that work with and for women, with a gender and diversity perspective.
3. Adopt a gender and diversity sensitive approach to healthcare. In Venezuela, caring for women often entails caring for whole families, and humanitarian projects should recognize this reality.
4. Migrants and refugees. There is an urgent need for a protection and rights-based approach to migration policies, which pays special attention to the situation of women and girls.
5. Combatting discrimination. The response to the crisis requires a strategic communications effort to combat violence, stereotypes and gender roles which negatively impact women.
6. Economic empowerment. Empowering women economically in a way that builds resilience and independence is the most effective way of combating gender-based violence.
7. Gender and diversity sensitive nutrition. Nutrition programs should incorporate a special focus on women and children’s health, in particular the needs of pregnant women.

Listen to the full episode here at https://www.venezuelablog.org/episode-14-the-impact-of-venezuelas-crisis-on-women-and-girls/

For more information about the publication of this report, and the work of organizations such as CEPAZ and the coalition Con Ellas visit  https://cepaz.org/