Update Country Report Curaçao 28 Oct 2021

Event

In mid-October Amnesty International released a human rights report on Curaçao, highlighting concerns about the treatment of predominantly irregular Venezuelan migrants on the island. Despite the enhanced scrutiny of the situation of migrants, the administration of the prime minister, Gilmar Pisas, has limited fiscal room to increase social spending on new arrivals.

Analysis

The report by the human rights organisation-a follow-up from an initial investigation that it published in 2018-found that protection for Venezuelan migrants in Curaçao had not improved over the past three years. An estimated 17,000 Venezuelans have come to the island (illegally in most cases) as part of the broad displacement of citizens fleeing economic and political turmoil in that country.

The report highlighted 22 cases in which migrants had experienced human rights violations such as automatic detention, separation of parents and children, ill-treatment, and loss of the right to seek asylum. For example, Venezuelans with irregular migrant status are automatically detained-usually with very limited access to legal representation-and can come under pressure to consent to deportation. The report noted that although Curaçao had introduced an international protection procedure in 2018, it did not restore many of the violated human rights, and none of the applications had resulted in the granting of protected status.

Amnesty's findings are set to increase scrutiny over Curaçao's (and the Netherlands') treatment of migrants. The report alleges that the Netherlands has provided additional funding to Curaçao for the detection and detention of migrants, effectively turning a blind eye to the situation. Although the negative publicity around the report will be unwelcome for the Pisas administration, this is unlikely to prod the government into significantly altering its stance towards Venezuelan migrants. Migrants are regarded with some distrust domestically, perceived to be taking up social funding and posing additional competition for jobs; a concern that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic-induced economic downturn.

Impact on the forecast

Rising concerns about human rights violations could even increase environmental, social and governance due diligence requirements on the part of potential investors. The Netherlands may also offer more funding to support migrant housing and processing, which would relieve some fiscal pressure on Curaçao, but this is not part of our forecasts, which for now remain unchanged.