Venezuela: Families deserve to always be together

by time news

2023-05-16 16:15:00

In situations such as armed violence, natural disasters, migration or deprivation of liberty, people are more vulnerable to family separation and loss of contact. In situations like these, it is vital that families are able to maintain communication with their loved ones and be aware of their whereabouts, as this increases their ability to cope with difficult situations, creates a sense of security and contributes to the right to unity. familiar.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) works together with the National Society of the Venezuelan Red Cross (CRV) to protect family ties, offering services to maintain and restore contact between families, as well as self-care guidelines to prevent the loss of communication and the disappearance of people. During the year 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, both institutions have helped reconnect many families. Here are some notable figures:

“We are their ears, their eyes and their voice, until they return”, says Yuglenis, a woman who continues to search for her husband and brother-in-law, whom she has reported missing since 2019. Along with her, there are approximately 28 other families searching for loved ones with whom they lost contact due to shipwrecks in the Falcon State.

For the International Movement of the Red Cross, missing persons are those whose relatives have no news or whose disappearance has been reported on the basis of reliable data and due to humanitarian needs. The person is considered missing from day one in which her relatives report not having heard from her, so a “waiting time” is not required to start the search under the presumption that the person is alive.

When a family experiences the disappearance of a loved one, they not only want to know what happened or where their loved one is, they also generate a series of needs such as:

• Mental health and psychosocial support needs

• Legal and administrative needs: linked to children and adolescents who are children of disappeared persons, as well as the need to manage properties, debts or others.

• Economic needs: when the disappeared person was the breadwinner of the household, as well as others associated with covering the costs of the search, reporting, or prosecution of the disappearance.

• Need for public recognition: related to making the individual suffering of family members and disappearance as a social problem visible, so that support actions are promoted that allow them to receive dignified and equal treatment and preserve the memory and reputation of the disappeared persons.

• Need for a response from institutions that recognize the importance of their participation in the search processes, promote prevention measures so that disappearances are not repeated, as well as legal actions against those responsible for the disappearance, if any.

Read the story of Susana, a woman in Camatagua who saw her daughter again after several years.

Strictly adhering to its mandate and from its area of ​​expertise, the ICRC in Venezuela and the region:

• Accompanies or guides families in their search efforts.

• Depending on the characteristics of the case, it supports them in addressing the multiple needs generated by the disappearance of a loved one.

• For those cases in which there is a presumption of death, the ICRC shares its knowledge to strengthen the Venezuelan medico-legal system, and thus promote the dignified management of the deceased, the restoration of the identity of unidentified corpses, and dignified restitution. of their remains to their loved ones. All of the above makes it possible to prevent disappearance due to non-identification.

• Likewise, it offers orientation to the next of kin on the corresponding care routes to help them face the multiple steps that must be followed during an identification process and legal procedures for the recovery of the remains.

#Venezuela #Families #deserve

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