Quarterly Performance Progress Report: Conectando Caminos por los Derechos (CCD)

CCD aims to improve citizen security and community cohesion in migrant receptor communities in Colombia by preventing human rights violations, strengthening human rights protections, responding to human rights violations, and responding rapidly to changing circumstances and needs. CCD is implemented by the PROGRESS consortium, including Pact, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), Freedom House, and Internews. The Activity prioritizes human rights violations that populations in receptor communities are currently most vulnerable to, identified as labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, forced recruitment, human trafficking, forced disappearance, and gender-based violence (GBV). CCD's six-month Inception Period was implemented within a highly uncertain operational context and finalized in October 2020, setting the transition from Activity start-up to implementation. Between October and December 2020, Rapid Response Fund (RRF) activities benefited 240 migrants. Of those, fifty migrants were included in the Colombian health system, four obtained Special Residence Permits (PEP), and five had their PEP renewed. Through RRF funds, CCD also aligned activities with local priorities and contributed to addressing human rights violations affecting prioritized municipalities and maximizing impact through synergies with other USAID programs. CCD issued nine grants to local civil society organizations (CSOs) during the quarter to work on a variety of human rights issues, including prevention of GBV, legal and psychosocial orientation, and training for government employees on attention to migrant populations. CCD's technical team designed operational work plans and internal approval processes to ensure seamless activity implementation towards the achievement of CCD's goals and objectives. The team also planned for the hiring of short-term technical experts to support various activities, especially in support of government of Colombia (GOC) entities, and further refined the needs for collaboration with CSOs for the achievement of prevention, protection, and response goals. Despite COVID-19 restrictions, the CCD team was able to visit its office space in Bogotá in November and begin its regional roll-out during the quarter through in-person meetings with local authorities and continued strategic discussions with local CSOs. The unfolding events of the Venezuelan migration crisis have been aggravated by the effects of the continued COVID-19 pandemic and the stringent control measures taken by the GOC. As a result of those measures, economic opportunities have been limited, thus exacerbating migrant populations' and host communities' already precarious conditions across the country. The border with Venezuela remained closed throughout the reporting period due to health concerns and an increase in new cases at the beginning of December. The decision to reopen the border will depend upon a careful analysis of new cases and the Colombian health system's capacity to respond. The 2,219 km border between Colombia and Venezuela is a porous frontier with a vast array of informal passageways, disputed by different criminal groups who profit from the migration crisis. According to the Fundación Paz y Reconciliación, in 2020, 472 homicides were reported in border departments, of which 63 were Venezuelan migrants. Criminal groups are profiting from migrants, charging them entrance fees to cross into the country, and submitting them to extortion, human trafficking, and forced recruitment. The Ministry of the Interior's (MOI) Observatory on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) reported that sixteen Venezuelan migrants had been victims of this crime between October and December, for a total of thirty-nine Venezuelan victims in 2020, that is, 38% of all victims reported by the Observatory for that year.