WithYou

Nfutishe, 18 years old, mother of a baby, spent the night under the stars before benefiting from the UNHCR's help of tarpaulin as a person in special need to save her one-month-old baby. Entire families flee the fighting, hoping to find safe shelter in Goma, and arrive in spontaneous sites where conditions are difficult.

UNHCR staff bring assistance to families of Venezuelan refugees along the highway that runs parallel to the border with Chile, on December 3, 2021, in the southern region of Tacna, Peru. These people were intervened in a night raid in the desert by the Chilean security forces and returned to the border line, from where they will walk a few kilometers until they reach the Santa Rosa border post, in Peruvian territory. Then, they will return to the city of Tacna, about 35 kilometers to the north, to regain strength and try to cross the border through the desert again. It is difficult to calculate how many Venezuelan people enter Chile irregularly from Peru, walking through the desert. The truth is that among those who try there are a large number of pregnant women, many young children, entire families. According to testimonies, once they manage to step on Chilean soil, many are victims of the Chilean security forces: verbal and physical violence, expressions of xenophobia, humiliating treatment. And after this, they are returned to the border line and expelled with threats. These people return frustrated, walking through the desert again, sometimes leaving their few belongings on the trail, without money, without water and without food.