Colombia grants citizenship to over 20,000 Venezuelan children

Colombia announced on Monday that it will grant citizenship to more than 24,000 children of Venezuelan parents born in its territory since August 2015. that measure came aimed at guaranteeing the fundamental rights of infants and avoid their stateless status. In addition to receiving citizenship, the measure, which will be active for two years, will guarantee that the children have access to health and education.

More than 1.4 million Venezuelans who are fleeing the political, economic and social crisis in the oil nation are currently in Colombia, according to the immigration authority's latest census. Many of the Venezuelan migrants' children were born in Colombia, but until now they could not be registered as nationals because the rules only allowed the children of foreigners who legally resided in the country to apply for that status.