UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, together with the Colombian authorities, is opening today a reception centre to offer support to vulnerable refugees and migrants from Venezuela in the border city of Maicao, in La Guajira region. The Integrated Assistance Centre, set up at the request of national and local authorities, has an initial capacity of 350, but has the possibility to grow to accommodate more people in the future. Vulnerable persons from Venezuela will have temporary access to shelter, food, water, basic medical care, and other services in the centre.

The reception centre, the first of its kind in Colombia, aims at temporarily addressing the urgent humanitarian and protection needs of the most vulnerable people fleeing from Venezuela, as well as supporting the response of the local authorities.