By Vakkas Dogantekin
ANKARA (AA) - Colombian President Ivan Duque announced Monday his country granted citizenship to more than 24,000 children born to Venezuelan parents who fled to Colombia since 2015 and would continue the policy for two more years.
More than 4 million people in Venezuela have crossed its borders to neighboring countries since the oil-dependent economy took a devastating hit with the decline of oil prices in recent years.
Duque said ''xenophobia'' is not the right way for a country and ''in defense of brotherhood, we will attend to this situation'' referring to undocumented babies born on Colombian soil.
“We meet those children who deserve the attention and affection of an entire people because they are not responsible for that tragedy,” he told UN officials and representatives of nongovernmental organizations at the presidential palace. “We proudly tell you that they are Colombians.”
Colombian citizenship by birth law requires that at least one parent to have legal residence.
Duque’s presidential decree is expected to loosen a policy in Colombia which currently hosts approximately 1.5 million Venezuelans, a figure that leads other South American nations, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
Venezuela's economy has been in precipitous decline following a global downturn in the price of crude oil, the country's main export. Political unrest since Jan. 10, and threats by the U.S. also risk the country's financial stability.