GENEVA – Venezuelans fleeing political and economic crisis at home deserve protection as refugees, the United Nations said today, urging other states not to deport them. Some 3.7 million people have left Venezuela, including 3 million since 2015 as the economy has imploded causing widespread shortages and hunger, and anti-government street protests have brought waves of violence and deaths.

Venezuelans continue to leave at the rate of 3,000 to 5,000 a day, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said, giving updated guidance on how to handle the exodus.

“UNHCR … now considers that the majority of those fleeing the country are in need of international refugee protection,” agency spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a news briefing. “It is incredibly important given the situation in Venezuela that there aren’t deportations, expulsions or forced returns.”(Reuters)…[+]