[Film screening] Hidden life: Testimonies of Venezuelans in Aruba and Curaçao

Please join us for a free screening of the film Hidden Life (2025) by Martin Maat and Hans Hermans, followed by a panel talk and networking event. This event is co-organised with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and will take place at the Asser Institute on Sunday 21 September. 

Hidden Life is the story of the estimated 23,000 Venezuelans on Aruba and Curaçao, who fled due to the crisis in their home country. Although both Caribbean islands are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they do not have a formal asylum procedure – unlike the Netherlands itself.

Curaçao has not signed the UN Refugee Convention, and UNHCR is not aware of any Venezuelans who have been granted refugee status on the islands. This means that refugees there end up in a legal vacuum, without access to legal employment or healthcare.

What impact does it have on your life if you cannot claim asylum as a refugee?

In this documentary, nine Venezuelan refugees from all walks of life speak openly for the first time about their lives in the shadows, in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

From a deserted soldier to a bricklayer, and from a catering entrepreneur to an education specialist, they talk about their dangerous journey across the sea, their time in the detention centre on Curaçao, the lack of access to medical care, exploitation by employers, and the constant fear of deportation to Venezuela. All the main characters have one thing in common: they have not seen their families in Venezuela for years.

Hidden Life premiered in March 2025 at the Movies that Matter Festival in The Hague.

The panel

Following the screening, there will be a discussion with a diverse panel featuring:

• Jean-Nicolas Beuze (UNHCR representative for the EU, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands)
• Prof Dr Ernst Hirsch Ballin, professor emeritus of human rights law (University of Amsterdam) and constitutional law (Tilburg University); former president of the executive board of the Asser Institute
• Hans Hermans, co-producer and co-director of Hidden Life, ICU documentaries
• Dr Narin Idriz, senior researcher at the Asser Institute
  

This event will be moderated by journalist and programme maker Nadia Moussaid.

They will discuss the film and the broader context, and you are invited to take part in the conversation during the Q&A session and the networking reception.

Programme

• 14.00: Walk in and registration (with coffee and tea)
• 15.00: Welcome and introduction 
• 15.05 Screening Hidden Life
• 16.15-16.45: Panel discussion
• 16.45-17.00: Q&A with the audience
• 17.00-18.00: Networking reception