LIMA – The Fifth Criminal Court of Lima will judge next week a habeas corpus appeal filed by the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDH) to allow Venezuelans without passports to enter Peru, the local press reported on Saturday.

Judge Celia San Martin, chief justice of the Fifth Criminal Court, accepted the case of habeas corpus filed early this week by the CNDH, an umbrella group for a number of civilian organizations dedicated to protecting fundamental human rights, the state news agency Andina said.

The appeal could eventually lead to a court ruling that revokes the decision by the Interior Ministry and the National Superintendency of Migrations that since last Aug. 25 has required Venezuelans to carry valid passports, the news service said.

According to the CNDH appeal, the requirement that Venezuelans carry passports “principally violates the right to cross borders, the right to seek asylum, the right to equality and to not be discriminated against, and the rights of children and adolescents.”

It added that these restrictive measures “ignore the fact that Venezuelans find themselves in a situation in which they are unable to obtain passports and overlook the complex humanitarian crisis Venezuela is going through due to the lack of food and medicines and the grave violation of human rights.”

Peru, with some 430,000, has the second-most Venezuelan migrants after Colombia, which has almost a million, migration authorities in of both countries said in Lima last week.

However, the Peruvian government has reduced the time allowed to benefit from the Temporary Visit Permit, which was only available to Venezuelans who entered the country up to last Oct. 31, and since Aug. 31, entry has only been allowed with a valid passport.

Measures adopted by Peru haven’t stopped the Venezuelan migration, but a group of 400 citizens in Venezuela has asked its embassy in Lima to include the migrants in a plan for their return launched by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, after slamming a xenophobic campaign in the Andean nation.

In a message to the Peruvian people, Catholic bishops said that migration should be seen as an opportunity to “mutually enrich ourselves by generously sharing all kinds of spiritual and material goods.”