Brazil returns to UN Global Migration Pact, announces Itamaraty

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The Itamaraty announced this Thursday (5) that Brazil will return to the UN Global Migration Pact, a non-binding agreement established at the end of 2018 but abandoned by the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) still in the early days of management. .

The measure, one of the first announced by the ministry now under the leadership of Mauro Vieira, was demanded by specialists in migration and by the congressional commission on migrants and refugees.

Although member countries of the pact are not obliged to comply with its recommendations, the space promotes debates on improving migration policies. Upon disbanding, Brazil ceased to officially participate in discussions on good practices for the area.

“The return of Brazil reinforces the Brazilian government’s commitment to promoting the rights of more than 4 million Brazilians living abroad,” said the Itamaraty in a statement, highlighting another aspect of the policy: attention to Brazilian citizens living in other countries.

At the time, the departure from Brazil was interpreted as yet another demonstration of alignment between the Brazilian chancellery, then led by Ernesto Araújo, and the government of Donald Trump, in the USA — the republican, a defender of anti-immigration speeches and policies, did not support the pact .

A year and a half later, with Joe Biden in the White House, and with the Itamaraty headed by Carlos França, chancellor with a less strident profile, Brazil signed, alongside the US and 18 other nations, the Los Angeles Declaration, the result of of the Summit of the Americas.

Viewed with skepticism and also non-binding, the text promises to work together to facilitate safe and orderly migration, as well as the promotion of the human rights of migrants and refugees.

Alongside the fight against the climate crisis, the theme is one of the main ones to be used by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to resume the Brazilian role in the international arena when it comes to human rights, says Carolina Claro, professor of international law, migration and refuge from the University of Brasilia (UnB).

She explains that, with the return to the pact, Brazilian diplomacy will have greater access to refugee settlement agreements with other countries, in addition to greater cooperation in the area of ​​refuge, whose size has grown in Brazil over the last decade, in particular due to the massive entry of citizens from Haiti and Venezuela.

“It is important, however, that Brazil take advantage of this moment of resumption of international projection and promote, once and for all, a State policy on migration and refuge”, he points out. “What we have so far are government policies.”

With the announcement by the Itamaraty, he adds, Brazil is still willing to cooperate more with the IOM (International Organization for Migration), the UN’s arm on the matter. The organization congratulated the government for the decision.

In a note, he said that Brazil’s return to the global commitment “represents an important step in the continuity of a welcoming policy that benefits 1.6 million migrants who chose the country to live.” The text also congratulates the Lula government, “chosen in participatory and peaceful elections.”

Described by refugee specialists as one of the areas of human rights “least scorched” during the Bolsonaro government, the migration and refuge sector was marked, in particular, by the continuity of the Acolhida Operation, aimed at Venezuelan migrants.

The Lula government inherits, in addition to the challenge of maintaining and improving the operation, an extensive queue of asylum requests that have not yet been analyzed and demands from civil society for greater attention and specific policies for migrants who come from African nations, such as Angola and Nigeria, in addition to greater reception for refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine.

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