More than 1 million people left Ukraine during the first week of the war triggered by the Russian invasion. And none of them arrived in São Paulo until Thursday (3), according to the Municipal Secretariat for Human Rights and Citizenship.
Secretary Claudia Carletto told the sheet that the capital of São Paulo is looking for translators and interpreters for Ukrainian and Russian for the eventual arrival of immigrants.
“More important than having expectations is being prepared in case this happens. We have the experience of the intense migratory flow of Venezuelans to Brazil. We have this experience of migration in cases of major humanitarian crises,” he said.
Carletto says that the secretariat is in constant contact with the Ukrainian community in São Paulo and hopes to find translators and interpreters. The folder also prepares an informative poster in both languages to present those who seek Brazil as a refuge.
In 2020, the city of São Paulo had more than 290,000 immigrants. The Ukrainian community in the municipality has about 10,000 people among immigrants and descendants.
The reception of migrants in the city is done in a joint work of secretariats, including the Health and Social Assistance portfolios, as well as Human Rights, through Crai (Reference and Assistance Center for Immigrants).
There are 545 special reception places in São Paulo for the migrant population. They are places where families live for a determined period of time until they can settle permanently in the city on their own.
“They are halfway houses where these people are oriented on what they need to live in the city. [como documentos] and about the services to which they are entitled”, says Carletto.
Any immigrant in the capital has the right to be vaccinated and to enroll children in municipal schools even without having their situation regularized.
“Migrants and refugees have access to all services. It’s a city policy. In the pandemic, for example, we were afraid that the migrant population that could not get regularized for reasons related to the Federal Police would not get vaccinated, so we produced informative materials and we announced that they could be vaccinated regardless of their legal status”, says the secretary.
São Paulo also offers immigrants and refugees a free Portuguese course after school hours, at night, in the municipal school system.
For Carletto, in addition to helping newcomers to become familiar with the language, there is a gain in building relationships between immigrants of the same or different nationality.
