According to a survey by the International Migration Organization, a branch of the United Nations Organization (UNO), no fewer than 258 million persons are in a process of dislocation throughout the world. The number, equivalent to 3.4% of the world’s population, gave rise to the creation of the Global Migration Pact, an agreement signed by 160 signatories in December of last year, in a ceremony that took place in Marrakesh, Morocco.
However, the recently sworn in president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has communicated to the UN that the country is leaving the Pact.
When not signing the document, whose objective is to coordinate the migratory flux, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ernesto Araujo, stated that Brazil would lose its sovereignty to deal with the theme. Brazil followed the line of other countries that also refused to sign the agreement, such as the United States, Italy, Australia, Israel, and some Central European nations, going against the former chancellor, Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, who appealed to his successor to maintain Brazil in the Global Migration Pact, which reinforces international cooperation for safe, orderly, and regular migrations, according to the UN.
“Immigration shouldn’t be dealt with as a global issue, but according to the reality and sovereignty of each country”, stated Bolsonaro’s minister on Twitter, following the line of the president, who, on a live transmission on Facebook, affirmed he wasn’t “against immigrants. But, that to enter Brazil, a very strict criterion was needed. Otherwise, as far as it depends on me while head of State, they will not enter”.
The repercussions
Although there is no sanction foreseen for countries that refuse to sign the Pact, according to John Millman, the spokesman for the International Migration Organization, Brazil’s non-participation was a negative surprise for the Organization. “This is a situation for cooperation. It’s always regrettable when a State dissociates itself from a multilateral process, especially a country that respects national specificities”, said the UN’s representative. The issue was also discussed by Camila Asano, coordinator of the Conectas Program, a non-governmental organization. According to Asano, Brazilian immigrants may suffer reprisals abroad.
“Nowadays, there are many more Brazilians living abroad than there are migrants here in Brazil. They are compatriots that often face difficulties, whether in Europe, the USA, Japan or other parts of the world. The Global Migration Pact consolidates and reinforces people’s rights, including the more than three million Brazilians who live abroad, protecting them from being discriminated against for being migrants”, declared the representative of Conectas. Her opinion is shared by Paul Nesse, of the Norwegian Refugee Council, who refuted the argument used by the Brazilian government.
“The pact foresees enough space for each government to have its own policy. There is nothing to indicate that sovereignty would be abandoned or lost. The exit from the Pact weakens the political moment and undermines international efforts to have a more organized migration. We have seen, in South America, with the crisis in Venezuela, how necessary such a measure is”, stated the Norwegian.
Understand the Migration Pact according to its objectives
- Minimize the adverse factors and structural factors that force people to leave their native country;
- Provide precise and opportune information in every stage of migration;
- Ensure that every migrant has legal proof of identity and adequate documentation;
- Increase the availability and flexibility of ways for regular migration;
- Facilitate ethical and fair recruiting, and safeguard conditions that guarantee a decent job;
- Approach and reduce vulnerabilities in the migration;
- Save lives and establish coordinated international efforts for missing migrants;
- Reinforce the transnational response to the smuggling of migrants;
- Prevent, combat, and eradicate the traffic of people in the international context of migration;
- Manage frontiers in an integrated, safe and coordinated way;
- Reinforce the certainty and predictability in migration procedures for triage, evaluation and routing;
- Use the detention of migration only as a last resort, and seek alternatives;
- Reinforce Consular protection, assistance, and cooperation in the whole cycle of migration;
- Offer migrants access to basic services;
- Capacitate migrants and societies for full social inclusion and cohesion;
- Eliminate all forms of discrimination, and promote public discourse based on evidence to mold the perception of migration;
- Invest in the development of competencies, and facilitate the mutual recognition of competencies and qualifications;
- Create conditions for migrants and diasporas to contribute fully to sustainable development in every country;
- Promote faster, safer, and cheaper remittances, and promote financial inclusion of migrants;
- Cooperate to facilitate safe and dignified return and readmission, as well as sustainable reintegration;
- Establish mechanisms for the portability of social security and benefits;
- Strengthen international cooperation and global partnerships to ensure safe, orderly and regular migrations.
