Conectas questions government on immigration measures for Haitians

São Paulo / Port-au-Prince –  Conectas is concerned with the new immigration policy for thousands of Haitians who are seeking refuge in Brazil. The organization sent a letter to the Brazilian government requesting clarification on six points. 

“We are concerned about the rules for issuing ‘humanitarian visas’ and also with the situation of Haitians who are denied entry into Brazil. There are accounts of displaced families in border regions, confronted by the Federal Police, who have nowhere to go. This is not consistent with a policy that calls itself humanitarian,” said Juana Kweitel, director of Conectas.

“This is an extremely important question for us here in Haiti. We are working in conjunction with Conectas, in Brazil, and we are consulting the Brazilian Embassy to clarify the matter and learn how best to help these people,” said Urbens Wilbert Dieuveuil, director of Citizen Action for the Abolition of Torture, a Conectas partner NGO in Haiti.

The letter is addressed to the Ministries of Foreign Relations, Justice, Labor and Human Rights, and also to the Secretary-General of the Presidency.

The organization’s main points of concern include the criteria for issuing so-called humanitarian visas, how the information on the availability of these visas is being disseminated to Haitians at the Brazilian Embassy in Port-au-Prince, the guarantee of a thorough analysis of the formal requests for refugee status received by the Brazilian government and the participation of civil society in the adoption of measures in the field of immigration. 

Answers

To this date (28/02/2012) Conectas has received formal responses from the National Comittee for Refugees - CONARE and from the Ministry of Labor. Read the letters below (in Portuguese).