{"id":4563,"date":"2015-02-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.conectas.org.inf.br\/wp\/noticias\/a-thing-of-the-past\/"},"modified":"2018-01-19T21:48:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-19T21:48:08","slug":"a-thing-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/a-thing-of-the-past\/","title":"A thing of the past","content":"

Brazil needs a new legal framework to address immigration and combat exploitation and the stigma suffered by people who come to live in the country. This is the unanimous conclusion that set the tone for the fourth edition of the Conectas Culture Dialogues.<\/p>\n

Under the topic \u201cWhat\u2019s it like to be an immigrant in Brazil?\u201d, the meeting brought together more than 120 people in the auditorium of the Livraria Cultura bookstore, in S\u00e3o Paulo. Nearly 70 online participants also accompanied the event via Est\u00fadio Fluxo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be underestimating Brazil to claim that it has done everything it can,\u201d said Andr\u00e9s Ramirez, representative of the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency). He went on to say that \u201cthe immigration law is outdated\u201d and \u201cshould be based on human rights instead of national security\u201d.<\/p>\n

Created during the military dictatorship, the Foreigner Act was the main target of the speakers. \u201cThe law from 1980 still regulates the flow of people coming to Brazil based on the idea that every immigrant represents a potential security threat to the country,\u201d said Camila Asano, coordinator of Foreign Policy at Conectas, who opened the debate before passing the microphone to the presenter Caz\u00e9 Pecini.<\/p>\n

The obstacles raised by this law make it difficult for immigrants to integrate into society,\u201d explained Veronica Yujra, of the Si Yo Puedo <\/em>(Yes, I Can) project, which provides guidance for young people from other countries, particularly Bolivia. \u201cThey feel like intruders, despite the fact that they contribute by paying consumption taxes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Yujra\u2019s arguments were reinforced by Leonardo Sakamoto, of the NGO Rep\u00f3rter Brasil. According to Sakamoto, an expert on combatting slave labor, \u201cimmigrants support the economic system that we enjoy and they do not\u201d. \u201cThere are some jobs that Brazilians don\u2019t want and immigrants fill this demand for precarious work. This is primarily an economic issue. We need to review the process of exploitation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For Deisy Ventura, a professor at the International Relations Institute of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), the solution requires a profound political and legislative reform that guarantees coordination between the different spheres and bodies of the public administration and brings an end to the \u2018stain of national security\u2019. As an alternative, she mentioned the draft bill presented in August last year to the Minister of Justice \u2013 prepared based on the analysis of a group of experts in which she herself took part.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe law is just the beginning and we don\u2019t even have that yet. There is a long way to go,\u201d she said. According to Ventura, reality illustrates that the restrictive policies are not limited to the flow of people, but they also fuel the prejudice against this portion of the population \u2013 \u201cthe myth of the invading hordes\u201d, for example.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe act of moving to another place reveals the best of the human condition. Migration is entrepreneurship for life.\u201d<\/p>\n