The theme of migration has become more and more notorious by the day all around the world due to the massive increase in the flow of people between countries in recent years.
The “migrant crisis” we are currently facing is, above all, humanitarian and is considered the biggest since the Second World War.
2 weeks ago (as of 29/03/19 – the anniversary was on the 15th March) we reached the eighth year of the Syrian conflict and recently, the Venezuelan crisis has provoked the exodus of many Venezuelans, which puts Brazil on the front line.
Venezuelan refugees and migrants. Source: UNHCR.
However, whilst there’s a lot of talk about this “migrant crisis”, a clear understanding of the causes and consequences of these movements, and if it is in fact a crisis, is rare.
The debate on what it means to be in a situation of asylum does not go deep enough.
Here at Compassiva, half of our work is dedicated to refugees, most of whom are Syrian. But what exactly is it that makes a person a refugee?
A refugee is someone who finds themselves outside their country of origin due to war, violence, conflict or persecution.
They are normal people who had to leave their property, jobs, relatives and friends behind in order to preserve their freedom, their safety and their lives.
In Portuguese, there are two verbs meaning ‘to be’. One refers to permanent or legal states, whilst the other refers to temporary states. Generally, then, the first is used to refer to refugees given the fact that to be a refugee is a legal status. However, in our Portuguese course, when we learn the conjugation of these verbs, some students insist on using the second option. The effect is that they essentially say ‘I am currently a refugee’ as opposed to ‘I am a refugee’. In other words, these people find themselves in a situation which does not define them, but is part of their story; they are people in a situation of refuge, or asylum.
Volunteers and students at a graduation from Compassiva’s Portuguese course.
It is also very important to define some other groups who are part of these migratory trends, but aren’t refugees.
Asylum seekers are people who have requested that the authorities of the receiving country recognise them as refugees, but who have not yet had their requests definitively analysed.
Internally displaced people (IDPs) are people who, unlike refugees, have not crossed an international border. They are people who are displaced within their own country for the same reasons as a refugee.
A stateless person is someone who is not a citizen of any country; they do not have a nationality. Without belonging to a State, they may not be able to access basic services which come with citizenship. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that every person has the right to a nationality. According to UNHCR, ‘statelessness may occur for a variety of reasons, including discrimination against particular ethnic or religious groups or on the basis of gender; the emergence of new States and transfers between existing States; and conflict of nationality laws.’ Some stateless people are also refugees. For example, the Rohingya refugees, who are fleeing Myanmar because of violence, are also stateless.
Stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Source: Reuters, Mohammad Ponir Hossain.
Migrants are perhaps the group which gets most confused with refugees. According to the International Organisation for Migration, a migrant of any person who moves, whether or not they cross an international border.
The difference between immigrants and migrants is subtle: immigrants have crossed a national boundary and arrived in the destination country.
So, technically, refugees are a category of migrants. However, in practice, the word ‘migrant’ refers to a person who moves voluntarily. Indeed, UNHCR always distinguishes between refugees and migrants because the term ‘migration’ generally implies a voluntary process where the migrant can return to their country of origin if they so desire, whilst refugees do not have this choice and cannot return to their country of origin safely. Refugees cannot be described as economic migrants (people who move for economic reasons), for example.
Nonetheless, even where the cause of migration is economic, there are debates over what constitutes a choice, or totally voluntary migration. Not all migrants move for the same reasons or with the same needs.
Many people migrate for work, studies or family reunion. Others migrate due to extreme poverty, seeking opportunities to improve their life, but these people are not considered refugees even if they don’t have the same choice as another migrant coming from a rich country.
For example, Americans (the fifth most common nationality to move to São Paulo between 2001 and 2017) are not in the same situation as Haitians (the third most common nationality to move to São Paulo between 2001 and 2017). Haiti has faced a number of major challenges, including an earthquake in 2010 from which it still hasn’t recovered, aside from other natural disasters and a political and economic crisis. Even so, the two nationalities are categorised as migrants or immigrants.
Whilst there are other organisations serving migrants in situations of vulnerability (including Haitians), at Compassiva, through our LAR project (HOME – Taking Help to the Refugee), we seek to specifically serve refugees (mostly Syrians, but also others), supporting them as they establish themselves in Brazil and try to build a new home.
May Brazil be a country refugees can call home.
Join us and be an agent of welcome for refugees on Brazilian soil, donating here.
