São Paulo – A human rights festival targeting immigrants will begin this Monday (8th) in São Paulo. From Monday to Friday (12th), they will be able to apply for government social programs at government facility Centro de Referência e Acolhida para Imigrantes, in the Bela Vista district. The “2nd Human Rights Festival – Citizenship on the Streets “ will also include a day of cultural activities for the immigrants.
According to Camila Baraldi, joint coordinator of the Municipal Secretariat for Human Rights and Citizenship’s Immigrant Policies Department, the registration available during the festival enables access to Brazilian government social programs. To enrol on the unified register during the festival, applicants are required to have a maximum per capita family income of half a minimum wage. Each of the programs has additional requirements of their own.
Available programs include the conditional cash transfer program Bolsa Família, the power bill discount program Tarifa Social de Energia Elétrica, Minha Casa Minha Vida, for housing, and others. As a case in point, in the power bill program, which gives discounts on the electricity bill, applicants must earn half a minimum wage at most or be enrolled on Benefício de Prestação Continuada da Assistência Social, a social assistance program for the elderly and disabled.
Immigrants – refugees or otherwise – must have an individual taxpayer register number (CPF) to get a unified register number. According to Baraldi, apart from the festival, they can go to a social assistance centre; the object in holding the festival is to raise awareness of the register’s existence. She explains that some of the benefits can be important to immigrants in vulnerable condition. According to Baraldi, by August this year, approximately 3,000 immigrants had obtained unified register numbers in São Paulo.
The cultural activities are taking place on Saturday, December 13th, from 9:30 am to 8:00 pm. Debates, workshops, films, music and dance performances will happen throughout the day, and footage of interventions made by immigrants will be shown. There will be a performance by dance group Kantuta Bolívia, a debate featuring the municipal secretary for Human Rights and Citizenship, Rogério Sottili, a workshop on African musical instruments, Chinese dance performances and other activities at Centro Cultural Boliviano (the Bolivian Culture Centre), in the Mooca district.
The festival will run from Monday to Sunday (14th) and activities will be held at several points around São Paulo. The event celebrates the International Human Rights Day, December 10th, featuring 30-plus activities, such as debates, film screenings, tours, performances and award ceremonies. The schedule also includes the inauguration of the Monument in Honour of the Dead and Missing Political Prisoners, the delivery of the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Municipal Award for Education in Human Rights and Human Rights Prize, and concerts by Angela Ro Ro, Dream Team do Passinho, Gaby Amarantos, Karina Buhr, Lirinha, Luiz Melodia, Otto and Pepeu Gomes.
Information:
2nd Human Rights Festival Citizenship on the Streets
December 8th to 14th, 2014
At different venues throughout São Paulo
Schedule: http://www.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/cidade/secretarias/direitos_humanos/noticias/index.php?p=186141 (in Portuguese)
Cultural activity – Immigrants in São Paulo
December 13th, 2014
From 9:30 am to 8:00 pm
Centro Cultural Boliviano
Rua Coimbra, 109, Mooca – São Paulo – São Paulo
Unified Register for Immigrants
December 8th to 12th, 2014
From 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Centro de Referência e Acolhida para Imigrantes
Rua Japurá, 234 – Bela Vista – São Paulo – São Paulo
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
