São Paulo – Refugee protection laws in Latin America are the best in the world, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees António Guterres has said this Tuesday (2nd) at a press conference in Brasília. Up until next Wednesday (3rd), the Brazilian federal capital is hosting a ministerial meeting known as Cartagena+30, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees.
The Declaration was the outcome of a meeting held in 1984 in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, where government officials and legal specialists discussed the problems of people with refugee status. The actions they outlined have been used as guidelines in implementing refugee response programs in the Americas.
The meeting in Brasília wraps up the discussions and celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Cartagena Declaration, which began in February, and will lead to a new declaration and action plan for the next ten year. The goal is to strengthen protection mechanisms for refugees, the homeless and the stateless – the latter meaning people with no nationality.
According to information from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the action plan should address the issue of stateless people in the region, in line with the UNHCR’s global campaign for ending statelessness in the world by 2024. Latin America and the Caribbean should be the first regions to make a commitment in this regard.
Brazil is considered a growing destination for refugees in the world. According to the chairman of the National Committee for Refugees (Conare), Paulo Abrão, asylum requests to Brazil have soared from 566 in 2010 to 8,302 from January to October 2014. She believes this is due to the subjective preferences of asylum seekers.
“Brazil has a strong image of being able to offer protection and of observing human rights,” said Abrão. According to him, refugees believe Brazil has strong institutions that can protect their lives. The Conare chairman also said the typical refugee demographic in Brazil is changing from Latin Americans to transcontinental, from regions such as Africa and Asia.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
