Universal Periodic Review / UN Human Rights Council Third Cycle - UPR BRAZIL
Human rights of migrants and refugees in Brazil: Incompatibility of existing immigration legislation with human rights and arbitrary practices in repatriation and impediment to entry Submitted by:
Conectas Human Rights Conectas Human Rights is a non-governmental, non-profit organization founded in October 2001 in São Paulo, Brazil. Its mission is to promote the realization of human rights and the rule of law, especially in the global South (Africa, Latin America and Asia). Since January 2006, Conectas has consultative status with the United Nations (UN) and, since May 2009, has observer status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. Contact: Camila Asano (
[email protected]), www.conectas.org, +5511 3884-7440, Avenida Paulista, 575, 19th floor - São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Missão Paz Missão Paz is a philanthropic institution supporting and welcoming immigrants and refugees since the 1930s. Their temporary housing structure - Casa do Migrante - has a capacity of attention of 110 people. At Missão Paz there are also documentation services; legal advice; social care; health and psychological assistance services; education, with Portuguese classes, intercultural lectures and orientation to training courses; mediation for work between companies and immigrants with subsequent visits in companies, prevention of slave labor, reception and protection of victims. It has the Center for Migration Studies (CEM) with a specialized library. It promotes awareness-raising campaigns and has a strong presence with political influence at the municipal, state and federal levels for the strengthening of migration policies based on human rights and the role of migrants. Contact: Letícia Carvalho (
[email protected]), +5511 3340-6956, www.missaonspaz.org, Rua do Glicério, 225 - São Paulo, SP, Brazil October 2016
Structure of the document Introduction I. Incompatibility between existing immigration legislation and human rights II. Arbitrations in preventing entry and repatriation of migrants and potential beneficiaries of refugee protection III. Table of evaluation of the implementation of the recommendations already received and suggestion of new recommendations
Introduction
1. Although the issue of migration has been relevant to Brazil for many decades, the issue of the rights of migrants and refugees was under-represented in the last Universal Periodic Reviews (UPRs) of Brazil in 2008 and 2012. In the last four years new migratory flows have been observed in Brazil, such as those of Haitians and Africans. In that period, there has also been a growth of 2,868% of the requests for refuge in the country. It is possible to affirm that the new migratory reality of Brazil caused that new violations of the human rights of migrants and refugees were added to the existing flaws in the way the Brazilian State manages the question. 2. According to the latest report of the Migration Observatory, published in 2015, between 2000 and 2014 Brazil has approximately 830 thousand regular immigrants registered in the Brazilian Federal Police, distributed with the following legal status: 320 thousand permanent, 485 thousand temporary, 14 thousand provisional, 10 thousand frontier, 3,5 thousand in another situation, in this case are refugees in the process to become permanent and only 3 in asylum. It is a predominantly male population, with men registering almost twice as much as women (193 men for every 100 women), a more marked imbalance between refugees (247) and temporary (218), and less among the border (113)1. These data are only for the regular immigrants in Brazil. 3. There is an absence of objective data that deal with the phenomenon of irregular migration in Brazil. The general data of migration in Brazil are obtained by the SINCRE of the Federal Police, but only a part is publicized and generally they are of those that are in regular situation. In 2008, the National Confederation of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB), in an interview with the BBC, estimated a figure of 600,000 irregular migrants in the country2. Considering that there are about 206 million3 inhabitants in Brazil, regular and irregular migrants would represent less than 1% of the country's total population. 4. In 2009, the Brazilian government granted amnesty to irregular migrants in a period of 6 months (Federal Law 11.961/2009). 40,000 irregular migrants, mostly from South American countries, were amnestied. If we compare it with the estimate of the CNBB, of 600 thousand in 2008, that is equivalent to 7% of the total. But we do not have the total number of orders placed versus that of orders that were successful. In addition to other obstacles, as the authority that 1
OBMIGRA, Relatório anual 2015: a inserção dos imigrantes no mercado de trabalho brasileiro. http://ftp.mtps.gov.br/obmigra/dados/relatorio- anual/relatorio_OBMIGRA_2015_final.pdf 2 http://www.bbc.com/portuguese/reporterbbc/story/2008/03/080320_imigracaobrasililegais.shtml 3 http://www.ibge.gov.br/apps/populacao/projecao/
granted the amnesty was the Federal Police and many migrants were afraid to go to such an institution and be deported, the fees required for regularization were high and also there were no translators4. Those who obtained the provisional visa were allowed to present the documentation to obtain the permanent visa, but they had to check other issues, such as the employment relationship and other documents, which made it difficult for them to obtain5 this visa. 5. Recently, at the opening of the United Nations Assembly, President Michel Temer incorrectly stated that there are 95,000 refugees in Brazil. This was a serious mistake, since 85,000 Haitian migrants who did not have refugee status in Brazil were counted among the refugees. According to the website of Brazil's own Ministry of Justice6, only 8,863 refugees lived in the country until April 2016, mostly from Syria, Angola, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite registering a 2,868% increase in the number of refugee applications in the last 5 years, it is important to note that the absolute number of almost 9,000 refugees in Brazil is extremely small considering the astonishing numbers of refugees in the World and the size of Brazil and its economy, which, even in recession, is still among the 10 largest in the world. To regulate the migration of Haitians to Brazil, the country has created the humanitarian visa, granted to Haitians as of January 12, 2012 by Normative Resolution No. 97 of the National Immigration Council (CNIG), due to the earthquake in that country in January 2010.
II. Incompatibility between existing immigration legislation and human rights
a) International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
6. Brazil has not yet ratified the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Since 2010, the text of the Convention has been paralyzed in the Chamber of Deputies, where it awaits parties with representation in the House to indicate the members that will compose the Special Commission that will be installed to proceed with the ratification process. The unjustified delay for this merely procedural step is a result of the lack of prioritization on the part of parliamentarians as well as the Federal Government, which has not worked to advance with ratification in the Legislative.
4
VARGEM, Alex; MALOMALO, Bas´Ilele. A imigração africana contemporânea para o Brasil: entre a violência e o desrespeito aos direitos humanos. In: MALOMALO, Bas´Ilele; BADI, Mbuyi Kabunda; FONSECA, Dagoberto José. Diáspora africana e a imigração da era da globalização: experiências de refúgio, estudo, trabalho. Curitiba: CRV, 2015, pp. 107-123. 5 Jornal Nosotros Imigrantes, Anistia aos Imigrantes: Sonho ou Pesadelo? Outubro/Novembro 2011. Disponível em 6 http://www.brasil.gov.br/cidadania-e-justica/2016/05/brasil-abriga-8-863-refugiados-de-79nacionalidades
RECOMMENDATIONS RECEIVED IN PAST CYCLES 7. Brazil received two (2) recommendations in 2012 (Recommendations 119.7 and 119.8 respectively from the Philippines and Chile) indicating that the country should ratify the Convention. It is evident that there was complete lack of implementation, since there was no progress in the ratification process by Brazil since its last passage through the UPR.
SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2017 8. To ratify without further delay the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which has been in the Chamber of Deputies since 2010.
b) Foreigner Act: outdated, discretionary, anachronistic and violating human rights legislation
9. The Foreigner Act (Federal Law 8.615 of 1980) is the current immigration legislation in force in Brazil and was adopted during the military dictatorship (1964-1985). It is an inadmissible remnant of the Brazilian authoritarian period that sees migration as a risk to the national security and to the Brazilian worker, facing the immigrant as a threat to society and to national security. According to Article 2 of Law 8.615, "in the application of this Law, national security, institutional organization, political, socio-economic and cultural interests of Brazil, as well as the defense of the national worker, shall be taken into account" . It is evident that, as experts say in the subject, "besides arbitrary, the law of the dictatorship is obsolete. Incompatible with the relationship of rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and with the international law of human rights7. " 10. It is possible to verify that the State's discretion as to the permanence of the migrant in national territory is absolute, through a highly bureaucratized process of regularization. It is, therefore, an anachronistic legal instrument and represents the negation of all international developments in the field. 11. The Foreigner Act is discriminatory insofar as it promotes selective migration when it determines in its Article 16, sole paragraph, that "immigration will primarily aim to provide skilled labor to the various sectors of the national economy, aiming at the National Development Policy in all aspects and, in particular, the increase of productivity, the assimilation of technology and the collection of resources for specific sectors. The Act also establishes a series of restrictions on the labor rights of migrants and, in parallel, establishes that the national worker8 must first be defended. It should be noted that, according to Advisory Opinion OC-18/03 of the International Court of Human Rights, a migrant worker in a regular or irregular situation, when
7
VENTURA, D. & ILLES, P., 2010. Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil http://www.diplomatique.org.br/artigo.php?id=744 8 According to Law 8.615 (Foreigner Act): Art. 98. Ao estrangeiro que se encontra no Brasil ao amparo de visto de turista, de trânsito ou temporário, de que trata o artigo 13, item IV [temporário na condição de estudante], bem como aos dependentes de titulares de quaisquer vistos temporários é vedado o exercício de atividade remunerada. Ao titular de visto temporário de que trata o artigo 13, item VI, é vedado o exercício de atividade remunerada por fonte brasileira.
assuming an employment relationship, acquires rights for being a worker, which must be guaranteed by the State in which he works. 12. In addition, the current legislation limits the rights of migrants as it grants some rights only to resident9 migrants, in which case an ambiguous situation is observed, since, by interpretation of the Act, "residents" would be only migrants in a regular situation, which clearly discriminates against certain rights of migrants in relation to nationals, contradicting once again the Federal Constitution, which enshrines the dignity of the human person and fundamental rights as being equal for all. 13. Another example of discrimination present in the Foreigner Act is the explicit denial of certain human rights to all migrants in Brazil, even to those who are in regular status. The current Brazilian immigration law prohibits migrants living in Brazil, among others, the rights to political participation, freedom of expression, assembly and association and full union participation. In accordance with Law 8.615 (Foreigner Act): "Art. 106. It is forbidden for the migrant: II - to own a journalistic company of any kind, and of companies of television and of broadcasting, partner or shareholder of society proprietor of those companies; VII - participate in the administration or representation of a trade union or professional association, as well as an entity that supervises the exercise of a regulated profession; Article 107. The foreigner admitted in the national territory cannot exercise political activity, nor interfere, directly or indirectly, in the public affairs of Brazil, being especially forbidden: I - to organize, create or maintain society or any entities of a political nature , even if they have only the propaganda or the diffusion, exclusively among compatriots, of ideas, programs or rules of action of political parties of the country of origin; III - organize parades, marches, acts and meetings of any nature, or participate in them, for the purposes referred to in items I and II of this article. " 14. Although Brazil is not applying detention and mass deportation, it should be noted that the Foreigner Act authorizes detention for the purpose of deportation10 (compulsory withdrawal of an irregular migrant) and expulsion (compulsory withdrawal of a migrant who committed a crime) and, for the latter, Brazil applies detention11 in some cases. Here is one more example of the unconstitutionality of the law, once the legal provision of the administrative prison was not endorsed by the Federal Constitution of 198812.
9
According to Law 8.615 (Foreigner Act): “Art. 95. O estrangeiro residente no Brasil goza de todos os direitos reconhecidos aos brasileiros, nos termos da Constituição e das leis”. 10 According to Law 8.615 (Foreigner Act): “Art. 57. Nos casos de entrada ou estada irregular de estrangeiro, se este não se retirar voluntariamente do território nacional no prazo fixado em Regulamento, será promovida sua deportação”. 11 According to Law 8.615 (Foreigner Act): “Art. 61. O estrangeiro, enquanto não se efetivar a deportação, poderá ser recolhido à prisão por ordem do Ministro da Justiça, pelo prazo de sessenta dias Art. 69. O Ministro da Justiça, a qualquer tempo, poderá determinar a prisão, por 90 (noventa) dias, do estrangeiro submetido a processo de expulsão e, para concluir o inquérito ou assegurar a execução da medida, prorrogá-la por igual prazo. Art. 69. O Ministro da Justiça, a qualquer tempo, poderá determinar a prisão, por 90 (noventa) dias, do estrangeiro submetido a processo de expulsão e, para concluir o inquérito ou assegurar a execução da medida, prorrogá-la por igual prazo.”. “Art. 69. O Ministro da Justiça, a qualquer tempo, poderá determinar a prisão, por 90 (noventa) dias, do estrangeiro submetido a processo de expulsão e, para concluir o inquérito ou assegurar a execução da medida, prorrogá-la por igual prazo”. 12 According to the Federal Constitution: “Art 5º, LXI “ninguém será preso senão em flagrante delito ou por ordem escrita e fundamentada de autoridade jurídica competente”.
15. The Foreigner Act makes it impossible to legalize the immigration of the individual who entered irregular or became irregular after the expiration of the visa13. "Because of their irregular status, migrants become more vulnerable to exploitation, especially in terms of their workforce, resulting in many employers taking advantage of their status and subjecting them to degrading or slavery14 ". 16. An additional serious shortcoming of the Foreigner Act is not to establish a national nonpolice immigration authority that is charged with enforcing migrant legislation and policy. In practice, it is the Brazilian Federal Police that is currently dealing with the main functions related to the control of entry and exit of migrants and their regularization. Unfortunately, in Brazil, migration is still a "police case". The concession of this competence is not given by Law 8.615, but by the Federal Constitution of 1988, as indicated in article 144. 17. In the absence of a well-defined migration policy and legislation that is incompatible with its Constitution adopted in the re-democratization, the Brazilian government has for many years been using legal "patches" in the treatment of migratory flows. With regard to the granting of visas, the Amnesty Law seeks to regularize the situation of irregular migrants. Another example of a "patch" are the Resolutions of the National Immigration Council (CNIG) granting permanency to irregular migrants for humanitarian reasons, as in the case of humanitarian visas granted to Haitians. In addition, there is a selective nature in legislation, based on the attraction of skilled labor, or even investors seeking to provide resources to the country with the aim of creating jobs for nationals. 18. Brazil urgently needs to reform its immigration legislation through the approval of a New Migration Law based on human rights and to repeal the current Foreigner Act. This legislation must be updated to incorporate positive practices that were being adopted by the Brazilian State through the "patches" mentioned in the previous paragraphs. At present, a bill is being advanced in the Chamber of Deputies to adopt a new immigration law (Bill 2516/2015) that alters the logic of national security from the perspective of human rights and which, in its September 2016 version, presents several developments for the rights of migrants. There are, in addition, important aspects that must be perfected in the project, such as the guarantee of due process of law in cases of repatriation, expulsion and deportation15.
RECOMMENDATIONS RECEIVED IN PAST CYCLES 19. The Brazilian government received 1 (one) recommendation in 2012 (Recommendation 119.170 from the Holy See) that it should continue to improve the living conditions of migrants and refugees in Brazil. The maintenance of the Foreigner Act and the insistence on leaving a police body in charge of the treatment of migrants prevent thousands of migrants from enjoying better living conditions in the country.
13
According to Law 8.615 (Foreigner Act): “Art. 38. É vedada a legalização da estada de clandestino e de irregular, e a transformação em permanente, dos vistos de trânsito, de turista, temporário (artigo 13, itens I a IV e VI) e de cortesia”. 14 GOMES, Juliana Marques e., Imigrantes indocumentados no Brasil: uma análise sob o enfoque do Direito do Trabalho. Monografia – Faculdade de Direito, Universidade de Brasília. Brasília, 2013. 15 http://www.conectas.org/en/actions/foreign-policy/news/45768-lower-house-special-commissionapproves-new-immigration-law
SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2017 20. To adapt its immigration legislation to international human rights standards by repealing the Foreigners Act (Federal Law 8.615) and to promote the expeditious approval by the National Congress of a new migration law based on a human rights perspective and that treats the principles of (a) non-discrimination regardless of immigration status; (B) noncriminalization of migration, including the principle of non-detention of the migrant for reasons related to their migratory situation; (C) establishment of effective and accessible procedures for the regularization of migration as an obligation of the State and a right of the migrant; And (d) the right of access to justice and due process of law. 21. To create an autonomous national institution, with a permanent and specialized professional body and mechanisms of supervision and social control, responsible for the implementation of new immigration legislation that is in line with the international obligations assumed by Brazil in the field of human rights. 22. Promote the establishment of rapid, effective and accessible immigration regularization procedures as a State obligation and a migrant's right, with judicial control and access of migrants to effective remedies on all decisions of the public power that may generate the violation of their rights. 23. Refrain from deporting and imprisoning migrants because of their immigration status as a result of respect for international human rights standards adopted by Brazil.
III. Arbitrations in preventing entry and repatriation of migrants and potential beneficiaries of refugee protection
a) "Connector Space" of Guarulhos International Airport
24. In recent years, the deprivation of liberty of many migrants and refugee applicants arriving in Brazil by the Guarulhos International Airport in the state of São Paulo has been impeded, either from entering the country, or to continue their trip in connecting flights that leave from the airport. They are maintained in a room known as "Connector Space" at Terminal 3 of the airport. 25. When arriving in Brazil via Guarulhos airport and passing through the immigration sector, some are kept arbitrarily and under precarious conditions for days or weeks. There have already been cases of migrants who remain until months living in the "hall of the inadmissible", which is how the Federal Police referred to the "Connector Space". There are stories of migrants who were kept in other spaces of the airport as in the areas of the boarding gates. It is clear that there are no criteria to maintain them, especially for the cases of people who have sought asylum in Brazil and even though they were kept for days in that space. There are allegations of asylum seekers who were in the process of being returned and did not wish to return for fear of retaliation in the country of origin. There are cases of migrants who are in need of international protection and who may be seeking asylum but are returned to the country of origin, which is
characterized as a violation of the principle of non-refoulement, Article 33 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which Brazil subscribes to. 26. In addition to depriving liberty to migrants who wanted to enter Brazil and were inadmissible, many migrants who had connections to other countries, whose connection site was the International Airport of Guarulhos, were warned by the airlines that brought them, when they arrived in Brazil, that they could not continue to the final destination due to having been classified with an inappropriate profile and, therefore, considered as passengers with a "risk profile". 27. The federal government, Brazilian judicial bodies and other institutions represented by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office - Federal Office of Citizens' Rights, Municipality of Guarulhos - Ministry of Development and Social Assistance, Ministry of Justice - National Secretariat of Justice, Ministry of Justice - National Committee for Refugees, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office of the Public Defender of the Union signed the Cooperation Agreement (Termo de Cooperação in Portuguese) on January 28 with the purpose of ending these violations by means of the presence of the so-called "Humanized Post" in the transit area, which should carry out the "initial assessment of the situation and interview the inadmissible migrants, with a view to rapidly identify eventual cases of asylum seekers, stateless persons and victims of human trafficking, as well as other persons in need of international16 protection". 28. However, even after the entry into force of the Cooperation Agreement, there are various accounts of migrants who arrived in Brazil and were taken to the “hall of the inadmissible” as well as to other spaces of the airport and who did not receive assistance from the Advanced Humanized Care Post to the Migrant. 29. To obtain data with the objective of creating a historical series (January 1, 2010 until May 1, 2016) of the migrants held in the Connector Space, the Law on Access to Public Information was used to request information on nationality, age, gender, race, length of stay in the Connector Space during the last years, final destination of the trip, if it had a connection to other countries, legal status, if the person received attention from the Humanized Post, if they requested asylum, among others. Until the conclusion of this document, the Brazilian Federal Police had denied the provision of such information. 30. The Federal Police deny that the Connector Space is their responsibility, but assume that even if it is not their responsibility, it has initiated the registrations starting in 2015, reaching the impressive number of 1,636 people held in the Connector Space during the year 2015, 494 of whom sought asylum, representing just over a third of the migrants held there.
RECOMMENDATIONS RECEIVED IN PAST CYCLES
31. The Brazilian government received one (1) recommendation in 2012 (Recommendation 119,170 from the Holy See) that it should continue to improve the living conditions of migrants and refugees in Brazil. The practice of deprivation of freedom of migrants at Guarulhos International Airport shows that the recommendation has not been implemented. 16
http://noticias.pgr.mpf.mp.br/noticias/noticias-do-site/copy_of_pdfs/convenio-conector-final.pdf
SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2017
32. Ensure due process of law for migrants held in spaces destined to retain and maintain migrants who have been inadmissible or impeded from continuing to travel at Brazilian airports, including notification to the Public Defender of the Union of all existing cases and a length of stay at the Connector Space of at most 24 hours. 33. Ensure that migrants who have been prevented from entering the country or continue to travel by connecting flights at Brazilian airports have adequate access to the information in the language they understand and receive adequate attention through compliance with the second clause of the Cooperation Agreement, at the Humanized Immigrant Care Center in Guarulhos for evaluation and interview of existing cases in the Connector Space and other areas where migrants are kept at the airport.
III. Table of evaluation of the implementation of the recommendations already received and suggestion of new recommendations
Recommendations of the First and Second Cycle of the UPR
119.7 Consider the possibility of becoming a State party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and to ratify the Convention in order to protect the human rights of migrant workers. 119.8 Consider ratifying the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
119.170 Continuing to improve the living conditions of migrants and refugees in Brazil
Country that made the recommen dation
Philippines (119.7)
Theme Position of Brazil
Evaluation of its implementation
Accepted
Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
Chile (119.8)
Accepted
Holy See
Accepted
Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
Since 2010, the text of the Convention has been paralyzed in the Chamber of Deputies, where it awaits parties with representation in the House to indicate to the members that will compose the Special Commission that will be installed to process the ratification process. The unjustified delay for this merely procedural step is a result of the lack of prioritization on the part of parliamentarians as well as the Federal Government, which has not worked to advance with ratification in the Legislative.
The Foreigner Act (Federal Law 8.615 of 1980) is the current immigration legislation in force in Brazil and was adopted during the military dictatorship (1964-1985). It is an inadmissible remnant of the Brazilian authoritarian period that starts from the budget that migrations represent a risk to national security and to the Brazilian worker,
Level of implementation
Not implemented by omission
Not implemented by omission
Suggestions for new recommendations for UPR’s Third Cycle in Brazil
To ratify without further delay the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, which has been in the Chamber of Deputies since 2010.
To adapt its immigration legislation to international human rights standards by repealing the Foreigner Act (Federal Law 8.615) and to promote the expeditious approval by the National Congress of a new migration law based on the human rights perspective and that treats the principles of (a) nondiscrimination regardless of
facing the immigrant as a threat to society and national security. Among several violations, the current Brazilian immigration law prohibits migrants living in Brazil, among others, the rights to political participation, freedom of expression, assembly and association and full union participation. At present, a bill is being advanced in the Chamber of Deputies to adopt a new immigration law (Bill 2516/2015) that alters the logic of national security from the perspective of human rights And which, in its September 2016 version, presents several developments for the rights of migrants. There are, in addition, important aspects that must be perfected in the project, such as the guarantee of due process of law in cases of repatriation, expulsion and deportation. There is also the insistence on leaving a police body to handle the treatment of migrants, preventing thousands of migrants from enjoying better living conditions in the country.
immigration status; (B) noncriminalization of migration, including the principle of non-detention of the migrant for reasons related to their migratory situation; (C) establishment of effective and accessible procedures for the regularization of migration as an obligation of the State and a right of the migrant; And (d) the right of access to justice and due process of law. To create an autonomous national institution, with a permanent and specialized professional body and mechanisms of supervision and social control, responsible for the implementation of new immigration legislation that is in line with the international obligations assumed by Brazil in the field of human rights. Promote the establishment of rapid, effective and accessible immigration regularization procedures as a State obligation and a migrant's right, with judicial control and access of migrants to effective remedies on all decisions of the public power that may generate the violation of their rights. Refrain from deporting and imprisoning migrants because of their immigration status as a result of respect for international human rights standards adopted by Brazil.
119.170 Continuing to improve the living conditions of migrants and refugees in Brazil
Holy See
Accepted
Migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
In recent years, the deprivation of liberty of many migrants and refugee applicants arriving in Brazil by the Guarulhos International Airport in the state of São Paulo has been impeded, either from entering the country, or from To continue trip in connection flights that leave there. They are maintained in a room known as "Connector Space" at Terminal 3 of the airport.
Ensure due process of law for migrants held in spaces destined to retain and maintain migrants who have been inadmissible or impeded from continuing to travel at Brazilian airports, including notification to the Public Defender of the Union of all existing cases and a length of stay of at most 24 hours.
Some are maintained arbitrarily and under precarious conditions for days or weeks. There have already been cases of migrants who remain until months living in the "Hall of the inadmissible", which is how the Federal Police referred to the "Connector Space". There are allegations of refugee claimants who were in the process of being returned and did not wish to return for fear of retaliation in the country of origin. There are cases of migrants who are in need of international protection and who may be seeking refuge but are returned to the country of origin, which is characterized as a violation of the principle of non-refoulement, Article 33 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, which Brazil subscribes to.
Ensure that migrants who have been prevented from entering the country or continue to travel by connecting flight at Brazilian airports have adequate access to the information in the language they understand and receive adequate attention through compliance with the second clause of the Cooperation Agreement, at the Humanized Immigrant Care Center in Guarulhos for evaluation and interview of existing cases in the Connector Space and other areas where migrants are kept at the airport.