© Photo by Paolo Costa Baldi. License: GFDL/CC-BY-SA 3.0
In December 2020, MIEUX+ launched a new Action in Brazil in the area of international protection and asylum policy with the Federal Public Defenders’ Office. It is not the first time that the institutions cooperates with MIEUX. In 2019, the Brazil II Action focused on children in migration whilst the newly launched Action builds on the aims to contribute to better protection and juridical support to a broader spectrum of migrants and asylum seekers in Brazil. In the context of this Action, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between ICMPD and the DPU.
How to contribute to better protection and support to migrants in Brazil?
More than 800,000 registered migrants and several hundred thousand unregistered ones live in Brazil, which makes it the country with largest foreign-born population in South America. The COVID-19 outbreak brought additional challenges to public authorities supporting migrants, including in the context of ‘Operação Acolhida’, a multi-agency government project to welcome, document and resettle Venezuelan migrants.
Brazil III brings the EU and other regional expertise to provide capacity building to the Brazilian Public Defenders as well as a network of civil society organisations to better assist migrants and asylum seekers with legal proceedings. Moreover, an interesting aspect of the Action lays on the awareness on the Brazilian asylum procedure among the migrant population that will be raised through two informative videos.
Memorandum of Understanding between ICMPD and the DPU
In the context of Brazil III, a MoU was signed between both partners to strengthen the cooperation and mark the continuous and collective efforts already made and proved fruitful with previous Action. This collaboration contributes to the overall objective as well as priorities of MIEUX+ to a safe, orderly and regular migration.
Next steps of the Action
Brazil III started in December 2020 and will continue throughout 2021. As part of the outcomes, a training curriculum on international protection and asylum will be developed as well as manuals and training materials on specific topics relevant to the Brazilian migration context (e.g. interview techniques, country of origin information, legal defence techniques, international protection standards…).
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the manner in which many officials and public officials approach learning, and the DPU officers are now mostly trained online instead of in-person. As most of the outcomes have an educational dimension, the materials produced by the experts will be adjusted to an online format and available in the existing e-learning platform, managed by the National School of the DPU (ENADPU).
The next activity of the Action will take place in early 2021: a regional seminar on protection of migrants’ and asylum seekers’ rights in Latin America, with the participation of other Public Defenders’ Offices in the region.
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