Family Reunification of Refugees in Brazil: Why does it Matter?
Many people fleeing armed conflicts, severe human rights violations, and persecutions are separated from their families. Once they are recognized as refugees, they can apply to bring their family members to the countries where they have been granted asylum. This process is called family reunification. Family migration (including family reunification and family formation) is receiving more attention from media and decision-makers since it represents a significant influx of documented migration. While many countries like the European Union have recognized an explicit right to family reunification for immigrants, many migrants and refugees face challenges to bring their loved ones.
Most studies on the family reunification of refugees consider refugees in developed countries like the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and European countries. However, 84 per cent of the refugee population are in developing countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees[pdf]. New armed conflicts and situations depriving people of human rights have forcibly displaced 70.8 million people, including 25.9 refugees, according to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) [pdf]. That is more people separated from their families in need of family reunification.
In Latin America, the situation of Venezuela has displaced millions of people. It will likely surpass Syria as the largest displacement crisis this year. Countries in the region have been providing answers to migrants arriving in their territory. Among them, we can analyse the situation in Brazil, the biggest country in South America, and the 8th largest economy in the world. According to the UNHCR, in 2018, Brazil was the sixth largest recipient of asylum claims [pdf], more than 50 per cent coming from Venezuela.
Brazil is a compelling case to discuss this topic of family reunification because of a paradox. In essence, on one hand, the country has well-established asylum legislation recognizing refugees’ right to family reunification and on the other hand refugees face challenges to achieve family reunification in Brazil. Brazil has a developed asylum law that created the National Committee for Refugees (CONARE), a tripartite committee formed by members of the Brazilian government and civil society organizations together with UNHCR (that has no vote). Brazil was the first country in the region to adopt an expanded definition of asylum, granting protection to people fleeing situations of severe human rights violations. Based on this clause, the country has recently recognized more than 20,000 Venezuelans as refugees.
On the topic of family reunification, Brazil has a facilitated visa procedure for refugee families with no need for pre-departure integration tests nor DNA tests. Brazil adopts an expanded definition of family that includes ascendants, descendants, and other relatives that are economically dependent on the refugee. Besides that, in 2017, Brazil approved a New Migration Law (Law 13.445/2017) that grants the right of family reunification to all permanent migrants in Brazil (including refugees). It also recognizes family reunification as a principle in the Brazilian Migration Policy.
If one looks only at Brazilian law on family reunification, she may conclude that the family reunification policy for refugees is an example of best practice that should be followed by other countries. However, my research with refugees in Brazil, experts, and diplomatic correspondence from the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs and its consular authorities abroad shows that, especially after 2016, refugees have been facing problems in their family reunification procedures. The first problem was more stringent requirements on proving economic dependency, including written receipts that refugees had sent money abroad. Many refugees send money in the name of friends to protect their families that may be at risk. Moreover, they usually did not keep the receipts. After 2017, Brazilian consular authorities started conducting interviews with the family members abroad, asking questions about the eligibility process of refugees in Brazil and having access to those confidential processes. After that, family reunification visas started being denied by Brazilian embassies. The problem is that refugees do not receive information on why their family reunification cases were denied. The Brazilian family reunification procedure has no clear deadlines and no possibility to appeal or ask for revisions.
In another attempt to restrain the family reunification rights of refugees in Brazil, at the end of October 2018, CONARE has approved a new Resolution (Resolution number 27/2018) that changes the family reunification visa procedure. It grants more power to Brazilian diplomats abroad that are not well trained on asylum and humanitarian topics, and it narrows the Brazil definition of family. However, if we compare the Brazilian family reunification procedure with other family reunification policies in developed countries, Brazil’s system seems better. This perception prevents the discussion of grave family reunification problems that refugees face in Brazil. If we consider the forced displacement trends in the world, it will be necessary to study in detail different family reunification experiences (like the one in Brazil) to learn from them and to advocate fairer family reunification policies in developed and developing countries. That is why not only the Brazilian case matters, but all the other cases that are not well studied and discussed internationally.
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