After months camping, Afghans leave São Paulo airport

After months, Afghans temporarily camped in corridors left this week Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo. At the peak of the migratory flow, in October last year, the airport housed about 300 refugees from Afghanistan in Terminal 2.

However, this does not mean that the problem has been fully solved. Activist Swany Zenobini reported that since last Friday (Feb. 3), these immigrants have been quickly transferred to public, religious or volunteer shelters that have been made available. But this scenario can change at any moment as they continue to arrive almost daily in São Paulo.

"We know there may be a moment when we can have a backlog of Afghans again at the airport because there are still 2,000 of them to arrive [in Brazil]. But for now, we have had many reasons to breathe a sigh of relief," she told Agência Brasil.

Last week, representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Public Safety (MJSP) were at the airport to check the flow of Afghan migrants. At that time, 30 refugees were still living in the corridors of Terminal 2.

"At the Ministry of Justice, we are committed to achieve a definitive solution for a humanitarian reception of the Afghan population that has arrived in our country. It is essential to strengthen refugee policies to meet the needs of this migratory flow, with a humanitarian eye to the needs of these people who arrive from a territory with serious and widespread violation of human rights," head of the National Committee for Refugees (Conare) Sheila de Carvalho said during her visit to the airport.

History

Brazil became the destination of Afghans when an inter-ministerial decree was published in September 2021, authorizing temporary visas and residence for humanitarian reasons.

With the Brazilian humanitarian visa in hand, Afghans began to disembark at São Paulo international airport in Guarulhos. According to the local Migration Law, they would have their rights assured to housing, work, legal assistance, education, and access to social programs and benefits. But this is not what happened. When they arrived in Brazil, they received only food provided by the municipality and, mainly, by volunteers, who visited them daily. Some of these immigrants managed to find places in shelters, but many had to sleep at the airport, a situation that had been occurring until last week.

According to the Ministry of Justice, Brazil issued 6,302 humanitarian visas to Afghans between September 1, 2021 and December 6, 2022. Of this total, 3,367 landed at Guarulhos Airport between January and October last year.