More than 100 Afghans remain camped at Guarulhos Airport

Fleeing the power of Taliban radicals, dozens of Afghans continue to arrive daily at Guarulhos International Airport, in the São Paulo metropolitan region. Armed with a humanitarian visa, many of them enter Brazil and, without getting help for housing or work, end up setting up camp at the airport. More than 100 Afghans remain camped at Guarulhos Airport

Yesterday (25), when the report by Brazil Agency visited the airport again, a hundred of them continued to make Terminal 2 their home. According to the city of Guarulhos, until yesterday morning there were 116 Afghans living at the airport, awaiting reception.

Some of them have been at the airport for almost 20 days. But the movement there is always constant. There are those who stay for many weeks. There are those who arrived a few days ago. This is the case of a 27-year-old Afghan* woman who works with social media for a public agency and who came to Brazil with her husband. In the country for five days, she says she left her home country because, since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, she can no longer practice a profession. As a woman, she can no longer study either. “I hope to find a good place to live in Brazil. This airport is not a house, there are no beds, it’s troublesome [viver aqui]”, said.

There are also those who get a place to live. This is the case of a 26-year-old Afghan woman* who arrived in the country with her two sisters. They stayed at the airport for 14 days, until, with the help of volunteers who have been working at the airport since August of this year, she got a house to stay. “I’m home and happy,” she told the report. Now, she hopes that the country can open up other opportunities for her. “I hope that Brazil offers me opportunities to try to fulfill my dreams. My dream is to do my Masters and get my job,” she said.

humanitarian reasons

Brazil has become a destination for many Afghans since, in September last year, an interministerial decree was published authorizing temporary visas and residence permits for humanitarian reasons.

“Issuing visas for Afghan citizens began in September 2021, through an Interministerial Ordinance that authorized the temporary visa and residence permit for humanitarian reasons for Afghan nationals, stateless persons and people affected by the situation of violence in Afghanistan,” he explained. federal public defender Guillermo Rojas de Cerqueira César.

“According to UNHCR data [Alto-comissariado das Nações Unidas para os Refugiados], between the beginning of September of last year and the beginning of the same month of this year, 5,846 humanitarian visas were authorized by this ordinance. According to the Federal Police, 2,240 Afghan people were allowed to enter Brazil,” added the defender.

Upon arriving in Brazil, the Afghans receive food, water, clothing and vaccines that are distributed by the Guarulhos City Hall or by volunteers. But, under the Migration Law (Law No. 13,445/2017), these Afghans should also have their rights to housing, work, legal assistance, education and access to social programs and benefits guaranteed.

“This is the big bottleneck of the issue. Apparently, the government underestimated the arrival of these immigrants and did not offer an adequate internalization plan, leaving these citizens without any assistance. Currently, there is an emergency reception, but without an adequate public reception policy for these people”, explained the defender.

According to him, what Afghans most need right now is adequate shelter. “Immediately, [eles precisam de] adequate shelter, through reception centers with the necessary infrastructure to maintain the family bond, in addition to social assistance and psychological assistance. Subsequently, a plan for internalization that values individual capacities for insertion in the job market and social insertion in the community that receives them”, said the defender.

volunteers

“They need everything, they have nothing. They have a suitcase weighing 32 kilos, which is their whole life,” said volunteer Otília Christiane Silva Afonso, from Coletivo Frente Afgã.

“They come here as refugees. So, the need they have is for human protection, life, health, name and surname. They are here because they cannot stay in their country. We have reports of people who are trained in different courses and higher levels. They want to work, but they are not finding this opportunity here that was said to be given on arrival in Brazil. They are living in a refuge at the airport – a place of passage – and not in a place of welcome. This is very inhumane,” said Otília, one of the people who volunteered to help Afghans arriving at the airport.

Researcher and sociologist Mariana Gerbassi, 25, is also a member of the collective and has been working voluntarily to welcome Afghans. “They need a job to make ends meet. But without housing, they cannot find jobs. Without a job, they depend on public housing. And public housing has the problem of not meeting the reality of Afghan families,” she said.

“One of the issues we’ve been dealing with is that Afghans go to shelters and end up coming back. [ao aeroporto]. The thing about public shelters is that they separate men and women, they separate families. And for a person who doesn’t even speak English, let alone Portuguese, being alone and in a vulnerable situation and still separating families, this is not an option. So they would rather stay at the airport, albeit in an inferior situation, than be separated from their families. There is also a cultural issue that is specific to this Afghan community and that the shelters have not been able to address, such as their way of socializing. These are things that need a lot of attention”, Mariana said.

Since August, volunteers have been going to the airport daily. They are the ones who have charged the authorities, collected donations and offered food, clothing, baths, shelter and even medical care, a psychologist and Portuguese classes for Afghans arriving in the country.

“From the beginning, we brought the group together to assist these people. They arrived, they didn’t have the right meals and we were worried. From that moment on, we started gathering people, the groups started arriving and, today, the Afghans have three meals a day, have medical care and blankets,” said Otília. “The city hall [de Guarulhos] has helped with lunch and warm. But they only have breakfast and fruit thanks to civil society”, added Mariana.

growing demand

Since January, the Advanced Post for Humanized Assistance to Migrants, installed at the airport, had already served 1,138 Afghans. In October alone, 237 passed the post seeking help.

Because of this increase in demand, the city of Guarulhos opened a temporary residence for migrants and refugees, with a capacity to house 27 people. However, the place is packed. On October 7, 20 new vacancies were opened to provide an emergency shelter for Afghan families with elderly, disabled and pregnant women. But this is still insufficient to meet the demand that grows every day.

wanted by Brazil Agency, the State Department of Social Development reported that it is investing R$ 2.8 million in 100 shelter places and that half of this amount is being used to open 50 places by December in a Casa de Passagem in Guarulhos. The rest is funding the 50 Afghans who are currently living in the Terra Nova Passage House.

This year alone, the secretariat said, 123 Afghans have already been treated at Casa de Passagem Terra Nova. “Welcoming vacancies are rotating and the length of stay varies. They stay from a week to 18 months, for example. These people can remain in the equipment indefinitely until they prove autonomous housing conditions.

The State Department of Justice and Citizenship also reports that it has assisted around 70 Afghans with CPF issuance, requests for refugee protocols (SIS Conare), immigration regularization, vaccinations and clothing distribution. Two collective efforts were carried out to carry out these services: one in September and the other in October.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was contacted by the report, but did not respond to questions until the time of publication of the article.