Brazil grants 32 immigrants right not to be forcibly repatriated

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s has guaranteed 32 immigrants of various nationalities who are at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport the right not to be forcibly repatriated, according to court rulings seen by Reuters.

The preliminary rulings answer to habeas corpus requests filed by the Federal Public Defender’s Office asking for the immigrants not to be repatriated and given the legal right to request refuge in Brazil.

According to the case documents, the group includes migrants from Nepal, Eritrea, Ghana, Cameroon, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and a 16-year-old Somali teenager who entered Brazil carrying a false passport.

All the immigrants who benefit from the court orders arrived in the country after Aug. 26, when new Brazilian government rules came into force to toughen up entry permissions for people without visas.

Since then, the Ministry of Justice and Public Security has said transit passengers who do not have a visa to enter Brazil and whose final destination is another country will have to either continue their journey or return to their place of origin.

The initiative, according to the government and the Federal Police, aims to end or at least reduce the use of Brazil as a route by criminal human trafficking organizations, mainly from Asia, something has already been pointed out by federal investigations.

The Federal Public Defender’s Office, however, disagrees with the new rules, saying they violate the right of any person – regardless of whether they are in transit or not – to request refuge.

Last month, hundreds of migrants from India, Nepal and Vietnam had been stuck in Sao Paulo’s international airport for weeks in alarming conditions, sleeping on the floor waiting to enter Brazil.

Brazil’s Justice Ministry was contacted by email on Thursday evening and did not respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Editing by Aurora Ellis)