ARTICLE - MIGRANTS - BRAZIL TAKES STEPS

BRAZIL TAKES STEPS TO DEAL WITH INFLUX OF HAITIAN MIGRANTS
(Guardian) - By Roberta Radu

Brazil government pledges money to north-west states where migrants arrived, and acts to issue work visas for Haitians

The Brazilian government is to give aid to two states in the north-west that have seen a recent increase in the number of Haitian migrants. This week, the ministry for social development announced it was to give around US$520,000 to the states of Acre and Amazonas. The first tranche of funds is expected to become available over the next month.

The continued hardship in Haiti after the devastating earthquake in January 2010 has forced thousands of people to flee to other Latin American countries in search of a better life.

The bulk of the money – around $300,000 – will support programmes in Amazonas, which has recorded more than 4,600 Haitians in the state.

Acre has around 1,400 migrants. The government had already granted the state $750,000 to support its overloaded health service.

The new money will be used to implement a series of programmes through local government bodies. These will provide food and accommodation to Haitians, as well as access to a special health service that will work independently from the national system, to meet the specific needs of the migrants. Some Haitians arrive in Brazil suffering from diseases such as cholera. Brazil's health ministry is anxious to ensure these don't spread to the local population.

Other programmes will tackle education and skills. Portuguese language classes will be offered to immigrants who wish to work.

Rômulo Paes, deputy minister in the ministry of social development, said "immediate action" was needed in the two states because of the constant flow of immigrants they received in the last few months of 2011. The two main cities affected, Brasiléia and Tabatinga, are well-known destinations for Haitian nationals entering the country illegally.

Paes told the Guardian he believed the money would be sufficient in the short-term. "Our expectations were due to what we saw in the state [Acre]. We believe this will be enough for a year." The issue of additional funding in the future will be discussed in two weeks, when government officials visit the state of Amazonas to assess the situation.

To combat trafficking, the government has started a new visa programme aimed at Haitian nationals wishing to work in Brazil. Under the scheme, Haitians already in Brazil will be able to get a work visa without having to go through the traditional channels that require proof of labour skills and employment history. The special visa is valid for five years.

The Brazilian embassy in Haiti has also been told to issue a limited number of visas to Haitians who want to work in Brazil. According to Paes, the restriction on numbers may only be temporary. "It depends. Now we are ready to produce 100 visas each month," he said. "We are reacting to the demand."

Meanwhile, the status of Haitian nationals in Brazil is unclear. The federal police say most immigrants describe themselves as refugees, but the president of the National Immigration Council, Paulo Sérgio de Almeida, said in a press statement that since they are "not people who have a well-founded fear of political persecution in Haiti", there was no basis on which to consider them refugees.