The relevance of pro bono advocacy in protection of the rights of migrants and refugees in Brazil

Caroline Sena

Mattos Filho, São Paulo

caroline.sena@mattosfilho.com.br

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 960,000 people in Brazil are in a situation of refuge: registered as refugees, applying for recognition of refugee status, in a refugee-like situation, stateless, or in need of international protection. This population had been forced to move from their home countries due to persecution, human rights violations or humanitarian emergencies.

In this context, the Brazilian government recognised over 77,00 people as refugees in 2023, according to the Annual Results Report 2023 Brazil published by the UNHCR. This represents an increase of over 14 per cent compared to 2022. In total, as of June 2024, over 180,000 people are now recognised as refugees in Brazil[1].

Considering this scenario of intensified forced displacement and the search for Brazil as a country to welcome and re-establish so many people who have been forced to leave everything behind, it is necessary to focus on the measures needed to ensure that refugees and migrants have access to all the social and legal assistance they need.

In this regard, it is essential that pro bono lawyers – together with civil society organisations – make the best possible effort to ensure the fundamental rights of refugees and immigrants, serving as a reference in the reception and integration of migrants.

Pro bono advocacy has a key role to play in guaranteeing and enabling the rights of migrants and refugees who have recently arrived in Brazil. By offering free legal services, pro bono lawyers help these individuals navigate Brazil's complex legal system, ensuring that their fundamental rights are respected and protected.

It is notable that since 2023, Brazil's Ministry of Justice and Public Security has been working on developing the National Policy for Migration, Refugees and Stateless Persons, which aims to offer services, programmes and actions for migrant, refugee and stateless individuals and their families.

This is an important initiative, as it points to the need to adapt public policies for the migrant and refugee population, as well as the need to expand essential public services for this population.

With the same objective of expanding access to assistance benefits and essential public services for the migrant and refugee population, Mattos Filho created, together with Cáritas, a globally known human rights organisation, a booklet to help migrants and refugees apply for assistance benefits. This guide has been translated into English, Spanish and French and seeks to raise awareness of the rights guaranteed and provide information about how to obtain social assistance without the intermediation of third parties, to promote greater autonomy and empowerment.

This effort to facilitate access to information and raise awareness among the migrant and refugee population about their rights as residents in Brazil is of utmost importance not only for the exercise of rights but also for democratising access to justice in Brazil.

From a litigation perspective, pro bono work is essential to overcome existing barriers within public administration that, in some cases, prevent or hinder migrants and refugees from accessing rights guaranteed to them by both the Federal Constitution and the Migration Law in force in Brazil.

In these cases, the role of the pro bono lawyer will not only be to demonstrate legal adequacy and compliance with legal requirements for access to assistance benefits, for example, but also to serve as a spokesperson for the migrant or refugee they assist, who often does not have the opportunity to be heard, to present their conditions and to claim their own rights given the limitations of access to justice.

In this sense, pro bono advocacy can promote access to education, health and social integration, significantly contributing to the construction of a dignified and safe life for migrants and refugees who were forced to leave their countries of origin in search of better living conditions and, often, just to survive.

In terms of perspectives for pro bono work in favour of migrants and refugees in Brazil, it is considered that changes in the US’s immigration policy have repercussions in the area of humanitarian assistance to migrants and refugees worldwide, and since Brazil is one of the countries that receives a high migratory flow, it must be prepared to handle resettlement processes and even support international organisations in conducting deportation processes.

Regarding this topic, Mattos Filho has also been working in partnerships with pro bono clearinghouses in the US to support them in asylum requests made by Haitian and Venezuelan citizens, for example, who passed through Brazil during their migratory flows. This partnership is essential for presenting memorandums on the Migration Law in force in Brazil and for obtaining information on the migratory status of asylum seekers to support eventual resettlement procedures, for example.

In times of great changes in the global landscape, pro bono advocacy must be exercised with creativity and always seeking to build bridges between the law and the assisted person, considering all the complexity and vicissitudes of the migrant, in order to ensure the strengthening of human rights and the urgent democratisation of access to justice.