The Itamaraty announced this Thursday (5) that Brazil will return to the UN Global Migration Pact, a non-binding agreement established in 2018 that was abandoned by the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) still in the early days of management. The measure, one of the first announced by the ministry now under the leadership of Mauro Vieira, was demanded by specialists in the sector and by the congressional commission that deals with migration and refugees.
Even though member countries are not obliged to comply with the pact's recommendations, it creates a space for promoting debates on improving migration policies. By leaving it, Brazil ceased to officially participate in discussions on good practices. "The return of Brazil reinforces the government's commitment to promoting the rights of more than 4 million Brazilians living abroad," said the Itamaraty in a statement, highlighting another aspect of the policy: attention to Brazilian citizens living in other countries, a factor to which the new general secretary, Maria Laura da Rocha, promised to dedicate herself.
Brazil's exit, in 2019, was interpreted as yet another demonstration of the alignment of the Brazilian chancellery, at the time commanded by Ernesto Araújo, to the government of Donald Trump in the USA – the republican, a defender of anti-immigration speeches and policies, did not support the pact.
Translated by Cassy Dias