International Day of Immigrants

The International Day of Immigrants is observed on December 18th, the date set in 2000 through a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, celebrating the contribution of immigrants to their societies of origin as well as their destination, aiming to stimulate a reflection on their rights.

According to the c, there are currently 281 million people rebuilding their lives far from their place of origin. These are individuals, families or groups that travel through countries, regions and continents, bringing opportunities and challenges that have to do with their development and local integration. 

The Brazilian response to the Venezuelan migratory flow, known as “Operation Welcome” is considered by the UN to be a good practice that should be disseminated and copied in other emergency situations focused on the immigrant population of the world.

According to According to UN agencies, almost 5 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015. Brazil is the fifth most sought destination for them, and has already received more than 250 thousand Venezuelans. At least 60 thousand of them were interiorized by Operation Welcome and around 4,000 received support for getting jobs, according to data from the federal government. agencies, almost 5 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015. Brazil is the fifth most sought destination for them, and has already received more than 250 thousand Venezuelans. At least 60 thousand of them were interiorized by Operation Welcome and around 4,000 received support for getting jobs, according to data from the federal government.

The Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), becoming aware of that migratory crisis, getting more intense in the northern region of Brazil, in 2016 sent the first group of humanitarian workers to Boa Vista. So it was that in the month of November of that year, the Roraima Humanitarian Mission was born.

Since then, there have been five years of uninterrupted actions in the humanitarian response to the Venezuelan people. Throughout those years, different stages occurred in the building of this response, and because it was a pioneer, the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF) participated in all the phases, and continues to work in improving their process.

Building Durable Solutions

Throughout the world, the great challenge in a humanitarian response is to find alternatives for the immigrants and refugees’ socioeconomic insertion into the host community, so they can then gain freedom from welfare assistance and rebuild their lives with dignity.

This scenario caused the humanitarian response as a whole to move toward a Durable Solutions process, which in the case of the RoraimaHumanitarian Mission, is already the third stage of the response – after emergency assistance in the first years and the phase of expansion of shelters; now the focus is to create opportunities for the refugees and immigrants to restart their lives in Brazilian society.

Immigrants Contribute to Global Economic Development

Immigrants can make a great contribution to the growth and prosperity of their countries of origin and destination. The funds the workers send back to their countries of origin can contribute to the establishment of policies and mechanisms for development and that encourage remittance services.

During the Module I Training done by the International Organization for Migration (OIM) for reporters, in February 2020, in the Public Defenders of the Union auditorium, in São Paulo, a video was shown on Immigration and Work, and the specialist in Labor Migration and Development, Ricardo Cordero, showed data in immigration and work which indicate that “in 2017, there were close to 157 million immigrant workers, of both genders; this means that almost 61% of the global population of immigrants are men and women who work.”

Cordero added that the fact that these immigrants are workers make them more vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination; “many of the migrant workers do not know their rights and their obligations in the countries where they are working, and the majority are greatly exploited,” he affirms.

“But one of the most important subjects that is little talked about is the contribution made by the workers to the counties that take them in. A lot is said about the funds they send to their countries of origin, but little is said about their contribution to the communities where they work. Many companies and countries benefit greatly in their economic growth thanks to the labor of immigrants,” highlights Cordero.

Immigrants contributed 6.7 trillion dollars to the global GDP in 2015, a participation of 9.4% of the total GDP for that year.

Close to 529 billion dollars were sent as remittances to countries of low and middle income in 2018. It is more than triple the volume of official assistance for development.

On this International Day of Immigrants, the Humanitarian Fraternity (FIHF) honors the people who leave their countries and the communities that take them in with dignity and respect.