Representatives from Unicamp were in Brasília this Monday (20) to discuss the creation of an academic refuge program capable of receiving Afghan teachers and researchers in the country. They met with the president of Capes, Claudia Mansani de Toledo, with minister Walter Braga Netto (Defense), minister Damares Alves (Women, Family and Human Rights) and with the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ambassador Achilles Emilio Zaluar Neto. During the meetings, a petition was delivered, with more than 30 thousand signatures, requesting support for the reception program.
Representing the University were the rector, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, the president of the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair (Unicamp/ACNUR), Ana Carolina de Moura Delfim Maciel, and the deputy chief of staff, professor Adriana Nunes Ferreira. They were accompanied by the Minister of the Superior Military Court, Maria Elizabeth Teixeira Rocha, and judge Amini Haddad Campos. The partnership aims to offer refuge to Afghan women involved in legal and scientific circles.
"Minister Maria Elizabeth and judge Amini Haddad started a movement to bring judges from Afghanistan to Brazil. We add to this our efforts to, in a joint action, also welcome professors from Kabul University, or any other university, who are fleeing of the conflict in Afghanistan", explains Ana Carolina Maciel.
The proposal is to offer scholarships for master's, doctoral, post-doctoral and visiting researchers. The cooperation agreement with Capes is important to guarantee the implementation of the humanitarian initiative. The support of other ministries is necessary to form international humanitarian corridors. Through them, Afghan women and their families can be rescued from neighboring countries and brought safely to Brazil.
"It was a very useful conversation", analyzed the Unicamp rector. "We envision the possibility of launching a joint Capes-Unicamp call for proposals to guarantee resources in the form of postgraduate and postdoctoral scholarships and for visiting researchers from the Afghan academic world. In particular, we will give importance to women linked to universities in that country." The number of scholarships offered has yet to be defined. However, according to the rector, the expectation is to include around 20 Afghan women and their families.
Support in the reception and stay of refugees
The Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair is the result of an agreement between Unicamp and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). It took effect in March 2019 and develops projects and actions that guarantee teaching, research and university extension for people in refugee situations. Among the actions already carried out are the revalidation and recognition of diplomas, the teaching of the Portuguese language, the monitoring of academic life and legal support for refugee students, in addition to the training of teachers and coordinators for teaching refugee students and the approach to theme in subjects and seminars.
“It is urgent to mobilize higher education institutions with the purpose of welcoming members of the Afghan academic community. Our mobilization, within the scope of Unicamp, aims to enable such individuals to escape the chaos that has taken place in their country of origin", points out Ana Carolina. The petition in support of the Academic Refuge program is available on the website change.org and can be viewed in https://change.org/CorredoresHumanitariosAfeganistao
