In an unprecedented initiative among Brazilian universities, Unicamp launched this Wednesday (27) the "Academic Refuge" program, aimed at the humanitarian reception of professors, researchers and students living in conflagrated regions of the planet.
According to professor Ana Carolina Maciel, president of the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair (CSVM/ACNUR), the idea is to promote welcoming through scientific initiation, master's, doctorate and visiting professor scholarships.
The program, which has been being developed since last year, could be made possible by Fapesp (Research Support Foundation), which launched a call for proposals worth R$20 million for researchers at risk.
"As soon as we implement the grants, we will be able to receive the researchers. They will have the entire structure of the Academic Refuge Program to develop their activities here," she stated.
The Program's Action Plan, presented this Wednesday (27) to directors and representatives of university bodies, foresees seven stages, including the mobilization of Unicamp's international contact network to register interested parties and the articulation of local networks support for refugee integration (see below).
Wider
Ana Carolina Maciel recalls that the Academic Refuge Program is part of the university's history of welcoming foreigners.
"Since its inception, Unicamp has been receiving foreign professors and researchers. With the worsening of the current humanitarian crises, demands have been growing. Our program institutionalizes this vocation, organizing in detail the fronts for welcoming researchers at risk", he stated.
“The Program will expand something that has already been developed by the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair, the facilitated entry process for students in refuge conditions", he adds.
The Academic Refuge Program encompasses the Sérgio Vieira de Mello/UNHCR Chair, the Executive Directorate of Human Rights and the Rector's Office. "It is a joint construction, which involves the university's entire infrastructure to properly welcome students, researchers and teachers in refuge conditions."
The document had the collaboration of representatives from Hospital das Clínicas, the Community Health Center (Cecom), SAPPE (Psychological and Psychiatric Support Service), SAE (Student Support Service), Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair UNHCR/Unicamp and Executive Directorate of Human Rights.
"When we started this process, in August 2021, it was something unprecedented in Brazil. Since then, we have been approached by colleagues from various institutions and we are joining forces so that the Academic Refuge can be disseminated in the country", he concluded.
Repercussion
"This is a fundamental program", said professor Adriana Ferreira, deputy head of the Rector's Office, who represented Antônio José de Almeida Meirelles at the ceremony.
"A program like this makes the university better, shows that we can live with differences and seals our commitment to inclusion", he added.
Member of the Chair's advisory committee and member of the working group that prepared the program, Omar Thomaz said that actions of this type cannot be left solely in the hands of the State. "The university has an essential role there," he said.
According to him, Unicamp's history is associated with solidarity, but the program defines hospitality from a new perspective.
"This is not an exercise in generosity, nor do we seek any type of recognition or gratitude. Hospitality is a right," he stated.
Refugee
Unicamp's internationalization program currently has 480 foreign undergraduate students and 908 postgraduate students, from 71 countries, 15 of them refugees of different nationalities.
In Brazil since 2013, Syrian Nour Koeder, aged 30, entered Performing Arts in 2020 as a refugee. He reports difficulties with the language, regularizing documents and surviving in the country.
"Unicamp was fundamental for me. My life improved a lot after I got a place here", he stated. "We now need to publicize the Program, as many people with the same difficulties ignore this possibility", she stated.
Immigrants
The group that created the Program remembers that there were two large movements of immigrants to Brazil: the first between 1880 and 1930, the second from the 2000s, intensified in the 2010s. This most recent wave includes immigrants defined as refugees or asylum seekers, a situation that has been changing the country's position in the global refugee context. In 2019, for the first time, Brazil was among the 10 countries with the most asylum seekers in the world.
See the Action Plan of the Academic Refuge program
1 - Request a policy for granting humanitarian visas and residence permits for academics.
2 - Mobilize Unicamp's academic network of international contacts to survey and register those interested in the program.
3 - List the profile of those selected according to the program criteria. Collect data on specific needs of the refugee group, such as income, language and family composition.
4 - Seek agreements with academic development agencies to grant scholarships, master's degrees, doctorates, post-doctoral degrees and visiting professorships.
5 - Provide guidance to those interested in vacancies on procedures for obtaining visas, according to criteria established by the federal government and Itamaraty.
6 - Seek support for international and local air transfer, if necessary, and initial reception in temporary accommodation, hotel or similar and subsequent rental of properties for residential use by the refugee and family.
7 - Map and articulate local support networks to facilitate communication and procedures to integrate refugees and family members into public policies for access to education, legal and health assistance, in addition to the access already available within the Unicamp structure.
