The humanitarian drama of forced migration, heightened by the war in Ukraine, the crisis in Sudan, conflicts in other regions and climate emergencies, suffered the biggest increase ever recorded by the UN Refugee Agency (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - UNHCR). More than ever, people and families are forced to flee their countries due to death threats, arbitrary arrests, human rights violations, various persecutions and environmental disasters.
“On this escape route, they encounter lethal crossings, closed borders, abandonment and, often, incarceration in refugee camps. This is a dramatic issue, often invisible. To get a sense of the problem, 40% of people on the move are children: what future is possible for this population spectrum?” asks the president of the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair (CSVM) at Unicamp, Ana Carolina de Moura Delfim. Maciel, who was at the launch event of UNHCR's most recent annual report in São Paulo. Released this Wednesday (14), the document indicates that 108,4 million people are in a situation of forced migration in the world. This is an increase of 19,1 million compared to the previous survey. It is the largest increase ever recorded by the agency.
In addition to the tragedy of having to flee their home, refugees usually carry out the immigration process in a situation of social and economic vulnerability. In this context, they can be victims of exploitation and abuse – a theme covered by the short film My Body, My Border, which will be shown at the Lume Teatro headquarters, in Barão Geraldo (Campinas), this Thursday (15th), at 19pm, in a free session open to the public. After the screening, there will be a chat with actor and director Eduardo Mossri and co-director Karen Menatti, mediated by Maciel.
“In honor of World Refugee Month, we are honored to welcome Eduardo Mossri, who, inspired by his field experience on the border between Brazil and Venezuela, brings us, with great sensitivity, this documentary inspired by the life trajectories of people in forced displacement”, says Maciel, who is also coordinator of the Coordination of Interdisciplinary Research Centers and Nuclei at Unicamp (Cocen), to which Lume Teatro is linked.
Raising awareness through art
The conception of the short film was born from voluntary work carried out by Mossri in Roraima, for a month, through the Jesuit Service for Migrants and Refugees, in 2020. After this experience, the artist was invited to work on the Prevention of Exploitation and of Sexual Abuse, linked to the UN. The film My Body, My Border, which brings reports of immigrants victims of abuse and exploitation, was one of the results of this work, which also resulted in the play Good Night Boa Vista.
“As an artist, my role is to disseminate this topic to help raise awareness in people's eyes”, says Mossri, who has Syrian-Lebanese ancestry, has worked on the issue of immigration since 2009 and played the Syrian doctor Faruq in the soap opera Earth Orphans (2019)
"The idea was to collect stories and experiences of migrant people, so that they could know when they are in a vulnerable situation, with a main focus on issues of sexual or moral abuse, of children, women and people from the LGBTQIA+ community. So, I and Karen, we invited migrant people and we made this film together. Being able to present it and discuss it in Campinas is a great gift, especially because I'm a big fan of Lume Teatro's work", concludes the artist.
Academic Refuge
Currently, Unicamp has around two dozen students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses enrolled through the program of extra places for refugees from the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair and from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Syria, Afghanistan, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Belarus and Russia.
“A few years ago, at Unicamp, we promoted the inclusion of students in situations of forced displacement. I believe that the university, in the truest sense of the word, should have this 'universal' dimension, a learning space where geographical boundaries are nuanced”, says Maciel.
In 2022, the Unicamp Chair was a pioneer in promoting the 1st International Seminar Academic Refuge, which brought together more than 90 participants of various nationalities, including refugees, researchers, activists, artists, members of public authorities and government bodies, development agencies and the press, with the aim of expanding the debate on the tragedy of contemporary refuge and mobilizing responses specific to this problem.
Service:
Short film screening My Body My Border
When: Thursday, 15/06, at 19pm
Where: Headquarters of the Interdisciplinary Center for Theater Research (Lume) – R. Carlos Diniz Leitão, 150, Barão Geraldo
