Brasilia:

Hundreds of migrants from India, Nepal and Vietnam have been stuck in Sao Paulo’s international airport for weeks in alarming conditions, sleeping on the floor as they wait to enter Brazil, according to the Public Defender’s Office and documents seen by Reuters on Friday.

A spokesman for the office said a 39-year-old migrant from Ghana died two weeks ago of unknown causes. It was not clear whether he died while retained at the airport or on the way to hospital.

At least 666 migrants without visas were waiting to enter Brazil at Guarulhos airport, the official said, with the added uncertainty that the government plans to tighten entry rules on Monday to stem a flow of foreigners using Brazil as a stopover to get to the United States and Canada.

The migrants are held in a restricted area where there is no access to a shower and their movements are limited, making it hard for them to obtain food and water, while children and adolescents are enduring winter cold with no blankets, the official said.

The Public Defender’s Office found that the migrants’ human rights were being violated with their health deteriorating.

The agency said conditions for the migrants need to be urgently improved while their status is being resolved, and urged authorities in a statement to comply with Brazil’s legislation based on the humanitarian principle of accepting refugees and not returning them to their country of origin.

Starting on Monday, foreign travellers without a Brazilian visa who are headed for another country must travel straight on to their destination or return to their home country, Brazil’s public security ministry told Reuters on Wednesday.

Brazil has seen a boom in foreign travellers, particularly from Asia, landing in the country for a supposed layover en route to North America, the ministry said in statement.

To enter Brazil, they ask for refugee status, alleging persecution and threats in their home countries, but a majority travel north when they can, according to two reports from authorities seen by Reuters and a senior police source.

Now, those passengers arriving in Sao Paulo without a visa will not be allowed to stay in Brazil, the ministry said.

It was not clear whether the new rules will apply to migrants already at the Sao Paulo airport or apply only to those arriving after the rules go into effect.

Immigration experts are concerned that the proposed rules counter the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, to which Brazil is a party and which calls on countries to take in those at risk in their home country, even if they are undocumented.

The head of Brazil’s refugee committee, Jean Uema, told Reuters the rules would apply specifically to Sao Paulo airport and there would be no change to Brazil’s policy on asylum seekers.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, right, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, and Angola’s Economic Cooperation Minister Jose Massano, left, attend the G-20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on February 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Brazil’s foreign minister called for reforms of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions Wednesday while criticizing their inability to prevent global conflicts, as his country kicked off its presidency of the Group of 20 nations.

Mauro Vieira told fellow foreign ministers during opening remarks for a G-20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro that the U.N. Security Council has been unable to prevent or halt conflicts such as those playing out in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.

“Multilateral institutions are not adequately equipped to deal with current challenges, as demonstrated by the unacceptable paralysis of the Security Council in relation to ongoing conflicts,” Ms. Vieira said.

Foreign ministers of the 20 leading rich and developing nations are gathering this week to discuss poverty, climate change and heightened global tensions, setting a roadmap for work to accomplish ahead of a November 18-19 summit in Rio.

One of Brazil’s key proposals, set by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is a reform of global governance institutions such as the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and multilateral banks, where he wants to push for stronger representation of developing nations.

The leftist leader reiterated on February 18 his interest in expanding the U.N.’s Security Council, contemplating the entry of more countries from Africa, Latin America, as well as India, Germany or Japan.

“We need to add more people and end the right of veto in the U.N., because it is not possible for a country alone to be able to veto the approval of something approved by all members,” Mr. Lula said while on a state visit to Ethiopia.

Whether Mr. Lula’s push will be successful remains to be seen, as permanent members of the Security Council have in the past been dismissive of attempts at reform that would result in a loss of their power.

“Currently there is no momentum to reform the U.N. The U.N. is in crisis, and maybe transforming the Security Council now is not ideal,” said Lucas Pereira Rezende, a political scientist at the Federal University of Minas Gerais.

Mr. Vieira said Brazil was “deeply worried” by the proliferation of conflicts around the world – not just in Ukraine and Gaza, in more than 170 locations, according to some studies, he said.

Mr. Vieira said more than $2 trillion a year is spent on military budgets globally and that more of that money should go toward development aid programs.

“If inequalities and climate change do, in fact, constitute existential threats, I cannot avoid the feeling that we lack concrete actions on these issues,” he said. “These are the wars we must fight in 2024.”

Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Lula met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the capital, Brasilia, for about two hours to discuss global governance and other issues. Mr. Blinken, who is on a three-day trip to Brazil and Argentina, later headed to Rio for the G-20 meeting.

The pair also discussed the conflict in Gaza, including working urgently to facilitate the release of all hostages and to increase humanitarian assistance and improve protections for Palestinian civilians, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of State.

They made no public comments on the diplomatic row between key U.S. ally Israel and Brazil following Mr. Lula’s controversial comments comparing Israel’s military offensive in Gaza to the Holocaust.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday at the African Union summit in Ethiopia, Mr. Lula said that “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

In response, Israel declared Lula a “persona non grata”, summoned Brazil’s ambassador to Israel and demanded an apology. In retaliation, Mr. Lula recalled Brazil’s ambassador for consultations.

After years of diplomatic isolation under former President Jair Bolsonaro, Lula has sought to reinsert Brazil on the center stage of global diplomacy since returning to power in January of 2023.

G- 20 finance ministers and central bank presidents are set to meet next week in Sao Paulo, and a second meeting of foreign ministers is scheduled for September.

Video footage showed the plane lying on a muddy dirt track with the front part of the aircraft in green foliage. Image for representation purpose only. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A small passenger plane crashed in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest Saturday, killing all 14 people on board, Amazonas state Governor Wilson Lima announced.

“I deeply regret the death of the 12 passengers and two crew members who were victims of the plane crash in Barcelos on Saturday,” Mr. Lima said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Embraer PT-SOG aircraft had taken off from Manaus, the Amazonas state capital and the biggest city in the Amazon, and was attempting to land in heavy rain when it crashed, local media reported.

The passengers were Brazilian tourists on their way to fish, the reports said.

Video footage posted by the Globo television network showed the plane lying on a muddy dirt track with the front part of the aircraft in green foliage. A couple of dozen people are seen standing nearby holding umbrellas.

The Brazilian Air Force sent a team from Manaus to collect information and preserve any evidence that could be used for the investigation into the crash, an air force statement said.