NEW TRENDS IN MIGRATORY AND REFUGEE LAW IN BRAZIL: THE EXPANDED REFUGEE DEFINITION

Authors

  • Catherine Tinker Seton Hall University School of Diplomacy and International Relations
  • Laura Madrid Sartoretto Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17768/pbl.y3.n3-4.p143-169

Abstract

This paper aims to explore new trends in Brazilian refugee and migratory law in the last 20 years. In doing so it addresses the evolution of the definition of “refugee” in Brazil, expanding the eligibility grounds provided by the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention). Reviewing international and regional refugee law, the article analyzes the broader understanding of the notion of “refuge” and its complexity expressed in regional and national legal frameworks, taking account of lawyers, scholars and activists who criticize the narrow scope of the classical refugee definition from 1951 which has become distant from current refugee voices and struggles. At the domestic level, although the 1980 Aliens Statute (Act. n. 6815/80) is still in effect, there have been important changes in refugee law in Brazil since the implementation of the 1997 Refugee Statute (Act n. 9.474/97), influenced by the 1984 Cartagena Declaration (a regional soft law instrument) regarding the definition of “refugee”. Exploring the interconnection of the Refugee Statute and complementary forms of human rights protection which fall outside the scope of international refugee law, the article concludes that in the specific case of Haitians in Brazil, the broader protections of Brazilianrefugee law should be available rather than the complementary systemof humanitarian visas.

Author Biographies

Catherine Tinker, Seton Hall University School of Diplomacy and International Relations

J.S.D. and LL.M. New York University Law School in international law; J.D. George Washington University Law School.

Adjunct Professor of International Law at Seton Hall University School of Diplomacy and International Relations. Previously Professor of Public International Law and Visiting Professor of Law at law schools in the U.S. and at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).

President and United Nations Headquarters Representative-NY of NGO accredited to ECOSOC (roster status) created in 1992, T.I.I.L.O., for research and education on international law and organizations; active participant in UN meetings and major conferences on sustainable development (Rio '92 and Rio+20), SDGs and the post-2015 development agenda, and other issues; Conferences of the Parties to the UN Conventions on Biological Diversity, Wetlands, and other treaties.

Publications listed in curriculum lattés, including articles in, e.g., the Texas Law Review (with co-authors Antonio Herman Benjamin and Claudia Lima Marques) entitled "The Water Giant Awakes: An Overview of Brazilian Water Law"; NYU JILP; and Vanderbilt Law Review; and chapters in books published by Martinus Nijhoff, Ed. Revista dos Tribunais, and other legal publishers in Europe, Brasil and the US, all peer-reviewed.  Frequent guest lecturer on public international law, the UN, and international environmental law.

Laura Madrid Sartoretto, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Master of Laws Candidate at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, LL.M University College London. Co-coordinator of Cátedra Sérgio Vieira de Mello UFRGS. Member of the RS Human Mobility Forum, Lawyer. 

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Published

2015-11-01

How to Cite

Tinker, C., & Sartoretto, L. M. (2015). NEW TRENDS IN MIGRATORY AND REFUGEE LAW IN BRAZIL: THE EXPANDED REFUGEE DEFINITION. PANORAMA OF BRAZILIAN LAW, 3(3-4), 143–169. https://doi.org/10.17768/pbl.y3.n3-4.p143-169

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 3-4 (2015): PANORAMA OF BRAZILIAN LAW

Section

Articles

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