Attachments
OPERATIONAL CONTEXT
As of 31 July, Brazil reached a total of 19,938,358 confirmed cases and 556,834 deaths from COVID19.
On 12 July, the Government of Brazil announced the release of BRL 6.5 million, equivalent to USD 1.2 million, for a set of municipalities that are hosting Venezuelan refugees and migrants who have fled the social, economic, and political crisis in their home country. The resources allocated will support social assistance and reception actions.
On 28 July, President Bolsonaro officially appointed Senator Ciro Nogueira, replacing General Ramos, as Chief of Staff of the Presidency (Casa Civil), which chairs the Federal Committee for Emergency Assistance, the coordination mechanism of Operation Welcome. Moreover, on 31 July, General Sergio Schwingel assumed the coordination of Operation Welcome in Roraima and Manaus, together with the role of Executive Secretary for Coordination of Emergency Assistance Actions. This is the third military to carry out this function, after General Eduardo Pazuello and General Antonio Manoel Barros: the handover ceremony will be celebrated at the end of August.
28 July marked the 70th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, a key international treaty establishing the rights of people forced to flee. Recommitting to its spirit and fundamental principles is more urgent today than ever, and UNHCR Brazil organized and participated in a roundtable with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CONARE, Public Defender’s office, Federal Prosecutor’s office, civil society and academia. This anniversary comes only a few months after UNHCR itself marked seven decades as the world’s mandated organization for the protection of the forcibly displaced.