Haitian citizens will be able to meet relatives who have a precautionary measure in Brazil granted by the Brazilian Justice and without the need for a prior visa, judicial sources confirmed on Friday.
This was established by the Superior Court of Justice of Brazil (STJ), which allowed the judges of the first instance to re-issue the precautionary measures against Haitians with whom they can enter the South American country, provided they are cases of family reunification.
The granting of these injunctions, which largely analyze the requests of parents who emigrated to Brazil and want to bring their children who remained in Haiti, “had been prohibited since last year,” the court said in a statement.
The origin of the process arises from an appeal by the Brazilian state against the Justice of Santa Catarina (south), which allowed the entry of Haitians through precautionary measures.
The Brazilian state claims that this “judicial interference causes various difficulties for the public administration” and that it has not detected “problems” in the visa granting system at the Brazilian embassy in Port-au-Prince.
However, the STJ Special Tribunal held that “the principles adopted in favor of children and adolescents, as well as the family, justify” that the judges can analyze applications for entry into Brazil.
The president of the STJ, Maria Thereza de Assis Moura, underlined the importance of the “right to family coexistence” and recalled that the “vast majority” of the applicants “are minors who want to be reunited with their parents”, residing in Brazil.
However, to obtain a favorable judicial decision, the Haitians will have to “exhaust any attempt to resolve the problem administratively” and demonstrate, through “social expertise”, that it really is a case of family reunification.
On the other hand, sources of the STJ clarified this Friday that “without a prior judicial decision it is impossible to enter Brazil”, with which the judicial proceeding will have to begin with the applicant still abroad.
“You will only have entry permits if you obtain the precautionary measure,” they reiterated.
Normally, in this type of case, the judicial process is initiated by a prosecutor, who is usually the relative who is already in Brazil, where, according to official data, approximately 150,000 Haitians reside.
Haiti is submerged in a serious social, political and economic crisis which has generated a migratory exodus with repercussions in various countries of the Americas.
