Boa Vista’s Dynamic Spaces of Refugee Governance

Keywords: Venezuelan migration, Brazilian border, humanitarian aid governance, COVID-19
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 28

Abstract

In February 2018, the Brazilian government launched Operação Acolhida in partnership with the UNHCR, IOM, the Brazilian Armed Forces, local government, and international aid organizations in order to respond to the rapid influx of Venezuelan migrants and asylum seekers entering the northern Amazonian region of Brazil. This Operation is unique due to its co-management by the UNHCR and IOM who have historically worked independently rather than collaboratively. Beyond the negotiations of this collaboration, overlapping programming and shifting governmental roles has led to confusion and ever-changing responsibilities within the Operation. The Brazilian federal Indigenous affairs agency, Fundação Nacional do Índio (FUNAI), originally avoided intaking Indigenous Venezuelans but has gradually accepted partial responsibility for aiding this population. This paper explores these inter-agency challenges by conceptualizing the dynamic spaces of refugee governance in Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil. The concept of dynamic spaces of refugee governance aims to capture the ever-changing relationships between and within state and non-state actors which often leads to decentralization, devolution, and upscaling of responsibilities. These dynamic interrelations are further disrupted by the emergence of COVID-19 that has led the Brazilian Army to slowly step down from its central role while border closures and stimulus checks has led to shifting migration patterns. This paper seeks to further discussions surrounding migration and refugee governance as well as the manners in which disruptions can provide agency to those in movement.