Reference center for refugees starts operating in Rio

Refugees and immigrants arriving in Rio de Janeiro will be welcomed in a reference center with specific social and legal assistance. The Reference Center for Immigrant Assistance (Crai), in Gamboa, in the central region of the city, began operating today (7). The property was provided by the City Hall and its maintenance will be carried out by the Non-Governmental Organization Core. Matheus Andrade, coordinator of Human Rights for the City of Rio de Janeiro and president of the Intersectoral Committee on Policies for Attention to Immigrants, Refugees and Stateless Persons, said that the objective is to offer a point of reference for new arrivals in the city and also for those who are already in Rio. At the center, they will have access to the services they most need to establish themselves, such as migratory regularization, health, social assistance and education, thus reducing the vulnerability of immigrants and refugees. “Our goal is to bring together, within Crai, all these services that the city hall already naturally provides, but intended exclusively for them. Most of the people who will work at Crai are immigrant refugees, so when the refugee arrives to be treated, it will be in their own language”, said Andrade. Also according to Andrade, the centralization of assistance to immigrants and refugees will help the City of Rio de Janeiro to carry out a survey of this population, which today is mostly Venezuelans. Syrian Adel Bakkour, 29 years old, fled the civil war in his home country and arrived in Rio de Janeiro in 2012. He is a student of International Relations at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and is currently a coordinator from Crai. Bakkour believes that centralizing care for refugees and immigrants will make a lot of difference. “The refugee immigrants who will arrive in Rio de Janeiro or who are already here will be able to have a reference to be able to arrive and try to solve any problem they are facing, access to health, education”, said Bakkour. Crai has rooms for triage, social and legal assistance, and for Portuguese and digital inclusion classes. It also has dormitories to temporarily accommodate men, women and families. Listen on the National Radio Agency:

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