Brazil on the threshold of International Refugee Law: Itamaraty and the reception of Russian stateless persons from China (1949 - 1964)

• Grant number: 22/14204-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Sociology
• Principal Investigator: Svetlana Ruseishvili
• Grantee: Bruna Soares dos Santos
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present project aims to investigate the insertion and role of the Brazilian State in the international governance of refugees between the years of 1949 and 1964. The period is characterized by the emergence of the international legal framework for refugee protection (The 1951 Refugee Convention) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). As an empirical object, the process of reception by Brazil of Russian stateless persons expelled from China in 1949 was chosen. The documents produced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, deposited in the collection of the Historical and Diplomatic Museum (MHD), at the Itamaraty Palace (RJ), will be investigated. The research seeks through these records to understand the decisions of the actors and direct actions of the government in the process of accepting these refugees. This study aims to fill the historical and theoretical gap existing in Brazilian studies about refugees in the 1950s, specifically the case of stateless Russians.