According to a survey carried out in 28 countries, Brazil is the third with the population most open to receiving refugees and the majority of the population believes that the borders should be open to foreigners who suffer from wars and persecution, even during the pandemic. .
The study, carried out by the Ipsos Institute, interviewed more than 19,500 people aged 16 to 74. In Brazil, there were 1,000 respondents and the margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.
Among Brazilians, 78% said they agreed that people suffering from wars and persecution should be able to seek refuge in other countries, including Brazil. The country is linked to the Netherlands and is only behind Argentina and Italy, where 79% said the same. The world average was 70%.
In contrast, the countries whose respondents are less open to welcoming refugees into their country are South Korea (51%), Saudi Arabia, Hungary and China (63% each).
Malaysia, Turkey and India are the countries in which the most people are currently declaring themselves against the opening of the borders: respectively 82%, 75% and 69%. Globally, the average was 50% defense of closed borders during the pandemic.
When asked whether the country should increase, decrease or keep spending to support refugees unchanged in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, 38% of Brazilians said values should not change, 31% think they should be lower and 18%, which should increase.
According to international treaties, refugees are people who are outside their country of origin because of “well-founded fears of persecution linked to questions of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or of political opinion, as well as because of a generalized violation of human rights and armed conflict ”- the definition is of the UNHCR, the UN commissioner for the subject.
According to the Ipsos survey, 6 in 10 respondents in an average of 28 countries responded that they were suspicious of foreigners who wish to enter their country as refugees. For them, it is in fact people who wish to enter for economic reasons or to take advantage of the social services offered by the government.
Turkey (81%), Malaysia (76%) and Russia (75%) are the most suspicious countries, and the United States (49%), Japan (50%) and Canada (52%) , those of the other end. Brazilians are close to Canada, with 54%.