SÃO PAULO — A group of 18 Afghan refugees, including women, children and adolescents, arrived in Brazil under a new community sponsorship program that aims to resettle hundreds of vulnerable Afghans by the end of 2025.
The families, who traveled from Pakistan on May 1, are the first to be welcomed as part of Brazil’s civil society-supported refugee resettlement initiative — a program launched by the Brazilian government with backing from the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) and several humanitarian partners.
“This is a hopeful and admirable model,” said Davide Torzilli, UNHCR’s representative in Brazil, describing the initiative as an example of how civil society and private funding can fill the gap amid shrinking global resettlement options.
The program assigns responsibilities for housing, legal support, and social integration to non-governmental organizations. Refúgio 343, the lead implementing partner, is tasked with supporting up to 500 refugees. Two additional organizations — Instituto Estuo Refugiado and Missão de Apoio às Igrejas Sofredoras — will host another 224 and 200 refugees, respectively. The International Organization for Migration is also supporting the effort.
The program enables approved organizations to identify at-risk Afghan refugees, help them secure humanitarian visas, and guide them through the resettlement process — from arrival through integration. UNHCR provides legal, technical, and coordination support.
Brazil has been among the few countries to expand protections for Afghan refugees in recent years. Since formally recognizing the human rights crisis in Afghanistan in 2020, the country has issued over 13,000 humanitarian visas to Afghan nationals. The new initiative marks a further step toward long-term solutions.
The broader context remains grim. Millions of Afghans continue to face persecution, displacement, and economic hardship under Taliban rule. According to U.N. data, more than 5.7 million Afghan refugees live in Iran and Pakistan, while another 3.2 million are internally displaced.
UNHCR has warned that global resettlement needs are far outpacing available pathways. In 2025, the agency estimates that 2.9 million refugees worldwide will require resettlement, including over 500,000 Afghans. Yet the number of resettlement places is projected to fall to just 31,000 next year — down from 195,000 in 2024.
