The director of the Consular Department of foreign-resident Brazilians, of the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ambassador Eduardo Ricardo Gradilone Neto, affirmed that the Brazilian government wants that the Brazilians who left their country to work in Japan, called dekassegis, stay there. The ambassador said that, among other measures, the government allowed the withdrawal of the Employment Security Fund (FGTS) to those who have an inactive account, to attenuate the effects of the financial crisis, which has left many of them unemployed.

On Tuesday (26), Gradilone participated in a public hearing, promoted by the Committee on Foreign Relations and National Defense, to discuss bi-lateral agreements between Brazil and Japan in the fields of Education and Social Security.

The ambassador explained that the government is not granting any help to Brazilians living in Japan, which would be different than the one given to those who work in Brazil. In order to receive the unemployment insurance, for instance, Gradilone said that the Brazilian workers in Japan must have contributed with social-security charges. However, according to him, many of those Brazilians do not pay social-security charges. “During that crisis, we are noticing that fewer Brazilians than necessary do contribute with all those monthly charges: social security, health insurance, income tax. Sometimes they prefer to take risks and not to make their contributions, since they think they will go back to Brazil, and will not be able to enjoy their benefits. We are therefore negotiating the agreement on social-security, so that they are not discouraged to join social security”, he observed.

The executive-secretary of the Social-Security Ministry, Carlos Eduardo Gabas, informed that a social-security agreement with Japan should be closed still this year.

Back to Brazil
The author of the requirement for the debates, Deputy Walter Ihoshi (DEM-SP), informed that he was in Japan in an official mission, in March, when he could verify the situation of Brazilians working in that country. “Nearly half of them are about to lose their jobs, thus creating an enormous difficulty, even challenging their very survival”, he affirmed.

The congressman stressed that, from the approximately 300,000 Brazilians living in Japan, around 30,000 have already come back to Brazil.

Ihoshi reminded that the Japanese government launched a portfolio with 20 measures to support foreign workers who have lost their jobs. Among them is the option to migrate to Brazil, with their support for the acquisition of air tickets. According to Ihoshi, now it is time for the Brazilian government to act, and we should claim for that. “It is the moment for us to call for actions supporting Brazilians who are already there (in Japan), especially from federal government”, he said.

Education
According to that deputy, about 50% of Brazilian schools in Japan were closed, since many students had trouble in keeping enrolled, because of their parents’ unemployment.

The International-Assistance chief of the Ministry of Education, Leonardo Barchini Rosa, explained that Brazilian government cannot create schools abroad, but supports the existing ones, all of them private. According to him, those schools receive kits with Brazilian books from Brazilian government.

The general-coordinator on Immigration, of the Ministry of Labor and Employment, Paulo Sérgio Almeida, informed that the government should open, still this year, the Brazilian Workers’ House in the Japanese city Hamamatsu. The Brazilian workers will be able to gather specific information on that country and on their rights. Moreover, he observed, those who want to come back to Brazil study the possibility of getting an employment in here.

Report - Oscar Telles
Editing - Regina Céli Assumpção
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda