O direito político-eleitoral dos migrantes venezuelanos no TRE-RR: direito ao acesso à informação como um direito humano

Abstract

The debate proposed in this work falls within the field of Migration Studies (Sayad, 1998), with special attention to the institutional dynamics of information, communication, and services for the migrant population. Political-electoral law is based on the right to information as a human right and on the process of reception and guidance for applying for Brazilian citizenship. The state of Roraima, located in the far north of Brazil, borders Venezuela, and the Venezuelan migratory flow has significantly impacted public services provided to the population. Likewise, it has put pressure on the Electoral Court, which, despite the 1988 Federal Constitution restricting electoral operations to non-naturalized citizens, has faced voter registration requests from many Venezuelan migrants. Between 2019 and 2020, while serving as head of the judicial section of the Regional Electoral Inspectorate, where he prepared draft reports, votes and summaries for the Regional Electoral Inspector, it was identified that several registrations carried out in electoral offices were canceled, as the naturalization process was not completed, highlighting a problem with the Electoral Justice service. Did the staff have the correct knowledge of the documentation required for registration? Did the migrants have any knowledge of their rights? In a context marked by intense migratory flows, it is imperative to examine the institutional practices of the TRE-RR and how the Roraima Electoral Justice system responds to the challenges posed by cultural diversity and the plurality of migrant political actors. The aim of this research is to link the services provided by TRE-RR staff to the political and electoral rights of migrants, shifting the traditional focus of the debate—usually focused solely on normative aspects of naturalization or eligibility—to the practical dimension of the right to information and eliminating misunderstandings. Therefore, the overall objective of this research is to investigate the communication and service and information procedures provided by staff in the 1st and 5th Electoral Zones of Boa Vista, RR, regarding political and electoral rights and guidance for migrants. We have seen that migrants do not have access to information in their own language about the requirements for naturalization and do not understand the functions of the Electoral Court. The specific objective is to systematize information required for voter registration so that it can be translated into Spanish to guide migrants. To this end, we conducted qualitative research with an ethnographic approach to highlight the problem. By collecting observational data and administering questionnaires to the 20 employees in these electoral districts, we were able to evaluate communication and services to develop a diagnosis and implement training for the employees, aiming to update their knowledge of electoral rights as part of the research outputs. We also developed a didactic booklet in Spanish on the political and electoral rights of migrants, which was published and distributed free of charge by the TRE-RR throughout the state. The documentary and bibliographical contributions on migration, with a focus on migration across the Brazil- Venezuela border, served as input for the theoretical and technical discussions. We therefore believe that the research and intervention can generate significant impacts both on the services provided by Roraima officials to migrants and on the right to information as a human right for the voter registration of Venezuelans and, fundamentally, for correcting misconceptions regarding eligibility and the right to citizenship. Finally, the research addresses SDGs 10 and 16 of the 2030 agenda.