Brazil hosted 3,700 refugees from more than 50 countries, including 3,200 persons with refugee status and 500 persons whose asylum claims were pending at year's end. The main refugee groups in Brazil were Angolans (2,000), Liberians (270), Ivorians (200), and Sierra Leoneans (150). Brazil received 860 new asylum applications in 2002, including 360 Romanians, 140 Angolans, and 70 Colombians.

In 2002, Brazil became the 17th country in the world to offer resettlement to refugees in need of a durable solution. Brazil first committed to accepting refugees for resettlement in a 1999 agreement with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, but did not begin implementing the resettlement program until 2002, when they received 23 Afghan refugees. The first group of 13 Afghan refugees arrived from Iran in early April; a second group arrived from India in late April. All of the refugees settled in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

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