When asked how a farmer’s daughter who became a Catholic nun ended up as one of Brazil’s most influential refugee advocates, Sister Rosita Milesi, 79, offers a simple answer: determination. Sister Rosita was awarded the Nansen Prize by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees for her exceptional work with refugees and migrants over the past 40 years.

“I have always been a very determined person, ever since childhood. If I take something on, I will turn the world upside down to make it happen,” she said on a sultry afternoon in the northern Brazilian city of Boa Vista, where the organization she leads – the Migration and Human Rights Institute (IMDH) – supports refugees and migrants from neighbouring Venezuela and other countries.

Sister Rosita’s determination is not fuelled by personal ambition but by a profound faith and commitment to helping others. These values were instilled from a young age by her Italian-speaking parents, who ended each working day by praying with their 11 children. Despite having little to spare, they also provided work, food and a bed to people in need who came asking.

At the age of 9, Rosita left the family home in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul to attend a nearby convent school run by the Scalabrinian Missionaries. The congregation was founded at the end of the 19th century to help Italian migrants arriving in the Americas, and while its work had since shifted away from its original focus, that founding mission would come to define Sister Rosita’s life and work.

After making her vows and becoming a nun in 1964 when she was just 19, Sister Rosita spent the next two decades working as a schoolteacher and hospital administrator in facilities run by the congregation to help the poor. During this time, her determination helped overcome reservations within the congregation when she applied to study law, eventually earning a Master’s degree.

“When they asked me why I was taking this course, I would say: ‘I’m going to be a lawyer for the poor’, because that was our mission at that time  – to help people in need. Refugees and migrants weren’t yet part of the picture,” she explained.

Her legal training ensured that when the Scalabrinians decided in the 1980s to return to their roots by helping refugees and migrants, Sister Rosita was the one entrusted with establishing a Migration Studies Centre in the capital, Brasilia.

“I knew little about the issues, but I had to prepare myself. So, I started studying the topic of displaced people and I decided to dedicate my knowledge to migrants and refugees,” she said.
Through this indirect path, a formidable refugee champion emerged. Her expertise and quiet powers of persuasion proved instrumental when Brazil’s draft Refugee Law was proposed in 1996.

Sister Rosita rallied support to broaden the law’s definition of who is a refugee in line with the 1984 Cartagena Refugee Declaration, ensuring that many more people seeking international protection would be included in the adopted law in 1997. She achieved similarly impressive results during the adoption of Brazil’s Migration Law in 2017.

“Any law lasts many years. Good or bad, it’s hard to undo. So, we couldn’t let a limited law pass if there was a possibility to expand it,” she said of the 1997 legislation. “I even wrote to the Vatican in Rome, asking them to send a letter to the Brazilian government saying how important it was to expand the refugee concept. And they sent the letter, thank God.”

In addition to her legal work, Sister Rosita coordinates a network of around 70 national organizations supporting refugees, migrants and local communities. She also sits on the National Committee for Refugees (CONARE) and the board of directors of the Scalabrinian Foundation, and has published scholarly articles on forced displacement and migration. “I’ve always had the ability to do three, four, five things at the same time,” she said matter-of-factly.

Above all, she is a committed and hands-on humanitarian. She and her teams at IMDH in Brasilia and Boa Vista work tirelessly to improve the lives of some of the 790,000 people in need of international protection in Brazil from 168 different countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Burkina Faso, Mali and Ukraine.

Sister Rosita agreed that her role is often to provide a focal point for others. “Many people don’t have the courage to start, but they are willing to support. So, someone needs to lead for us to unite forces,” she explained. “If there’s a human or humanitarian need, I’m not afraid to act, even if we don’t achieve everything we want.”

Approaching her 80th birthday, Sister Rosita suggested with a wry smile that people assume she has no dreams left to pursue. If so, they misunderstand the lifelong nature of her commitment. She reeled off plans to boost access to education for refugee children, improve the recognition of refugee diplomas, and – following the devastation caused by recent flooding in her native Rio Grande do Sul – address the growing impact of climate change on refugees and displacement.

In other words, Sister Rosita will never stop dreaming of – and working for – a better future for refugees. “We should always have a utopia because it shows us the horizon,” she said. “We never reach the horizon because as we advance, the horizon moves further away. But it points the way. Having a utopia, having a dream, having a conviction to build something better is fundamental. And it is fundamental for refugees.”  Sr Rosita received the Nansen Prize on 14 October.
(Photo: © UNHCR/Marina Calderon) – (Charlie Dunmore and Elisabet Diaz Sanmartin)