Portugal's position on resettlement: a view from the periphery of the EU (original) (raw)
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Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration, 2017
Historically-speaking, Portugal is a country that has received a very small number of applications from asylum seekers and resettled refugees. However, within the context of the current influx of refugees into Europe and the creation of a relocation system within the European Union, Portugal is ready to take 10,000 relocated refugees. As such, it is legitimate to ask whether we are witnessing a change in the country's policy regarding asylum and refugees. Although this is an ongoing process, the conviction prompting this humanitarian position regarding the taking of relocated refugees also includes a convenient political strategy that serves the national interest in two ways: by promoting the image of a supportive country in the current European refugee crisis, despite its internal socioeconomic crisis, as well as a way of obtaining human resources to boost economic activity and combat the country's demographic deficit.
The Development of the Asylum Law and Refugee Protection Regimes in Portugal, 1975–2017
Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 2018
This article examines the development of the legislation on asylum law and refugee policies in Portugal. The assessment begins in 1975, the year when democracy was re-established in the country, following the 1974 Carnation Revolution, and ends in 2015, the year the European asylum crisis started. We want to discuss whether, during this period, the policies established indicate an open regime, with an inte- grationist perspective, or whether they proclaim a closed regime with an exclusivist position; in other words, whether the asylum system promoted an active policy of receiving and integrating refugees, or whether the policies pursued intended to limit the access of refugees to the borders of the state. In order to understand these developments, we ana- lyze asylum application figures and asylum laws, trying to understand the main circumstantial contexts that influence them, namely Portugal’s integration in the European Union.
Portugal as a State of Relocation under the Provisional EU Relocation Scheme
Revista Migrações, 2016
This article examines Portugal as a state of relocation within the context of the provisional Council decisions on the relocation of applicants for international protection. It suggests that the EU cannot effectively manage unfolding migration realities without an adequate relocation mechanism. What is more, the Treaties provide a legal basis for such measures through the principles of solidarity and burden-sharing in the field of asylum. Portugal has committed to partaking in the relocation effort by welcoming a number of asylum-seekers that will alter its traditional balance of applications. Portuguese asylum law has been molded most recently by the Union asylum acquis, but the relatively low numbers of asylum-seekers have not tested extensively the substantive and procedural safeguards of the legal framework in the field. The current relocation scheme offers scope for development as Portugal will be ultimately responsible for assessing the asylum claims of incoming applicants.
Portugal and migration in global and european perspectives
1998
Many rapid, difficult to grasp, and seemingly unrelated changes in societies, economies, and international relations are refracted through transnational migration. We see and interpret such changes in particular ways in the presence of migration. The numbers and diversity of migrants seem to be growing, so, in consequence, we attribute many of the changes in our world to their presence. Their status and intentions are often difficult to pin down, so feelings of uncertainty, and sometimes even insecurity, linger in our minds.
Migration policies and institutional frameworks. Development and evolution in Portugal
2016
Portugal has been recognised internationally for implementing migrant friendly policies, occupying the first place in the UN Report and second in MIPEX. Yet, there are several questions to be raised regarding the recognition and valorisation of diversity and difference. In this paper we take a historical approach to analyse how migration policies have been conceived and evolved in Portugal. The methodological approach includes documental analysis and secondary sources.
The Emigration of the Portuguese People and the Reception of Refugees in Portugal
Transdisciplinary Journal of Engineering & Science, 2022
Migration is a challenging global phenomenon that has been a growing trend in recent years [1], [2]. In 2020, it is revealed that approximately 3.6% of the world population were international immigrants [3]. In the same year, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), around 10% of all refugees in the world were living in the EU and around 2.25 million residence permits were issued, showing a decrease relative to 2019 due to the existing pandemic crisis [4]. The main factors influencing this phenomenon are socio-political, demographic, economic and environmental. While some people emigrate in search of a better life for themselves and their families, many others do it for survival, becoming refugees [5]. We can group migrants into three categories: temporary workers/students (those who seek another country, for a certain time, to study or to work); permanent emigrants (those who seek a life in another country to stay and settle down) and refugees (those who are forced to leave their country for survival) [6], [7]. As far as Portugal is concerned, according to the last Portuguese Emigration Report of 2018 from Gabinete da Secretaria de Estado das Comunidades Portuguesas (Office of the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities) [8], it is estimated that the total number of Portuguese people who are spread around the world today is around 5 million. The largest Portuguese communities living abroad reside in France, with 1.405.053 citizens, followed by Brazil, with 821.276 Portuguese citizens. These two countries have been the privileged places for Portuguese emigration, followed by Switzerland, with 439.342 citizens, as well as Germany, with 224.573 citizens and Luxembourg, with 116.505 citizens. These diverse countries have been throughout Portuguese contemporary history [9] the privileged places for Portuguese emigration. For example, before 25th April, 1974, Portuguese sought not only better living conditions, but also a different political regime from the dictatorship that ruled Portugal until that time. Meanwhile, new trends have emerged in Portuguese emigration [10], namely in the search for other countries that are more attractive for the new characteristics for Portuguese emigration, such as United Kingdom, with 349.427 citizens, followed by Spain, with 125.382 citizens, in Europe, as well as, Canada,
The Disaster of European Refugee Policy
This volume was written in the aftermath of the so-called refugee crisis which tested the ability of the European states, governments and residents to receive and grant protection to people fleeing war and conflicts. The absence of a comprehensive and coordinated response on the level of the European Union, unilateral and self-centred responses of its individual Member States to the challenges posed by mass migration, and the rise of xenophobic and racist sentiments within populations as well as in political programmes all revealed the level of solidarity and hospitality problems that both the European Union and its Member States have in coping with migration challenges. Through these developments, it became clear how fragile the Schengen Area, the Common European Asylum System and even the sole concept of asylum are. The unwillingness of certain EU Member States to agree with the solidarity-based quota system or to implement this system raised fundamental questions of why some of them even aspired to the European Union membership—was it only for the money? Was it for better and worse, or was it really just for the better, i.e. for the benefits deriving from the EU membership?
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019
The European Union officially proclaims to have a common refugee policy. However, the common treaties leave a great deal of discretion to the individual member countries, which allows them to regulate refugee migration while still upholding international treaties. Member countries have authority over border controls, the processing of asylum applications as well as economic benefits provided to refugees. We show that the differences in refugee flows are so extensive and systematic that the existence of a common EU refugee policy is debatable. The commitments made by the member countries are largely voluntary, and refugee policy is mainly determined at the national level. The discrepancies between the member countries strongly signal that the European Union may not be an optimal region for a common refugee policy. A refugee policy should instead be determined at the national level concordant with the regional and local level, where integration measures are implemented in practice. Meanwhile, the European Union can play an important role through refugee aid to afflicted countries, treaties with third countries, rescue actions in the Mediterranean and control of the external EU borders.