“We live in an urban jungle, where there is no control, no inspection by anyone,” said the Amnesty International spokesman in Portugal, Pedro Neto, to the Lusa news agency, criticizing the emptying of means of several organizations.
“The flow of people entering the country has increased, but the means and people to manage these entries has not, quite the contrary. Some time ago we saw the extinction of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) and it is being implemented without us yet understanding how what the SEF does, not only at the gates of entry into the country, but also throughout the territory, who is going to do this and who is going to supervise to protect people,” exemplified the executive director of AI Portugal. “We had many organizations that were left without means,” he added.
Pedro Neto considered that there is a lack of public policies to provide a framework for the growth of labor needs in intensive agriculture, but also in civil construction and tourism.
Low wages and the activities of human trafficking networks put migrants in a situation of vulnerability that is difficult for them to overcome, he noted.
For the head of Amnesty in Portugal, there is a lack of public policies and organizations with the capacity to accompany the institutional discourse of welcoming refugees and migrants.
Pedro Neto was speaking to Lusa following Saturday’s fire on the ground floor of a building in Mouraria, Lisbon, in which two people died and 14 had to be assisted in hospitals, all of them foreigners, a situation likely to be replicated in the city and other parts of the country where migrants live in precarious accommodation, he admitted.
“This happens in many cities; Lisbon, Porto, but you also have to look very carefully at Beja, where there are many migrants living in overcrowded houses. You have to look at Faro, where there are many migrants living in overcrowded houses. Lisbon is a larger reality that extends to other municipalities”, he sustained.
A study by the Migration Observatory published in December showed that one fifth of foreigners living in Portugal lived in overcrowded housing.
According to the report (Anuário Estatístico Anual), the rate of foreigners living in overcrowded housing in Portugal was 20.3% in 2021, one percentage point higher than in the previous year.
“There are reports on the statistics of foreigners in Portugal that say that there is still a very significant number of migrants who are not even registered in the National Health Service,” Pedro Neto stressed.
According to the spokesperson of the human rights organization, the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) lacks the means to “supervise on the ground,” but also a Labor Code, which is “strong for stable and permanent workers” and “fragile for precarious workers.
Likewise, the High Commission for Migration (ACM), as the one responsible for migration, must “be vigilant and have the means to be on the ground,” he urged.
“And then, also, a housing law that safeguards many issues here. For example, these issues of shared housing. Who makes housing policy in Portugal is real estate speculation and the banks, with the attribution of mortgages. The State has been refusing, not to put a ceiling on rents, because that doesn’t make sense in a market economy, but to regulate with other types of offers and guarantees,” he argued.
According to Pedro Neto, the challenge of enforcement is “big” and should involve the municipal councils: “It’s a very difficult job. The country, despite being small, is vast and needs resources. Now, there’s another reality here that can help in the solution – the organizations that are on the ground, the local organizations, the local foundations, the Private Social Solidarity Institutions, the Non-Governmental Organizations, the associations, which, knowing the concrete reality on the ground, can play a more important role. What they need is more means, and they don’t have them either.
