• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Sunday, June 4, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Dont Miss

Unlike Other Parts of Europe, Portugal is Welcoming Refugees with a Wave of Solidarity

Marina Watson Pelaez by Marina Watson Pelaez
11/07/17
in Dont Miss, Featured, World
Yazidi refugees in Portugal

Yazidi refugees, Hazar and her son Sharaf, are settling in at the Centro Social de Brito, a newly-opened old people’s home in northern Portugal, after fleeing extremists in Iraq. Photo: © UNHCR/Bruno Galan Ruiz

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

LISBON, Portugal – While some European countries have shunned plans to settle refugees from Africa and the Middle East, the Portuguese government has been open to receiving refugees, agreeing to take in up to 10,000 people.

But the country has received just over 1,600 refugees from Greece and Italy in total according to the European Commission — less than its legal requirement of 2,951. And around 42 percent of refugees relocated to Portugal have moved elsewhere, according to country’s Foreigners and Border Service (SEF).

For 29-year old football player Mahmoud Zamzon, from Syria, Portugal was never a consideration; he had his mind set on Berlin. Under the E.U. relocation plan though, Mr. Zamson, a father of two, was forced to move there in January of last year, and was startled to find himself housed in a remote town in northern Portugal.

The move was a shock for Mr. Zamson. “I had never lived outside a city before,” he explained in a video call from Berlin.

Just a few days after being settled in Portugal, Mr. Zamson bought a bus ticket and set off to​ Berlin, where he is living in an apartment inside a refugee camp. Mr. Zamson said he was convinced by some of his friends and family members to move there, and he hasn’t looked back. He is now completing an internship at SC Klein Mutz Manner club and says he is happy with the €1,200 stipend he receives every month as he awaits long-term residency.

“I asked to move Lisbon, but they [the Portuguese government] wouldn’t let me, they said I had to stay where I was for two years,” he told The Globe Post, adding: “The monthly allowment the government offered was not enough.”

Portugal has taken a more positive stance toward refugees than other countries like Slovakia and Hungary, which recently made an appeal against the E.U. quota system. Portugal offers each refugee a monthly allowance of around €150 and housing for 18 months. So why don’t refugees want to stay there?

“We are not carrying out a marketing campaign to attract refugees and we don’t want to force them to stay here,” Rui Marques, President of the Refugee Support Platform (PAR), told The Globe Post. “Portugal is not receiving refugees because it needs them, but out of solidarity.”

But, as Mr. Marques points out, the Greek and Italian governments decide where refugees are relocated, and that it usually depends on where they have family members. “The evaluation should not be on how long refugees stay, but that they are treated with dignity, with respect,” he said.

For 32-year-old Iraqi tailor Mustafa Abdulsattar, who has been in Portugal since March 2016, ​the main challenge is​ finally getting permanent residency and finding a stable job. He works as a laundry cleaner in a hotel just outside Lisbon, but his contract ends in December.

“I like it here, but what am I going to do with my future? My job pays a salary of €520 per month and I pay €225 for my room. I am afraid for my future. My Portuguese isn’t so good. Even Portuguese people are going abroad to find work,” Mr. Abdulsattar told The Globe Post.

He added: “Portugal can’t help refugees because there are no jobs, and we want a quality future for us and our families.”

Mr. Marques pointed out that refugees experience the same troubles Portuguese citizens experience with finding jobs and good salaries, so it is natural some refugees would want to go to countries with better opportunities. PAR works with a number of institutions to ensure that refugees are supported for two years with help for housing, learning the Portuguese language, and integrating into the health and education system.

“There has been a consensus over immigration in Portugal in the last two decades, under both center-right and center-left governments,” Mr. Marques said. “And we hope it will stay that way in future. While we have seen a growth of the far right parties in Europe, that hasn’t been the case in Portugal, and there is no far-right party with parliamentary representation here.”

According to the Migrant Integration Policy Index, Portugal ranks second in terms of integrating immigrants, despite the crisis and financial austerity measures, maintaining its investment in integration and working to boost its reach and effectiveness.

Portugal has also seen a wave of solidarity and integration efforts from Portuguese citizens. A​t​ a former butcher’s shop in Lisbon’s Arroios neighborhood, a restaurant is now run by refugees who cook ​and serve Middle Eastern food.

​“Mezze,” set up by the association Pão a Pão (Bread to Bread, an association to help refugees), was born out of a fundraising campaign set up by former journalist Francisca Gorjao Henriques.

“The idea was to design a business that would increase employability of refugees, especially women. Since women didn’t have proven experience in cooking, we professionalized that experience through a partnership with Tourism of Portugal, and the Lisbon Hotel Management School,” Ms. Gorjao Henriques told The Globe Post.

​ Mezze will soon be offering cooking workshops and debates to promote a cultural exchange between refugees and local citizens.

“I like it here [at Mezze], I like to cook here and it’s an income,” said Fatima Ghanam, from Syria, as she puts a Mashouwi dish in the oven, taking care not to burn her fingers. Ms. Ghanam found out about the project through her Portuguese teacher, and has been working at Mezze for around 3 months.

“I like it here [in Portugal] because it is a beautiful country and people are nice, they aren’t racist and they don’t mind me wearing a hijab. But I am not fulfilled because my son is in Turkey.” Ms. Ghanam told The Globe Post.

“My son has residency there so the only way he can come here is through the Portuguese government. I hope the restaurant will have great success, and on a personal level in future I hope to be surrounded by my family.”

Share1Tweet
Marina Watson Pelaez

Marina Watson Pelaez

Related Posts

Myanmar Rohingya refugees look on in a refugee camp in Teknaf, in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, on November 26, 2016
Refugees

US Announces $26M in New Aid for Rohingya

by Staff Writer
March 8, 2023
Ukraine war
Opinion

The Ukrainian Refugee Crisis and the Hierarchies of Western Compassion

by Tazreena Sajjad
April 20, 2022
Ukraine refugees
Refugees

Nearly 3.7 Million People Flee Ukraine, UN Says

by Staff Writer
March 24, 2022
migrants
Refugees

Six Migrants Drown Off Tunisia, 30 Missing

by Staff Writer
January 27, 2022
Poland border wall
Refugees

Poland Begins Work on New EU-Belarus Border Wall

by Staff Writer
January 25, 2022
Humanitarian worker places a face mask on a child refugee during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Opinion

As COVID-19 Lingers, Wealthy Nations Must Not Abandon Migrants

by Maria DeJesus
December 21, 2021
Next Post
Medicine in Afghanistan

Afghan Government Tightens the Noose Around Medicine Smugglers

Syria announced at the COP23 meeting in November 2017 that it would back the Paris agreement to slow climate change

Syria Will Sign the Paris Climate Deal, Leaving the US Alone in Opposition

Recommended

A man holds US, Taiwan flags

US and Taiwan Ink Trade Deal as China Issues Warning

June 2, 2023
Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather on the West side of the US Capitol in Washington DC on January 6, 2021

Militia Leader Gets 18 Years in Prison Over US Capitol Attack

May 26, 2023
Customers queue to enter a re-opened Zara clothes shop

EU Targets Fast Fashion in Push for Durable Goods

May 23, 2023
A billboard showing the debt limit is seen in Washington, D.C.

US Republicans Upbeat on Prospects for Debt Deal

May 19, 2023
Military hardware rolls through Dvortsovaya Square during a Victory Day military parade in central Saint Petersburg

Pressing Russia, US Shares Nuclear Warhead Data Under Treaty

May 16, 2023

Opinion

Migrants waiting at the Turkish border.

Beyond Numbers: Confronting Europe’s Broken Border System

May 30, 2023
A man holding a gun

The NRA’s Continuing Agenda of Fear

May 12, 2023
US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas

A Supreme Folly 

April 24, 2023
Transgender Army veteran Tanya Walker speaks to protesters in Times Square near a military recruitment centre

Tennessee Is A Drag on the First Amendment

March 26, 2023
Chinese President Xi Jinping

China’s Path to Economic Dominance

March 15, 2023
An earthquake survivor reacts as rescuers look for victims and other survivors in Hatay, a Turkish province where hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the earthquake

Heed the Call of Our Broken World

March 1, 2023
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post