Immigrants in Portugal and the Pandemic’s three faces
LISBON, PORTUGAL — It’s summer in Lisbon and the sunny days seem to hide memories of what the lockdown was: the population is back to the streets, stores and restaurants are open, outdoors activities have returned bringing a — not felt for a while — bliss.
Although these scenes fulfill our hearts with hopes that calamity is nearly gone, in a country inhabited by people from all around the world it is not yet possible to forget the hardship imposed by the virus to everyone, and particularly to vulnerable groups such as immigrants.
For this community — in which I include myself, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have clearly accentuated the odds of living in a foreign country. Besides being away from family members, friends, our own language and culture, for so many times we have to deal with racism and discrimination, the lack of access to public services, informal work or unemployment, poor housing and food conditions, and much more.
Due to a virus that has threatened health systems, economic stability, social security and life itself, I dare to ask: who would be saved, or who would be saved first?
The Pandemic’s three faces
Matter of facts, the current situation highlights three possible ways — or the three faces — in which the pandemic shows itself to people on the move (what includes not only immigrants but also refugees and asylum-seekers):
- a health crisis — in which individuals already super-exposed to the virus due to scarce prevention resources have to deal with cultural, linguistic or legal barriers to access treatment systems;
- a socioeconomic crisis — where the loss of jobs, salary reduction or informality exacerbate the precarity of living conditions and limits the access to social assistance;
- a protection crisis — that impacts people that have had their entrance, refuge or asylum denied and are forced to return to their country of origin. In addition, it also stresses the increasing cases of xenophobia, racism, discrimination and stigmatization that now are associated with the spread of the virus.
(A further explanation for each one of these elements can be found in the UN Policy Brief regarding COVID-19 for people on the move).
Remarks of the three faces confrontation
As the occurrences of people affected are numerous, I had the opportunity to speak with someone who has been in contact with as many cases as the pandemic could generate for this niche.
“There were countless cases and each one with its peculiarities”, says Emellin de Oliveira, lawyer and vice-president of ‘Casa do Brasil de Lisboa’, a non-profit immigrant association in Portugal since 1992.
Among the examples given, Oliveira mentioned cases of emergency aid requests; people reporting the fear of eviction or even eviction processes already initiated; the demand for information about voluntary return for reasons such as the loss of jobs and living conditions; aid requests by newcomers stranded at the airport; children of irregular parents who were born in the midst of the pandemic and the complicated processes for issuing their documentation; self-employed workers who overnight were unable to feed themselves and their families; people in irregular situation facing difficulties and afraid to speak to public authorities and ending up in an even more troublesome situation.
“I am able to feed myself and my family for only another one week or fifteen days”, Oliveira heard from a family father.
The Portuguese response to immigrants’ situation
One highlight that must be given to the Portuguese Government during the crisis’ peak is the announcement that all migrants and asylum-seekers with pending residence applications would be treated as permanent residents until a certain date. “In general, it was the first time that immigrants were considered as subjects of rights”, says Oliveira.
In Portugal, people with ongoing regularization processes are required to contribute to social security and to the tax authority but are not entitled to social benefits such as unemployment insurance. The government’s order came to cover this failure in the most critical period of the pandemic in the country, the lawyer explained.
On the other hand, however, the measure was not efficient to assist those people who applied for their residencies in uncovered dates or even those who lost their work contracts and therefore could no longer apply to it. “Our fear was that many people would return to irregularity either for a matter of time either for the pandemic situation itself”, stresses the lawyer.
The rule interpretation was also an issue. There were cases of people who went to health centers and had their assistance refused by public workers that said the right to treatment was valid for individuals infected with the new virus only. In this case, immigrants with other health issues could not be treated?
Moreover, Portugal is not a place where racism and xenophobia are assumed. Once I heard from a Portuguese friend that it happens ‘behind the curtains’ here. If so, I presume the pandemic came to drop the tissues of something that was already no longer hidden, and is as real in the country as the seriousness of the virus.
Campaigns against discrimination have not been seen, on the contrary. What we have seen is an excluding discourse in favor of the Portuguese people only, without any deep mention to the recorded cases of a Chinese student who was called “coronavirus” on the streets of Toledo and two other students with the same nationality that were attacked with excrements in Picoas, Lisbon. In the beginning of the pandemic, a classmate from Bangladesh sadly told me that had changed her haircut to look “less Asian” after people moved to a seat away from her inside the bus.
The course of migration after the Pandemic
The pandemic has certainly affected mobility and particular groups as shown above. The succession of events around the world brings up the reflection on what paths will be chosen by authorities now that human contact is no longer seen through the same lens.
Current developments show that, in addition to legal issues, the health factor becomes a central element for the entry into countries: the need for health assessments, testing, screening, immunization, treatment, and certification are part of our vocabulary at least until the release of a vaccine.
Besides the entrance issues, it becomes necessary to reflect on the international migrants’ access to rights when already in. As long as we are seen as the enemy, there are no collective efforts strong enough to make the humankind overcome coronavirus and its striking consequences.
If I could choose only one final word to sum up what I think about the issue, it would be inclusion. Immigrants are part of the solution, not of the problem. As the UN says, “no-one will be safe until everyone is safe”.
