Portugal may ‘welcome’ immigrants, but its public administration certainly doesn’t
Portugal’s Ombudsman Maria Lúcia Amaral has told parliament that with the abolition of Immigration and Borders Service SEF, and the creation of AIMA, the Agency for Migration Integration and Asylum, complaints by immigrants have increased.
SEF was disbanded “at the worst time” – and AIMA now is facing “an influx of people in incredible situations” (the adjective being used here to denote ‘ghastly’ more than anything else).
The majority of complaints centre on the functioning of Social Security – offices of which in recent years have been characterised by long lines of immigrants queuing, often in the open air.
That said, Ms Amaral concedes that approaches by her office to Social Security as a result of complaints have been met with “great receptiveness” to proposals (and problems) presented.
Ms Amaral was being heard by the parliamentary committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees to analyse her office’s annual report (for 2023), as well as the national report on the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture.
In response to the MPs, Portugal’s first woman Ombudsman (in office since November 2017) emphasised that 40% of all requests/ complaints made to her office are now from immigrants.
She interpreted this as the country “welcoming’ immigrants, but public administration not treating them well.
“It is an example that the law and the execution of the law are sometimes divorced,” she said.
Another of the issues raised by several MPs was related to prisons, with the Ms Amaral explaining that in previous reports vy her office the lack of conditions in the majority of Portugal’s prisons have been reported (and the Portuguese state has even been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights), yet the situation had rarely improved.
The report launched on July 12, and debated today in the first committee, states that the ombudsman received 10,641 complaints in 2023 – actually the lowest number in the last five years.
Source material: LUSA
