Testimonies from immigrants are serving as the basis for action at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Portugal, for not complying with its own legislation and preventing access to adequate documentation, the prosecutor announced this Friday, February 20th.
“We will move forward by next month,” Brazilian activist Amanda Abreu told Lusa, who has been promoting the collection of testimonies from immigrants of various nationalities against the management of the migration process by the Portuguese authorities.
More than two hundred statements have already been collected and “which cases are the strongest to go to court” are being evaluated, and there are allegations of obstruction of justice and “huge allegations of xenophobia”, and the possibility of a joint action of all the allegations is open, explained the activist.
“What is happening to us, immigrants, is just a mirror of what also affects the Portuguese: a State that ignores, does not respond. And what we are asking is that the Portuguese State comply with its own internal law”, said the activist.
In the case of immigrants, the bureaucratic delays of the Portuguese public administration have “devastating effects”, because they delay family reunifications, the attribution of resident cards, essential for working or accessing public services.
“For us, these delays mean we don’t have documents and that means not existing, even if we have a work contract, not having a doctor, school registration or driving license”, explained Amanda Abreu, resident in Portugal for nine years.
“We just want the Portuguese State to meet deadlines and comply with legality”, he highlighted, criticizing the “inoperativeness” of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), which “continues to provide no response”.
“AIMA, which is the immigrant body, has left thousands of people forgotten, some people with Portuguese children, who pay their taxes and have never committed a crime”, he highlighted, also accusing the body of “mixing all the processes, without criteria”.
“People whose residency has expired are placed in the same package” as those still seeking “residence visas”, in an action “without the slightest distinction of priority”.
The process that will be filed does not aim to “punish Portugal, but rather to force the State to comply with the laws that exist in the constitution and its legal system”.
The reports collected “are being used for other things”, such as a scientific article and a report has already been made to the European party Volt, in the European Parliament’s legislative review process.
“These are analysis resources that will serve to help change policies”, he highlighted.
Reports can be sent to peticao.tribunal.internacional@hotmail.com and the collection and analysis is supported by Portuando, an association supporting Brazilians based in Porto.
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