Small, yet leading by example

INTRODUCTION

While Portugal has more than doubled its quota to accommodate refugees, other E.U. countries are building fences and sealing off Europe’s internal borders. A deal with Turkey to secure this closure has been criticized as a moral failure.

WRITTEN BY

SHARE THE WORD

PUBLISHED ON

A quote by William Arthur Ward: “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails,” decorates a room where Rui Marques welcomes visitors at Padre Antonio Vieira Institute (IPAV) in Lisbon. It is also a life motto to the coordinator of the Refugee Support Platform (PAR). And it perfectly describes how Portugal is reacting to the world’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.

Despite being a small country experiencing an economic crisis, Portugal has committed to receiving up to 10,000 refugees. It more than doubles its 4,486 quota under a European Union plan to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers stranded in the frontline states of Greece and Italy.

By June, Portugal has taken in 417 refugees, mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Eritreans. Initially small, due to bureaucratic and logistical difficulties, the number of arrivals has been growing every week. The country is already the second largest host, after France (735), under the E.U. Relocation and Resettlement Program.

“It’s a great effort if we bear in mind that, altogether, 28 E.U. countries have accepted to relocate only 7,000 refugees [of the total number of 160,000],” says Rui Marques in an interview with World Mission.

“Portugal had all the excuses to close the door: a distant geographical location, high unemployment, and the fact that there are no Muslim communities here like in Germany, for example. In spite of our limitations, we have been very pro-active and available. We have set in motion the ability to put ourselves in others’ shoes.”

PAR is one of the five Portuguese organizations involved in this national endeavor. It operates like a broad network with 300 members comprising foundations, universities, companies, and municipalities, more than 100 members who are host institutions, and 8,000 individual volunteers.

Refugee families, as the “most vulnerable,” are PAR’s priority, says Rui Marques. Host institutions offer each family free housing and access to education, work, medical treatment, and a monthly stipend to buy their food, medicine, for transport, and telecommunications.

To accommodate more than 4,500 refugees in the next two years, Portugal was promised by the E.U. almost €70.369 million until 2020. The annual contribution of the Portuguese government is €6,000 for each adult and €4,500 for each child.

 

European camps

Despite proposals of financial compensation, too many countries are closing down some of the paths used to get people into the E.U.

Hungary has built razor-wire barriers on its borders with Serbia and Croatia. Austria erected a four-kilometer fence at the Slovenian border. Macedonia, Croatia and Slovenia are imposing harsher restrictions.

Rui Marques is proud of Portugal’s “example of European solidarity.” But he worries that it might be hindered by a controversial E.U.-Turkey refugee deal approved last March.

The arrangement was praised by Germany as “a humane alternative to sealing off Europe’s borders.” It offers President Recep Tayyip Erdogan €6 billion and political concessions, such as visa-free travel and negotiations for E.U. membership, if his government takes back refugees who reach Greece via Turkey.

Nearly 1.1 million refugees entered Germany last year. In April, after the deal was put in place, only around 16,000 arrived, a smaller number when compared with the 120,000 that reached the country last December.

Arrivals through Greece have also dropped from 26,971 in March to 3,462 in April. But more asylum seekers, primarily from Nigeria, Gambia, Somalia and other Sub-Saharan countries, are now making their way to Italy (9,149 in April), U.N.H.C.R. figures show.

“The refugee routes are changing but they don’t stop,” cautions Rui Marques. “I firmly support cooperation with Turkey but the deal [with President Erdogan] provides an ill-fated compensatory package. Europe should not reward good behavior. Our values should be more important than our interests. The agreement is failing. It was a lost opportunity.”

Turkey is not complying with the promises made to the European Commission to guarantee temporary protection to refugees returning from Greece. “Some have been arbitrarily arrested while others were detained for begging on the streets or selling tissues,” reports the Turkish human rights organization, Mülteci Der, as quoted by Spiegel Online.

“The Pakistanis, Afghans and Algerians, who were deported from the islands of Lesbos and Chios in early April, were almost all sent to a detention center in Kirklareli on the Turkish-Bulgarian border.”

Greek officials scaled down the procedures to send refugees back to Turkey, alleging that Turkey “is not a safe third country,” Amnesty International added fuel to this claim denouncing that “hundreds of refugees” have been forcibly deported from Turkey to Syria. Others were shot by troops at the Syrian-Turkish border.

Rui Marques refuses to condemn Turkey’s overcrowded and unsanitary confinement camps. “We have to look first at European camps, where children have been detained in dreadful conditions. There are horrifying stories about refugees being abused by traffickers. We need to be coherent and look at our own actions” before criticizing a country already holding 2.5 million refugees.”

“The E.U. assistance to Turkey is five years late,” he says. “We pretended for too long that it was not our business. We have been distancing ourselves from our values, embracing nationalism, which is the last station before war. We ignored how people were prepared to risk everything – to risk their lives.”

 

No more money

One of the most appalling “European camps” is Idomeni, a Greek port city. Refugees “are losing hope that they will be able to join their families or find places to live in peace,” informs Doctors Without Borders/ Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF).

“Following the closure of the Balkans’ route to Europe, thousands of refugees are stranded, exposed to violence at the hands of border police or smugglers. Babies, as young as six weeks, have been treated for exposure to tear gas and ten-year old children for rubber bullet wounds.”

“Some of these children were born on European soil, others have been displaced for months, some for years,” says Emmanuel Massart, MSL field coordinator in Idomeni.

“Europe has decided to stop thousands of people from moving through Greece but it did not properly plan how to address their basic needs. This was a fully predictable crisis caused by the deliberate neglect of European governments and institutions.”

“Near the Albanian border, in Ioannina City, the Katsikas military-run camp hosts 1,500 asylum seekers who spend their days in the heat and freeze at night,” says the aid group. “They sleep in tents without mattresses and have nothing to keep warm on the cold, hard, and rocky ground.”

Due to the “squalid conditions” in Greece, MSF will no longer take money from any E.U. governments and institutions. This protest decision will cost the organization €60 million.

“For months, MSF has spoken out about a shameful European response focused on deterrence rather than providing people with the assistance and protection they need,” says Jérôme Oberreit, MSF’s international secretary general.

“The E.U.-Turkey deal goes one step further and has placed the very concept of ‘refugee’ and the protection it offers in danger. We are calling on European governments to shift priorities: rather than maximizing the number of people they can push back; they must maximize the number they welcome and protect.”

Share Your Thoughts

All comments are moderated

From The Same Issue

The articles and content about this issue

From The Same Issue

The articles and content about this issue

Extraordinary People

Dean Jerry

From This Topic

The articles and content about this topic

From This Topic

The articles and content about this topic

Explore Other Topics

Browse other coverage

Explore Other Topics

Browse other coverage

WM SPECIAL

Presents, discusses and draws readers to reflect on issues of outmost relevance to the world today.


FRONTIERS

Very often, mission is carried out in frontier situations around the world. Those who embrace these situations have much to share.


UNITY IN DIVERSITY

Writer Ilsa Reyes will be exploring the richness of Pope Francis’s latest encyclical Fratelli Tutti with a view of helping our readers to get a grasp of the this beautiful papal document.


FRONTLINE

Puts to the front committed and inspiring people around the world who embrace humanitarian and religious causes with altruism and passion.


IN FOCUS

Focus on a given theme of interest touching upon social, economic and religious issues.


FAITH@50

As the Philippines prepares to celebrate 500 years of the arrival of Christianity. Fr. James Kroeger leads us in this series into a discovery journey of the landmark events in the history of faith in the Philippine archipelago.


INSIGHT

Aims to nurture and inspire our hearts and minds while pondering upon timely themes.


FILIPINO FOCUS

The large archipelago of the Philippines, in its richness of peoples and cultures, offers varied and challenging situations for mission.


FOLLOW ME

Reflections and vocation stories that shape up the lives of young people.


MISSION IS FUN

As humor and goodness of heart are qualities of Christian and missionary life, the new column “Mission is fun” will be publishing some anecdotes and stories that have happened in a missionary context to lighten up the spirits and trigger a smile in our faces.


LIVING COMMUNION

To help readers of World Mission live this year dedicated to Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue and Indigenous Peoples, Tita Puangco, writer and lecturer, shares in this section insights on the spirituality of communion.


WINDS OF THE SPIRIT

A historic view of the Catholic movements that emerged from the grassroots as an inspiration by the Holy Spirit.


BRIDGE BUILDERS

On the Year of Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue and Indigenous Peoples, radio host and communicator Ilsa Reyes, in her monthly column, encourages Christians and people of good will to be one with their fellow people of other sects, religions and tribes.


INTERVIEW

Questions to a personality of the Church or secular world on matters of interest that touch upon the lives of people.


WORLD TOUCH

News from the Church, the missionary world and environment that inform and form the consciences.


CARE OF THE EARTH

A feature on environmental issues that are affecting the whole world with the view of raising awareness and prompting action.


EDITORIAL

The editor gives his personal take on a given topic related to the life of the Church, the society or the world.


YOUNG HEART

A monthly column on themes touching the lives of young people in the Year of the Youth in the Philippines by radio host and communicator I lsa Reyes.


SCROLL

A missionary living in the Chinese world shares his life-experiences made up of challenges and joyous encounters with common people.


EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE

Life stories of people who deserve to be known for who they were, what they did and what they stood for in their journey on earth.


ONE BY ONE

Stories of people whom a missionary met in his life and who were touched by Jesus in mysterious ways.


INCREASE OUR FAITH

Critical reflection from a Christian perspective on current issues.


SPECIAL MOMENTS

Comboni missionary Fr. Lorenzo Carraro makes a journey through history pinpointing landmark events that changed the course of humanity.


PROFILE

A biographical sketch of a public person, known for his/her influence in the society and in the Church, showing an exemplary commitment to the service of others.


WM REPORTS

Gives fresh, truthful, and comprehensive information on issues that are of concern to all.


LIFE'S ESSENTIALS

A column aimed at helping the readers live their Christian mission by focusing on what is essential in life and what it entails.


ASIAN FOCUS

Peoples, events, religion, culture and the society of Asia in focus.


THE SEARCHER'S PATH

The human heart always searches for greatness in God’s eyes, treading the path to the fullness of life - no matter what it takes.


INDIAN FOCUS

The subcontinent of India with its richness and variety of cultures and religions is given center stage.


AFRICAN FOCUS

The African continent in focus where Christianity is growing the fastest in the world.


JOURNEY MOMENTS

Well-known writer and public speaker, Fr. Jerry Orbos, accompanies our journey of life and faith with moments of wit and inspiration based on the biblical and human wisdom.


IGNATIUS STEPS

On the year dedicated to St. Ignatius of Loyala, Fr. Lorenzo Carraro walks us through the main themes of the Ignatian spirituality.


THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF JESUS

Fr. John Taneburgo helps us to meditate every month on each of the Seven Last Words that Jesus uttered from the cross.


INSIDE THE HOLY BOOK

In this section, Fr. Lorenzo delves into the secrets and depths of the Sacred Scriptures opening for us the treasures of the Sacred Book so that the reader may delight in the knowledge of the Word of God.


CONVERSATIONS

Reflections about the synodal journey on a conversational and informal style to trigger reflection and sharing about the synodal path the Church has embarked upon.

Shopping Cart