THE SITUATION FACING ETHNIC MINORITIESIN EACH 
COUNTRY (PORTUGAL)

The vulnerability of ethnic minority groups to situations of poverty and social exclusion is self-evident and thoroughly documented. In Portugal it is estimated that 15% of those living in poverty in an urban setting are from an ethnic minority.

The daily existence of the majority of these individuals is essentially characterised by precarious labour conditions. Employment generally takes the form of unskilled labour in the most marginal sectors of the economy due to poor academic qualifications resulting from high failure and early school dropout rates and to a lack of access to information and ignorance of their own rights.
Added to these factors there are other more subjective ones of a cultural nature that keep minority groups from participating in the Portuguese society and taking advantage of their socially recognised rights. These cultural and subjective characteristics are found in minority groups’ resistance and adaptation to adverse living conditions. They are also, however, the product of mutual ignorance on the part of minority and majority groups that gives rise to hostile reactions rooted in the prejudice characterising the behaviours and attitudes of both sides.

For the most part, Roma communities in Portugal are excluded groups that remain marginalized from the effective exercise of their rightful citizenship. They live within a reality that wavers between the obligation of total acculturation and the desire to preserve their cultural identity.

Poverty and Social Exclusionl

The notion of poverty specifically related to the material aspects of precarious situations has been set aside to make way for the concept of social exclusion that “allows for the simultaneous designation of the processes and situations they give rise to […] with greater precision than the term poverty […]. This new notion sheds light on the multi-dimensional nature of the mechanisms by virtue of which individuals, groups and territories find themselves excluded from participating in the exchange, practices and social rights that constitute social integration and therefore one’s identity.”

The fact is that in Portugal the traditional profile of poverty has been undergoing significant change. Although the majority of Portugal’s “poor” continue to be the aged, farm workers, day labourers and the least qualified and poorest paid workers in industry and services, data from the 1995 family budget survey points to the appearance of new categories of poor emerging from dynamics related to the country’s economic development during the course of the last few decades.

It is for this reason that today’s reality calls for a concept of social exclusion that is, above all, flexible in light of the rapid changes taking place. Although similar characteristics can be found throughout social history, no one can deny that the last few decades have been characterised by prolific changes that have altered the face of poverty and social exclusion in Europe.

Minorities and immigrants

Migratory phenomena in Portugal are nothing new. During the course of several decades, the Portuguese were active emigrants.

April 25th 1975 marked a turning point in this situation – Portugal became the destination of choice for thousands of “returnees” from the former colonies leading to profound changes in the structure of the Portuguese population. Until that date, the ethnic composition of the population was relatively homogeneous (with the exception of Roma and Cape Verdian communities).

The immigrants entering Portugal today are not limited to unskilled labourers from African countries. An underdetermined number of immigrants with mid-level or higher academic qualifications are arriving from Eastern European countries.

Statistics up to 31 December 1999 show that there are 190,869 foreign nationals legally residing in Portugal according to the information furnished by the Foreign National and Border Service.

With respect to the nationalities of foreign residents, the largest percentage is from Africa and Europe (47 and 30% respectively). The data obtained between January and July 2001 (date of the latest “extraordinary regularisation”) show that the tables have turned as regards immigration: the Ukrainians have become the third most numerous community following the Cape Verdians and the Brazilians.

As for the professional activity carried out (based on the 1999 data), more than half of the foreign nationals legally residing in Portugal had steady work related to the transformation industries (non-differentiated operators), followed by specialists in the scientific and technical professions and liberal professions or similar .

As regards the Roma ethnic minority, whose presence in national territory dates back to the 15th century, evidence shows that it is one of the social groups most vulnerable to situations of exclusion, poverty and social disqualification. The Roma communities are especially vulnerable to exclusion mechanisms, face precarious housing conditions, fail to attain academic or professional credentials and are afforded deficient access to health care services and the mainstream labour market.

Distributed throughout the whole of Portugal, estimates of their numbers vary between 30,000 and 92,000 ; these are very imprecise figures due to the fact that they are theoretically full-fledged citizens identified in the census as Portuguese and not as Roma.

Belonging to a minority group with its own values and lifestyle different from those of the dominating majority, gives rise to cultural and social discrepancies that develop into phenomena of social stigmatisation in the eyes of the majority group and creates a tendency towards cloistering and resistance on the part of the minority group as it attempt to survive culturally.