A delegation of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) visited Portugal from 17 to 21 June 2024 as the first step in the preparation of a monitoring report. During the visit, ECRI’s delegation gathered information on effective equality and access to rights; hate speech and hate-motivated violence; and integration and inclusion.

The delegation held meetings with representatives of the national government, the Portuguese Ombudsman, representatives of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), other public bodies, as well as representatives of civil society organisations and groups of concern to ECRI.

The ECRI delegation also visited the ‘neighbourhood of Pedreiras’ (bairro das Pedreiras) in Beja, where it met civil society actors working on Roma equality and inclusion and spoke with the residents.

Following this visit, ECRI will adopt a report in which it will make a new set of recommendations on measures to be taken by the authorities to address racism and intolerance in the country. The implementation of two priority recommendations will be reviewed within two years after the publication of the report as part of ECRI’s interim follow-up procedure.

In the context of these two priority recommendations, it was indicated that:

• The authorities should take prompt and resolute action to ensure decent and safe housing conditions for Roma people living in substandard settlements, including shanty towns, all while seeking long-term housing solutions for them, in close consultation with Roma communities.

• The authorities should develop and adopt adequate tools, including protocols and standard operating procedures, with the aim of assisting law enforcement agencies in effectively and consistently processing hate incidents and hate crimes. The adoption of such protocols and procedures should be combined with the development of related training programmes for all relevant law enforcement officials and other criminal justice professionals. In this context, due account should be taken of the Recommendation of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on combating hate crime (CM/Rec(2024)4).

For more information on previous ECRI reports on Portugal, please visit ECRI’s country monitoring page.