Vast numbers of Ukrainian refugees have crossed borders to escape the horrors of war in the last month. But as things stand, they may simply be fleeing one violent situation for another: exploitation and abuse by unscrupulous employers and harsh policing.
The British public has rightly criticised the slow and meagre actions of the UK government towards settling Ukrainian refugees, but many other European nations have risen to the task of hosting the exponentially growing number of people fleeing the country. Poland, where more than two million have crossed the land border, has seen thousands of families offering to host Ukrainians in their homes. Germany has begun opening reception centres and immediately granted the right to work for adults and access to education for children. And France, Spain and Italy are expecting to receive hundreds of thousands of refugees in the coming weeks.
In Portugal, the prime minister, António Costa, has guaranteed Ukrainians seeking refuge immediate settlement and integration into Portuguese society through provision of temporary protection measures to ensure the right to work and access to social services. This is not without precedent. Portugal has been singled out recently by institutions such as the UN High Commission for Refugees and the European Commission for its provision of “exemplary refugee policies over the years” and for “leading the way in refugee hosting”. It was heralded internationally in 2020 for temporarily regularising large numbers of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to improve access [to] the national health service, social services, and work. In response to the current Ukrainian refugee crisis, Costa has affirmed his commitment to welcome refugees to Portugal with “dignified conditions… [and] concrete opportunities to work”, even launching an official governmental platform for Portuguese employers to specifically hire Ukrainian citizens.
