Portugal created the Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia

Carina Dantas & Juliana Louceiro, SHINE 2Europe

Teresa Pizarro Beleza, coordinator of the portuguese Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia

On March 17th, the Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia in Portugal was officially formalized, and in its inauguration, the coordinator defended that there is structural racism in Portugal and that it would even be strange that it did not exist, given the colonialist past of the country.

Its mission will be the production, collection, processing and dissemination of information and knowledge on racism, xenophobia and discrimination in the various areas and sectors covered by the National Plan to Combat Racism and Discrimination 2021-2025 – Portugal against Racism.

This is an important step to debate and implement measures to tackle this social problem. The project partners welcome this measure and are very hopeful about the results that may emerge in the near future.