Romani people in Portugal: Difference between revisions
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
From 1920 to 1985, the statute of the Portuguese [[gendarmerie]] (''[[Guarda Nacional Republicana]]'') determined that this military force should carry out special monitoring of the gypsy communities. Since 1985, the statute reads "nomads" instead of "gypsies" to avoid accusations of discrimination based on ethnicity.<ref name="Público 1" /> |
From 1920 to 1985, the statute of the Portuguese [[gendarmerie]] (''[[Guarda Nacional Republicana]]'') determined that this military force should carry out special monitoring of the gypsy communities. Since 1985, the statute reads "nomads" instead of "gypsies" to avoid accusations of discrimination based on ethnicity.<ref name="Público 1" /> |
||
The 1920 Regulation on the Rural Services of the Gendarmerie read "[t]he Gendarmerie staff will carry out strict surveillance on the gypsies, constantly monitoring their movements in order to prevent and punish their frequent acts of looting" (Article 182).<ref>{{cite journal |title=Decreto n.º 6950, de 20 de setembro de 1920 |journal=Diário do Governo, 1.ª série, n.º 186 |date=20 September 1920 |volume=I |issue=186 |page=1170 |url=https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/345951 |access-date=15 February 2021 |trans-title=Decree no. 6950 |language=Portuguese}}</ref> In 1980, the Council of the Revolution, following an opinion from its Constitutional Commission arguing the same, declared Articles 182 and 183 of that Regulation unconstitutional for violating the principle of equality.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Resolução n.º 179/80, de 2 de Junho de 1980 |journal=Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 127 |date=2 June 1980 |volume=I |issue=127 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=Portuguese}}</ref><ref name="1989 Judgment>{{cite journal |title=Acórdão n.º 452/89 do Tribunal Constitucional, de 22 de Julho de 1989 |journal=Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 167 |date=22 July 1989 |volume=I |issue=167 |url=https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/619923 |access-date=15 February 2021 |trans-title=Judgment no. 452/89 of the Constitutional Court |language=Portuguese}}</ref> |
The 1920 Regulation on the Rural Services of the Gendarmerie read "[t]he Gendarmerie staff will carry out strict surveillance on the gypsies, constantly monitoring their movements in order to prevent and punish their frequent acts of looting" (Article 182).<ref>{{cite journal |title=Decreto n.º 6950, de 20 de setembro de 1920 |journal=Diário do Governo, 1.ª série, n.º 186 |date=20 September 1920 |volume=I |issue=186 |page=1170 |url=https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/345951 |access-date=15 February 2021 |trans-title=Decree no. 6950 |language=Portuguese}}</ref> In 1980, the Council of the Revolution, following an opinion from its Constitutional Commission arguing the same, declared Articles 182 and 183 of that Regulation unconstitutional for violating the [[Equality before the law|principle of equality]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Resolução n.º 179/80, de 2 de Junho de 1980 |journal=Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 127 |date=2 June 1980 |volume=I |issue=127 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=Portuguese}}</ref><ref name="1989 Judgment>{{cite journal |title=Acórdão n.º 452/89 do Tribunal Constitucional, de 22 de Julho de 1989 |journal=Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 167 |date=22 July 1989 |volume=I |issue=167 |url=https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/619923 |access-date=15 February 2021 |trans-title=Judgment no. 452/89 of the Constitutional Court |language=Portuguese}}</ref> |
||
The later 1985 Regulation on the Services of the Gendarmerie, in a Section entitled "Surveillance on nomads, beggars, tramps and prostitutes" (Section XVII), prescribed "special surveillance on groups and caravans of people who usually wander from land to land doing commerce, taking part in fairs or carrying out any other activities proper of a peripatetic lifestyle" and the monitoring of "their movements in order to prevent and punish any criminal acts" (Article 81), a veiled reference to Roma as nomads in a passage that resembled that of the previous Regulation.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Portaria n.º 722/85, de 25 de Setembro de 1985 |journal=Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 221 |date=25 September 1985 |volume=I |issue=221 |url=https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/621946 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=Portuguese}}</ref> In judicial review in 1989, the [[Constitutional Court (Portugal)|Constitutional Court]] declared unconstitutional part of the section, where it allowed the officers to perform searches without warrant in the caravans, but not the ethnically discriminatory surveillance measures, although Judges Vital Moreira, Magalhães Godinho and Nunes de Almeida co-signed a dissenting opinion, asserting that the norm meant to discriminate Roma communities and was unconstitutional in its entirety for violating the principle of equality.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Amaro |first1=José Bento |title=Portaria de 1985 manda GNR vigiar nómadas e mendigos |url=https://www.publico.pt/2008/07/26/sociedade/noticia/portaria-de-1985-manda-gnr-vigiar-nomadas-e-mendigos-1336632 |access-date=15 February 2021 |work=Público |date=26 July 2008 |language=Portuguese}}</ref><ref name="1989 Judgment"/> Only in 2010 did the Government pass a new Regulation overriding the 1985 one, removing all explicit |
The later 1985 Regulation on the Services of the Gendarmerie, in a Section entitled "Surveillance on nomads, beggars, tramps and prostitutes" (Section XVII), prescribed "special surveillance on groups and caravans of people who usually wander from land to land doing commerce, taking part in fairs or carrying out any other activities proper of a peripatetic lifestyle" and the monitoring of "their movements in order to prevent and punish any criminal acts" (Article 81), a veiled reference to Roma as nomads in a passage that resembled that of the previous Regulation.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Portaria n.º 722/85, de 25 de Setembro de 1985 |journal=Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 221 |date=25 September 1985 |volume=I |issue=221 |url=https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/621946 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=Portuguese}}</ref> In judicial review in 1989, the [[Constitutional Court (Portugal)|Constitutional Court]] declared unconstitutional part of the section, where it allowed the officers to perform searches without warrant in the caravans, but not the ethnically discriminatory surveillance measures, although Judges Vital Moreira, Magalhães Godinho and Nunes de Almeida co-signed a dissenting opinion, asserting that the norm meant to discriminate Roma communities and was unconstitutional in its entirety for violating the [[Equality before the law|principle of equality]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Amaro |first1=José Bento |title=Portaria de 1985 manda GNR vigiar nómadas e mendigos |url=https://www.publico.pt/2008/07/26/sociedade/noticia/portaria-de-1985-manda-gnr-vigiar-nomadas-e-mendigos-1336632 |access-date=15 February 2021 |work=Público |date=26 July 2008 |language=Portuguese}}</ref><ref name="1989 Judgment"/> Only in 2010 did the Government pass a new Regulation overriding the 1985 one, removing all explicit or implicit mentions of specific ethnicities.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Portaria n.º 295/2010, de 1 de Junho |journal=Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 106 |date=1 June 2010 |volume=I |issue=106 |url=https://dre.pt/application/conteudo/332676 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=Portuguese}}</ref> |
||
===Integration programmes=== |
===Integration programmes=== |
||
Revision as of 20:07, 15 February 2021
The Romani people in Portugal are known by non-Romani ethnic Portuguese as ciganos (Portuguese pronunciation: [siˈɣɐnuʃ]), but are also alternatively known as calés, calós, and boémios.
As implied by some of their most common local names, the native Portuguese Romani belong to the Iberian Kale (Kalos) group, like most of the fellow Lusophone Brazilian ciganos, and the Spanish Romani people, known as gitanos, that share their same ethnic group. Their presence in the country in and around the state of minho goes back to the second half of the 15th century when they crossed the border from neighbouring Spain. Early on, due to their sociocultural differences, race and nomadic lifestyle, the ciganos were the object of fierce discrimination and persecution.[1]
The number of Romani people in Portugal is difficult to estimate, since it is forbidden to collect statistics about race or ethnic categories in the country. According to data from Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance[2] there are about 40,000 to 50,000 spread all over the country.[3] According to the Portuguese branch of Amnesty International, there are about 30,000 to 50,000.[4]
History
Legal status
After the first Romani arrived in Portugal in the turn of the 15th to the 16th century and over the following centuries there were several laws passed marginalizing the ciganos. From the early 16th century until the early 19th century, they were forbidden from entering and expelled from the country, forced into exile in the colonies, used as forced labour in the sailing ships and forbidden from using their language and traditional attire and from performing fortune telling:[5][6][7]
- By King John III in 1526 and 1538;
- By Queen Catherine, while regent, in 1557;
- By King Sebastian in 1573;
- By King Henry in 1579;
- By King Philip I in 1592 and in his Philippine Ordinations, a legal code put together in the late 16th and the early 17th century;
- By King Philip II in 1606, 1613, 1614 and 1618;
- By King John IV in 1647, 1650 and 1654;
- By King Peter II in 1689;
- By King John V in 1707, 1708, 1718 and 1745;
- By King Joseph I in 1751 and 1756;
- By Queen Mary I in 1800.
Only with the Liberal Constitution of 1822 were the Romani recognised as Portuguese citizens. From 1920 to 1985, the statute of the Portuguese gendarmerie (Guarda Nacional Republicana) determined that this military force should carry out special monitoring of the gypsy communities. Since 1985, the statute reads "nomads" instead of "gypsies" to avoid accusations of discrimination based on ethnicity.[5]
The 1920 Regulation on the Rural Services of the Gendarmerie read "[t]he Gendarmerie staff will carry out strict surveillance on the gypsies, constantly monitoring their movements in order to prevent and punish their frequent acts of looting" (Article 182).[8] In 1980, the Council of the Revolution, following an opinion from its Constitutional Commission arguing the same, declared Articles 182 and 183 of that Regulation unconstitutional for violating the principle of equality.[9][10]
The later 1985 Regulation on the Services of the Gendarmerie, in a Section entitled "Surveillance on nomads, beggars, tramps and prostitutes" (Section XVII), prescribed "special surveillance on groups and caravans of people who usually wander from land to land doing commerce, taking part in fairs or carrying out any other activities proper of a peripatetic lifestyle" and the monitoring of "their movements in order to prevent and punish any criminal acts" (Article 81), a veiled reference to Roma as nomads in a passage that resembled that of the previous Regulation.[11] In judicial review in 1989, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional part of the section, where it allowed the officers to perform searches without warrant in the caravans, but not the ethnically discriminatory surveillance measures, although Judges Vital Moreira, Magalhães Godinho and Nunes de Almeida co-signed a dissenting opinion, asserting that the norm meant to discriminate Roma communities and was unconstitutional in its entirety for violating the principle of equality.[12][10] Only in 2010 did the Government pass a new Regulation overriding the 1985 one, removing all explicit or implicit mentions of specific ethnicities.[13]
Integration programmes
In the last decade, a few governmental programmes to promote gypsy integration were launched, starting in 2013, when the Government passed the National Strategy for the Integration of the Gypsy Communities.[5]
Notable individuals
- Carlos Miguel, lawyer and politician who was the first Romani cabinet member in the country.
- Ricardo Quaresma, football player in Portugal's national team.
- Leonor Teles, award-winning filmmaker.
- Maria Severa Onofriana, or simply Severa, the first renowned fado singer.
- Artur Quaresma, former football player in the Portuguese national team.
References
- ^ (in Portuguese) Joel Serrão, Ciganos, in Dicionário de História de Portugal, Lisboa, 2006.
- ^ (in Portuguese) ECRI (2002), Relatório da Comissão Europeia contra o Racismo e a Intolerância - Segundo Relatório sobre Portugal, Estrasburgo, p. 23 (In Portuguese). Archived 2008-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ (in Portuguese) "Comissão critica Portugal por discriminar ciganos" in Diário de Notícias, 13/02/2007 Archived 2009-01-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ As reported by the newspaper Público on April 7, 2010 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2010-04-07.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link). - ^ a b c Pereira, Ana Cristina (10 Feb 2019). "Os ciganos portugueses começam a "sair da clandestinidade"" [The Portuguese Gypsies are starting to “come out of hiding”] (in Portuguese). Público. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ Mendonça, Manuela (19 Dec 2011). "Uma breve história sobre o povo cigano" [A short history of the Gypsy people]. Secretariado Diocesano de Lisboa da Obra Nacional da Pastoral dos Ciganos (in Portuguese). Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "Portugal: 500 anos a tentar expulsar os ciganos com deportações para África e Brasil" [Portugal: 500 years trying to send the Gypsies to exile in Africa and Brazil] (in Portuguese). Vortex Magazine. 17 Nov 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "Decreto n.º 6950, de 20 de setembro de 1920" [Decree no. 6950]. Diário do Governo, 1.ª série, n.º 186 (in Portuguese). I (186): 1170. 20 September 1920. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ "Resolução n.º 179/80, de 2 de Junho de 1980". Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 127 (in Portuguese). I (127). 2 June 1980.
{{cite journal}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b "Acórdão n.º 452/89 do Tribunal Constitucional, de 22 de Julho de 1989" [Judgment no. 452/89 of the Constitutional Court]. Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 167 (in Portuguese). I (167). 22 July 1989. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ "Portaria n.º 722/85, de 25 de Setembro de 1985". Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 221 (in Portuguese). I (221). 25 September 1985. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ Amaro, José Bento (26 July 2008). "Portaria de 1985 manda GNR vigiar nómadas e mendigos". Público (in Portuguese). Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- ^ "Portaria n.º 295/2010, de 1 de Junho". Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 106 (in Portuguese). I (106). 1 June 2010. Retrieved 15 February 2021.