Immigration and social protection: inclusion policies in Portugal

A conference on immigration and social protection, organised by the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas and the Observatory of Migration, will take place in Portugal on 17 February.

The conference will include a presentation by Edward Koning, University of Guelph in Canada, of the book The exclusion of immigrants from welfare programs. The book stems from international project The exclusion of immigrants from welfare programs: Cross-national analysis and contemporary developments, coordinated by Koning, which had as its starting point the results of the Immigrant Exclusion from Social Programs Index (IESPI). The IESPI used 25 indicators to measure immigrant access to 7 social policies in 22 countries, in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2015. In this index, Portugal stands out as the country with the fastest and most surprising evolution.

The conference will also see a presentation by Doctor Catarina Reis Oliveira and Professor João Peixoto entitled Why choose the inclusionary path? Social policy in a recent welfare and immigration country: the case of Portugal. There will be a panel discussion as well, with Sónia Pereira, High Commissioner for Migration, Cyntia de Paula, Representative of the Brazilian Community on the Council for Migration, and Jorge Malheiros, Citizen of Recognised Merit of the Council for Migration.

Registration is obligatory, but free of charge.