Leaders of the UN’s 193 member states on Monday approved the New York Declaration, which aims to lay the foundations for better treatment of refugees and migrants.
Recalling the history of his country, Santos Silva said that “Portugal has always welcomed those who arrive as forces for positive change.”
The minister was speaking at a meeting on international action and cooperation with refugees and migrants, which was taking place alongside the international summit on the subject.
Santos Silva said that Portugal takes “the sharing of responsibilities seriously” and that, as well as accepting 4,486 refugees under a European Union scheme, has volunteered to take in a further 5,800 people.
“This is also a sign of solidarity with our partners who are most affected by the migrant flows,” he added.
Among good practices that he said were important, Santos Silva cited “developing strategies of positive integration that counter the scourge of racism and xenophobia” and said that in Portugal “detention centres are avoided and in their place the integration of refugees in the community are favoured”.
Refugees and migrants also have access to the National Health Service and to state education on equal terms with any Portuguese citizen, he stressed.
Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who is also in New York for the UN General Assembly session this week, had made similar comments at the main summit.
“So far as integration goes, Portugal ensures the access of the children of all migrants to the public education and health systems,” he said. “It does not matter if there are regular or irregular [migrants] in the eyes of the law of the land.”