A joint communiqué by the ministers of Internal Administration, Deputy and Parliamentary Affairs, Labour, Solidarity and Social Security and the Secretary of State for European Affairs highlights that Portugal is the second member state of the European Union that has received most unaccompanied children and young people from Greece, under the European voluntary relocation program of CJENA.

“With this group of young people now hosted by Portugal, the European Commission reaches the symbolic number of 5,000 relocated to European countries from refugee camps in Greece, in an effort that began in March 2020, following an appeal from the Greek government”, reads the statement.

According to the Executive, Portugal has played a decisive role since the beginning of this process in the commitments assumed by the European Commission, hosting a total of 286 children and young people not accompanied by this program until today.

The Government underlines that it is “an effort that the country will continue with, awaiting the arrival of new groups of children and young people, aiming at the national commitment to welcome up to 500 young people from these camps”.

This work has been coordinated, in the field, by the High Commissioner for Migration, the Foreigners and Borders Service and the Social Security Institute, together with Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Lisbon, with Casa Pia in Lisbon.