Mobility and rights in the Portuguese-speaking world: A lusophone citizenship in bits and pieces

Abstract

Enhanced international mobility has been a goal of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries since its inception in 1996. The Community (hereinafter, CPLP) was established to foster cooperation among states which have Portuguese as official language, also known as Lusophone states –Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe (founding members), Timor-Leste and Equatorial Guinea (admitted in 2002 and 2014,respectively). Despite the geographic dispersion and significant disparities in levels of socioeconomic and institutional development among the member states, there was always much emphasis on a sense of community and belonging, with CPLP appearing as the institutionalisation of a pre-political reality based on affection, as the ‘political face’ of the Lusophone world, and the like. CPLP’s Constitutive Declaration made abundant references to the bloc’s historic ties and distinctive identity, while stressing the need to strengthen the solidarity and fraternity bonds among all Lusophone peoples through inter alia the promotion of measures designed to facilitate the mobility of member states’ citizens within the CPLP area. ‘Lusophone citizenship’ continues to be part of CPLP parlance but is used mostly as a figure of speech to refer to (special) rights enjoyed by member states’ nationals in the territory of other member states. Only Cape Verde and (since 2008) Guinea-Bissau recognise the status as such in their domestic laws, and the trail of failed attempts does not bode well for the possibility of establishing a separate legal status at CPLP level, either as Lusophone or CPLP citizenship. There have, nevertheless, been important legal developments over the years, and there is a considerable number of ways in which mobility and rights are accessible to member states’ nationals in the CPLP area, under multilateral or bilateral agreements and domestic provisions. This chapter pieces together the statuses (formally) enjoyed by member states’ nationals when moving in the CPLP area and compares the content of those statuses to that which is expected from Lusophone citizenship, as indicated in draft treaties, policy documents and academic debates on the topic. For context, the analysisis preceded by a brief look into CPLP history and the origins of the concept of Lusophone citizenship.