On Monday, the Home Secretary agreed that military service could be an alternative for young people who commit “petty crimes”, as the Defense Secretary has defended.
Speaking to reporters at the end of the final seminar of the Project “Improving systems for the prevention, assistance, protection and (re)integration of victims of sexual exploitation,” Margarida Blasco said that Defense Minister Nuno Melo “obviously spoke on behalf of the entire government.”
“We must recognize that all decisions are the government’s intention to implement them, adapting them to the current context, which, as you know, is very demanding,” the minister said.
The minister’s statement came after Nuno Melo at Universidade Europa defended the PSD’s political training initiative, arguing that military service could provide an alternative for young people who commit petty crimes, instead of being placed in institutions that “in most cases function only as a school criminality for life,” while at the same time he stated that there were no political conditions for reintroducing compulsory military service.
Also present at the ceremony, which took place at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the president of the Bar Association said that she was not analyzing this issue, but made it clear that “compulsory military service does not make any sense.”
Despite this, Fernanda de Almeida Pinheiro admitted that “this could be recommended (…) as an alternative punishment: instead of paying a monetary fine, which people do not always have, they prefer to perform public service.”
“And military service can be a public service that is provided if necessary and with proper registration, because I don’t even know if we have sufficient qualifications to receive this kind of service,” the president defended.
In response to a question from journalists about the 2023 Annual Report of Internal Security (RASI), which, according to the weekly Expresso, indicates an increase in crime related to human trafficking and an increase in violence from criminal networks, the Minister of Internal Affairs emphasized that the document “ not closed yet.”
“The RASI is still being finalized and will be reviewed and approved by the Supreme Council of Internal Security,” Margarida Belasco said, stressing that she will analyze the RASI data before “revising strategic guidelines.”
However, he acknowledged that “the government is concerned and will strive to implement all solutions so that crime can be reduced and combated.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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