Between 2008 and 2022, 725 crimes related to human trafficking were reported in Portugal, with an increase of 107% in those two years, leading to the prosecution of 284 defendants, mostly Portuguese, and the conviction of 157 people.
According to the Trafficking in Persons Bulletin: Justice Statistics 2008–2022, which is administered by the Observatory against Trafficking in Persons (OTSH) and whose source is the General Directorate of Judicial Policy/Ministry of Justice, Portuguese police authorities recorded 725 cases of trafficking in persons. crimes, which is 0.3% of the total number of crimes against personal freedom.
“Comparing the number of crimes related to human trafficking recorded in the two most recent years (2008 and 2022), the difference in the world was more than 107%,” the document says.
During these 15 years, 466 suspects were identified, mostly men (78%) aged 25 years or older (515).
As a result, almost 80 criminal cases were opened, bringing the total number of defendants to 284, the majority of them Portuguese and male.
“If you look at the age group, Portuguese men are between 40 and 49 years old, while foreign men are between 30 and 39 years old,” OTSH said.
It also said 157 people had been convicted of human trafficking offences, most of them also Portuguese and male, while 36 women were also registered.
It also adds that “between 2013 and 2022, the majority of convicted prisoners were male and of Portuguese nationality, aged 21 years or older,” and “as for convicted females, the majority were foreign nationals of Portuguese nationality, also age group 21 years and older.”
The majority of these crimes were recorded by police in the central region of the country, the Lisbon metropolitan area and the Alentejo, with the latter region recording the “highest number of crimes”.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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