The President of the Republic warned on Tuesday that domestic violence “remains a serious problem” in Portuguese society, saying victims were “afraid to report” the consequences of the complaint.
Speaking to reporters at the end of another edition of the Musicians in Belém Palace initiative, the head of state was asked about the figures released on Tuesday about violence between couples.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that “this is a problem that remains serious in Portuguese society”, primarily “due to the lack of complaints, fear of condemnation, fear of the consequences of condemnation, the difficulty of creating – which are created gradually – support and the creation of structures for those who condemns those who suffer from this kind of violence.”
In a statement released Tuesday on the occasion of Valentine’s Day, GNR indicated that there were 1,421 reported dating violence crimes in 2022, up 28.5% from 2021.
According to the security forces, 17% of registered cases are associated with minors under 25 years old.
The Public Security Police (PSP) also announced on Tuesday that it registered 2,109 complaints of dating violence in 2022, up 10% from five years.
The PSP specified that between 2018 and 2022 it received 10,480 complaints of dating violence, with the majority of the victims being women.
According to the PSP, in 2018 there were 1920 complaints, next year – 2185, in 2020 their number decreased to 2051, in 2021 – again to 2215 complaints, and last year the number of complaints decreased again, 2109 complaints were registered.