MPs this Wednesday approved a hearing by Undersecretary for Parliamentary Affairs Ana Catarina Méndez of the GNR, PSP and others on the “increase in dating violence” in Portugal.
Chega’s request was approved under the abstained PCP in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees and includes, in addition to the Minister, the Union of Women of Alternative and Response (UMAR), the Portuguese Association for the Support of Victims (APAV). , Association of Women Against Violence (AMCV), National Republican Guard (GNR), Public Security Police (PSP), and Commission on Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG).
At the request of the PS, three organizations were involved in these hearings: the Portuguese Association of Women Lawyers (APMJ), the Plano I Association and the Casa Qui Association.
Presenting the statement, Chega parliamentary leader Pedro Pinto considered it important to understand during these hearings whether the increase in complaints of dating violence means that people are more willing to report it, or whether there is a real increase in these situations.
“It is important that we are talking about a problem that, unfortunately, is real,” he added.
PSD MP Emilia Cerqueira also considered this issue important, emphasizing that it is a “permanent concern” of the Social Democrats and stressed the need to take preventive measures and combat this phenomenon.
PS’s Patricia Faro offered to hear three objects that were added to the request and stressed that the socialists had followed the evolution of “this growing, emerging and dynamic phenomenon”.
“And from this point of view, there is always a problem that we are trying to understand, and how we can deal with it,” he said.
On February 14, in a Valentine’s Day statement, the NDP said that in 2022, there were 1,421 dating violence crimes across all age groups in its area of responsibility – a 28.5% increase from 2021 – indicating that 244 of the victims were under the age of 24.
According to GNR, the consequence of this type of violence at an early age can be the acceptance of this violence in the future, compromising the victims involved, their families and society as a whole.
The Public Security Police (PSP) also announced on the same day that it had registered 2,109 complaints of dating violence in 2022, a 10% increase over five years.
The PSP says it received 10,480 dating violence complaints between 2018 and 2022, with the majority of victims being women.
According to the PSP, 1,920 complaints were registered in 2018, 2,185 the following year, decreased to 2,051 in 2020, 2,215 in 2021, and dropped again last year to 2,109. complaints.
Police note that dating violence takes on physical, psychological, social, sexual, and economic dimensions, and that violence can be carried out through insults, threats, insults, aggression, humiliation, stalking, or intimacy intrusions.
The PSP urges victims, as well as those closest to them, to be aware of signs of ongoing pressure, such as isolation from family and friends at the behest of the aggressor.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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