UPR Sexual Rights Database

National Report:
Para 7) A number of comprehensive human rights policy instruments have been approved: the 4th and 5th National Plans against Domestic/Gender-Based Violence (2011-2013 and 2014-2017)

Para 11) Within the Council of Europe framework, Portugal ratified ... the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

Para 32) In February 2013, legal amendments were introduced in order to extend the concept of domestic violence to dating and other intimate relationships without cohabitation. Concerning issues of "prosecution and punishment", we recall that Portugal has accepted recommendations 103.5 and 103.6 "on the understanding that they are to be interpreted as meaning that the Government accepts to facilitate prosecution and sanction through the enactment and implementation of legislation and other administrative measures". Data on the relationship between defendant and victim in murder crimes are now collected, and efforts have been made to standardise reporting and data collection procedures (in courts, prosecution services and police stations) concerning victims of domestic violence, results of investigations and final court decisions, including the creation of a website and a database.

Para 33) Special teams to investigate crimes of domestic violence, to undertake preventive action and to deal with victims in police stations have been established. Public prosecution is developing integrated responses to accelerate the investigation of crimes of domestic violence and adequately protect victims, including women, children and the elderly. Guidelines and technical assistance are being provided to help courts assess the risk of re- occurrence of domestic violence. Violence against elderly women has recently been an issue of particular focus, with the active participation of law enforcement agencies and public prosecutors in the EU Project "Mind the Gap" (comprising research, awareness- raising and training activities, and exchange of best practices).

Para 34) Prevention efforts include measures to reduce social acceptance of domestic and gender-based violence, promote equality, eliminate gender stereotypes and empower women and girls, such as annual awareness-raising campaigns to inform women of their rights and promote their ability to report. Specific training sessions have been provided to, inter alia, social workers, public prosecutors, security forces, teachers and medical staff.

Para 35) Measures have been adopted in the area of forensic medicine, such as training courses for medical experts dealing with domestic violence cases, scientific meetings, protocols to coordinate interventions in this area and the creation of a dedicated hospital unit, with specific rules of procedure, to help victims.

Para 37) A number of provisions have been introduced to regulate aspects covered by the Act on the prevention of domestic violence and on the protection of and assistance to its victims, adopted in September 2009. These include the recognition of the status of victim (to all alleged victims as soon as a domestic violence incident is reported); the urgent nature of domestic violence proceedings (a Constitutional Court decision of 2012 has underlined the urgent nature of these cases); the use of remote surveillance means to control perpetrators (mandatory since February 2013); possibility to arrest perpetrators even if not caught in the act ...

Para 38) Prevention of re-offending through work with perpetrators is an innovative area of intervention: a pilot project in this area has been extended in order to cover the entire Portuguese territory and programmes are ongoing, within and outside prisons, to rehabilitate and reintegrate such offenders, including through the implementation of individualised plans.

Para 41) A nationwide prevention and victim protection strategy was implemented in the last decade, in partnership with civil society. This strategy included annual information campaigns: in 2010, the focus was on encouraging reporting of domestic violence; in 2011 on marital homicides; and in 2012 on vicarious victimisation. Measures adopted by law enforcement agencies, namely within community policing strategies, include an increase in the number of agents in victim-support teams, the creation and improvement of dedicated facilities for victims in police stations, and activities undertaken within the "Safe School" programme. Initiatives specifically targeted at children and youngsters include the introduction in school curricula, from the earliest grades, of contents relating to gender equality, domestic and gender-based violence.

National Report:
Para 18) (b) Adoption of a National Equality and Non-Discrimination Strategy “Portugal + Equal” – Aligned with the 2030 Agenda, it emphasises the multidimensional nature of disadvantage stemming from the intersection of various discrimination factors, such as sex with race and national or ethnic origin. It comprises three Action Plans on: (i) equality between women and men; (ii) preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, including female genital mutilation; …
Para 66) IEFP seeks to address the needs and characteristics of some vulnerable groups, including victims of domestic violence and refugees, by defining specific methodologies and procedures to help their professional integration.
Para 76) … Portugal negotiated new funding from EEA Grants that secured 7M€ for projects to promote WLB and prevent and fight VAWDV until 2024.
Para 81) ENIND/ VAWDV action plan, together with the National Support Network for DV Victims are core instruments in preventing and combating VAWDV. The new action plan focuses on six strategic goals: 1) eradicate social tolerance towards VAWDV, raise awareness and promote a culture of non-violence, HR, equality and non-discrimination; 2) support and protect by expanding and consolidating intervention; 3) intervention with perpetrators, promoting a culture of accountability; 4) train professionals and services; 5) investigate, monitor and evaluate public policies; 6) prevent and combat harmful traditional practices, in particular FGM and early, forced and child marriages.
Para 82) Portuguese law provides a complete and comprehensive legal framework on the investigation and prosecution of the crime of DV. Article 152 of CC, which defines the crime of DV, was recently amended by Law 44/2018, adding a new aggravating circumstance: the dissemination, on the Internet or by any other means of public dissemination, of personal data, namely image or sound, regarding the privacy of one of the victims without his/her consent. In this case, the penalty is increased.
Para 83) All governmental areas must make specific yearly budget allocations for VAWDV prevention and fight, which increased 67% between 2017 and 2019.
Para 84) Following the CoE’s Group of Experts on Action against VAWDV evaluation in January 2019, Portugal is preparing legislative measures to implement GREVIO’s recommendations.
Para 85) Collection of DV data is foreseen by Law 129/2015, which created a DV Database under the responsibility of the Secretariat General of MAI.
Para 86) Each year, MAI produces a report on DV cases, based on information from the Police, with sex disaggregated data. A standard notification and a risk assessment tool are applied all over the country since November 2014, which allows for the collection of more accurate and detailed statistics. Data is available on MAI’s website. Official justice statistics are collected by the Ministry of Justice (MJ) and are available online.
Para 87) Situations of homicide in the context of DV are subject to a retrospective analysis directed at implementing new preventive methodologies and due procedures.
Para 88) The new VAWDV action plan aims to improve statistics and knowledge on the issue through the creation of sectorial statistical indicators, a survey on gender-based violence and promotion of evaluation studies.
Para 89) Effective access to complaint mechanisms is reinforced by Law 112/2009, which establishes the RNAVVD, composed by the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, the Social Security Institute, shelters, victim’s support services, other public administration bodies and a national helpline.
Para 90) Law 104/2009 foresees the right of victims of DV to have effective access to compensation mechanisms and allows for the advanced payment of the total compensation amount when the victim of DV is in a situation of financial hardship.
Para 91) Victims’ rights have been enhanced, with the new Victim’s Statute (see chapter B) and the elimination of legal costs for victims of DV and of FGM.
Para 92) Article 67-A of the CCP enshrines a broader concept of “victim” which includes not only the person directly affected by the crime but also family members who suffered as a result of that crime.
Para 93) Reporting cases is encouraged in various ways. DV is a public crime; therefore, a number of public entities are competent for receiving complaints, in person or online. GNR and PSP have special rooms for victims support services (SAV; 447 in total). New police stations and the ones that will be subject to structural intervention will have SAV.
Para 94) Several campaigns to disseminate CIG helpline and RNAVVD services are carried out every year and a mobile application was launched (see below).
Para 95) After placing a formal complaint, victims are granted a status of special vulnerability and DV victim and are entitled to support measures.
Para 96) The RNAVVD foresees support centres and short and long-term shelters, according to the different levels of risk assessment, and present various types of interventions to victims and their children.
Para 97) Portugal has 40 shelters for women and minors, including one for men with 6 vacancies, shelters for disabled women and women with mental illnesses (totalling 17 vacancies). There are 26 emergency centres for women including 1 for men and 1 for LGBTI people.
Para 98) There are 122 support centres, including for women victims of sexual violence, for men victims of DV and sexual abuse, and LGBTI people.
Para 99) Since 2016, the Government is reinforcing the RNAVVD namely through partnerships with municipalities, local authorities and NGOs, to ensure nationwide coverage and suitability of the network according to territorial specificities. New regulations were adopted in 2018 concerning RNAVVD’s organisation and functioning in terms of counselling, emergency housing and shelters for DV victims.
Para 100) CIG developed a “Resource Guide” and launched, in 2017, the AppVD mobile application, which provides information on all the support services available, ways to file a complaint or to request information.
Para 101) Regarding NHS, Order 5655/2017 reinforced the integrated intervention model of interpersonal violence throughout the lifecycle and teams for adult violence prevention mechanisms and clarified some of their functioning issues.
Para 102) To reinforce training of relevant professionals, namely in the justice (prosecutors, judges, lawyers, court clerks), security forces and health areas (medical doctors, nurses, administrative staff), CIG established protocols to provide more adequate training opportunities.
Para 103) Law 72/2015 and Law 96/2017 (see chapter B) consider DV as a crime of priority prevention and investigation. 104. In 2018, the Prosecutor General established a WG on DV to outline its DV strategy, including the adoption of best practices and the standardisation of procedures in criminal courts, and in family and children’s courts.
Para 105) Investigation and prosecution of DV victims has been increasing, as well as the number of persons convicted for this crime in first instance criminal courts: from 1.661 in 2014 to 1.909 in 2017125 .
Para 106) Under the EEA Grants, a study will be initiated in 2019 to assess the efficacy of measures applied to perpetrators and identify needs for improvement.
Para 107) The economic rights of DV victims are given special consideration under Law 112/2009, which includes measures aimed at ensuring their financial subsistence and autonomy.
Para 108) Victims in economic hardship can benefit from the Social Integration Income; DV victims’ requests are subject to priority analysis.
Para 109) A Best Practices Guide for Business on the Prevention and Combat of Domestic Gender Violence was launched in 2016. Several workshops and conferences on prevention and combat to DV and its costs in the private sector targeted at companies, business associations, trade unions and other private sector actors have been organised.
Para 126) Under the 5th National Plan against DV, security forces organised awareness raising and counselling programs for older persons as potential victims of crime, namely on preventing fraud and other types of crimes, with a special focus on women that are particularly vulnerable, such as those living in rural areas. ENIND foresees a specific goal on promoting the empowerment of women and men in situations of social and economic vulnerability, including the elderly, and projects to improve DV intervention with older women.
Para 169) The Centre for Judicial Studies provides training on HR to judges and public prosecutors on, inter alia, the jurisprudence of the European Court of HR, …, DV, FGM, …

Stakeholder Summary:
Para 28) EU-FRA noted that the Civil Code was amended to allow for the Public Prosecutor to consider imposing protection orders due to domestic violence, when initiating and deciding on parental responsibilities.