In 2023, the Polícia Judiciária organized a 12-hour training course promoted by a number of civil society associations, including the Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV), ILGA, Commission for Equality and Against Racial Discrimination (CICDR), and the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG).
The Office of the Prosecutor-General published guidelines for prosecutors on the exercise of professional duties in line with the latest report on Portugal issued by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). The High Council of Public Prosecutors was also informed of the training needs identified by CERD to ensure the judiciary's effective knowledge and concrete implementation of the norms inscribed in ICERD. These training needs will be reported to the Centre for Judiciary Studies so that the CERD's recommendations may be reflected in the initial and in-service training curricula for judges and prosecutors.
As of 2023, there are nine victim support organizations in operation in Portugal, specifically in Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Faro, Leiria, Lisbon-West, Lisbon-North, Lisbon-South, and Porto-East. By 2024, one more will open in Setúbal. On 28 August 2023, priorities and guidelines for criminal policy, 2023-2025, were established in line with Article 8 of Law no. 51/2023, which also provides for the creation of two support offices for victims of gender-based violence in each calendar year.
The UN Universal Periodic Review Working Group published relevant recommendations in its "Portugal. Compilation of information prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights".
ODIHR recognizes Portugal's efforts to report hate crime information and data to ODIHR. However, based on the available information, ODIHR observes that law enforcement agencies have not recorded the bias motivations behind hate crimes and that Portugal's hate crime statistics do not sufficiently distinguish hate crimes from other crimes. In addition, ODIHR observes that Portugal would benefit from raising awareness among and building the capacity of criminal justice officials to address hate crime.
ODIHR recalls that in Ministerial Council Decision 9/09, OSCE participating States agreed to a definition of hate crime shared by all OSCE participating States, and committed to collecting reliable data and statistics on hate crimes, as well as to promptly investigating hate crimes and ensuring that the motives of those convicted of hate crimes are acknowledged. To that end, law enforcement agencies must first record the bias motivations behind hate crimes. Participating States also committed to introducing or further developing professional training and capacity-building activities for law enforcement, prosecution and judicial officials dealing with hate crimes.
ODIHR stands ready to support Portugal in meeting its relevant commitments through the provision of comprehensive resources and tailored assistance in the area of hate crime recording and data collection, as well as by providing further resources and tailored capacity-building assistance for police, prosecution, and judiciary.
🛈 Please note that the total number of incidents may be lower than the sum of incidents presented in the breakdown chart above, as some incidents involve multiple bias motivations.
🛈 ODIHR no longer presents descriptions of property attacks in the incident tables below. Data on property attacks are presented in the breakdown charts above. One property attack may target multiple properties or involve multiple types of attack.