Portugal
Portugal regularly reports information on hate crimes to ODIHR. The Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor's Office collect data on hate crime. Portuguese civil society and government agencies participated in a two-year European Commission-funded project "Hate No More" to develop training and increase awareness of hate crime and victims' needs among communities, the public and officials. A protocol signed by Portugal's Centre for Judiciary Studies, the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), and the Council of Europe aims to promote training related to hate crimes and to develop a good practice guide on hate crimes.
In 2018, the Ministry of Justice, ODIHR and the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights co-organized a workshop to improve hate crime recording and data collection, based on ODIHR's Information Against Hate Crimes Toolkit (INFAHCT). The workshop resulted in a set of recommendations for relevant state authorities. In the same year, the Portuguese Association for Victim Support published a handbook entitled "Hate no more - Support for Victims of Hate Crimes", which was developed jointly with the Attorney General's Office, the Judiciary Police and the CIG.
OFFICIAL DATA
| Year | Hate crimes recorded by police | Prosecuted | Sentenced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 150 | 5 | 3 |
| 2020 | 132 | Not available | Not available |
| 2019 | 82 | - | - |
| 2018 | 63 | Not available | Not available |
| 2017 | 48 | Not available | Not available |
| 2016 | - | - | 0 |
| 2015 | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 2014 | 21 | 21 | Not available |
| 2013 | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 2012 | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 2011 | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 2010 | Not available | Not available | Not available |
| 2009 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
About 2017 Data
-
The number of cases recorded by the police refers to crime of racial or religious discrimination only and therefore includes incidents of hate speech and discrimination, which fall outside of the scope of the OSCE definition of hate crimes. The judiciary has data on the crimes of murder and grievous bodily harm aggravated by bias, however, these cannot be reported as their number does not exceed three.
Hate crime recorded by police
KEY OBSERVATION
ODIHR observes that the law enforcement agencies of Portugal have not recorded the bias motivations of hate crimes.
INCIDENTS REPORTED BY OTHER SOURCES
Anti-Muslim hate crime
| Date | Type of incident | Source | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-02 | Attacks against property | SETA
|
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Anti-LGBTI hate crime
| Date | Type of incident | Source | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-06 | Attacks against property | ILGA Portugal
ILGA-Europe
|
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| 2017-01 | Threats | ILGA Portugal
ILGA-Europe
|
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| 2017-05 | Violent attacks against people | ILGA Portugal
ILGA-Europe
|
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INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Racist and xenophobic hate crime
In its "Fifth report on Portugal", the Council of Europe's European Commission against Racism and Intolerance commended the appointment of four specialized hate crime prosecutors. ECRI recommended that the authorities adopt a broad definition of hate crime based on victims' perceptions and put in place a set of guidelines enabling improved registration and effective processing of such incidents, as well as the production of reliable statistics.