Lack of access to justice for trafficking victims in Portugal worries Council of Europe

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Delays in regularising the status of migrants in Portugal are hampering access to justice and criminal proceedings against traffickers, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) warned on Tuesday.

In a report published on Tuesday on the situation in 2023 in the countries that make up the Council of Europe, GRETA expressed concern about the “difficulties for undocumented migrants in accessing legal assistance due to the long waiting times for obtaining residency” in Portugal.

“Access to legal aid and free legal assistance is essential to facilitate and guarantee access to justice”, said GRETA President Helga Gayer, adding that this resource “is not available for some of the victims of human trafficking, nor for all relevant cases.”

In Portugal “the procedure to be declared eligible for legal aid by the Social Security Institute can take several months” and access is forbidden to “foreign victims of trafficking in human beings” if “they do not have a residence permit and a social security number”, the report states.

In the Portuguese case, victims “have the right to free access to the national health system and to psychological support”, but there is still a lot to be done on the judicial front, the main focus of GRETA’s report for 2023.

Despite this, “the number of prosecutions and convictions for trafficking in human beings has increased” and magistrates are “obliged to update their qualifications through continuous training” which includes “a specific training course” on the subject, the report also reads.

“Victims of trafficking in human beings are considered particularly vulnerable victims in criminal proceedings” in Portugal and “have the right to make statements for future reference”, still at the pre-trial stage, which can be used in the trial, the report continues.

However, in the report’s introduction the president of GRETA pointed out that in all countries there is “a lack of trained and specialised lawyers to represent victims of trafficking” and, in many cases, immigrants also face “obstacles to effective access to the labour market, which makes them vulnerable to further exploitation.”

Lack of access to a regulated residence status or a simple bank account are some of the factors, she said, and she is concerned about the “low number of criminal prosecutions and convictions for trafficking in human beings.”

In many court cases, “human trafficking cases are reclassified as other offences that carry lighter sentences and deprive victims of access to certain rights,” Gayer stressed.

In 2023, the group looked into the judicial systems of various Council of Europe member countries.

The report also includes a specific section on “preventing and detecting cases of human trafficking among people displaced by Russia’s war against Ukraine”.

In 2024, GRETA plans to visit Ukraine to “assess directly on the ground the consequences of the war on the fight against trafficking in human beings, including the issue of forced transfers and deportations of children”.

(Paulo Agostinho | Lusa.pt)