Number of underage victims of human trafficking flagged in Portugal due to the pandemic | Human rights
The signaling of minors victims of human trafficking in Portugal decreased last year due to changes in mobility due to the pandemic, indicates the Observatory for Trafficking in Human Beings (OTSH).
The annual report, released on the day that marks the European Day to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, emphasizes that “2020 marks a decrease in the number of minors, partially explained by the decrease in situations detected in ‘traffic’, a space where in the last years more have been shown to be minors”.
The document maintains that this decrease “cannot be ignored as measures of confinement/limitation to mobility around the world, in addition to the ban on air traffic to and from Portugal on all flights to and from countries outside the Union. European Union, with certain exceptions, namely the Portuguese-speaking countries”.
According to the report, last year six cases of minors victims of human trafficking by minors were reported, five of which were female and from African countries.
The OTSH also reports that the signs of minors were for the purposes of adoption and domestic servitude. The quick report that, similarly to 2019, as signs in “transit country” continues to register minors nationals of African countries.
The OTSH document indicates that last year 229 situations related to human trafficking in Portugal were flagged, 52 fewer records compared to 2019, when there were 281 signs.
The document states that most of the signals refer to Portugal (219), less 42 records compared to 2019, while abroad were registered nine cases of Portuguese, ten less compared to 2019. Most of the presumable harvests flagged last year were adult and male.