Access to justice for victims of human trafficking in Portugal worries Council of Europe

GRETA was concerned about the “difficulties in accessing legal assistance for undocumented migrants due to long waiting times to obtain residency”

The Group of Experts against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), of the Council of Europe, warned this Tuesday that delays in the regularization of immigrants in Portugal hinder access to justice and criminal proceedings against traffickers.

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

According to Helga Gayer, president of Greta, “access to legal assistance and free legal assistance is essential to facilitate and guarantee access to justice”, but this resource “is not available to some victims of human trafficking, nor to all relevant processes”.

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

In the Portuguese case, victims “have the right to free access to the National Health System and to obtain psychological support”, but there is still much to be done at the judicial level, the main focus of the GRETA report, referring to 2023.

Despite this, “the number of criminal prosecutions and convictions for trafficking in human beings has increased” and judges are “obliged to update their qualifications through continuous training” which includes “a training course” specific to the topic, highlights the report.

Furthermore, in Portugal, GRETA states, the “statute of particularly vulnerable victims” was published, which includes victims of trafficking, with “very complete” information, which indicates not only which rights are guaranteed, but also how to access them in practice, including the rights to legal assistance, compensation, protective measures, translation or interpretation”.

“Victims of human trafficking are considered particularly vulnerable victims in criminal proceedings” in Portugal and “have the right to provide statements for future reference”, even in the pre-trial phase, which can be used in the trial.

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

The lack of access to a regulated residence status or a simple bank account are some of the factors, explained the person responsible, who is concerned about the “low number of criminal actions and convictions for trafficking in human beings”.

In many judicial cases, cases “of human trafficking are reclassified as other offenses that imply lighter sentences and deprive victims of access to certain rights”, highlighted the president of GRETA.

During 2023, the group carried out several analyzes of the European council countries, with a particular focus on the behavior of the judicial system.

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

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