The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) has acknowledged the “significant progress” Portugal has made in recent years in implementing concrete measures to combat violence against women, as highlighted in a report released today.
Nevertheless, the report asserts the necessity for “urgent action in certain areas” to fully comply with the Istanbul Convention.
The Istanbul Convention is the common abbreviation for the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
This international treaty, focused on protecting women from all forms of violence and discrimination, was ratified by Portugal in 2013.
Despite the progress, experts urge Portuguese authorities to adopt measures to “address various gaps in the Convention’s implementation,” highlighting as a “priority” the issue of “light and disproportionate sanctions issued by the judiciary, particularly concerning domestic and sexual violence.”
“To tackle this issue, GREVIO urges authorities to introduce mandatory initial and ongoing training for members of the judiciary on all forms of violence against women covered by the convention,” the document states.
Regarding the judiciary, experts argue the need to “combat patriarchal attitudes still present in some members of the judiciary, which prioritize protecting family unity over the rights of victims.”
Additionally, they emphasize that “parental alienation syndrome should not be used in family proceedings with a history of domestic violence.”
In terms of specialized support services, GREVIO expresses concern that Portugal still lacks a national hotline dedicated to women victims of all forms of violence operating 24/7, which represents a “significant gap in the Convention’s implementation.”
The report points to the necessity for more shelter spaces for families, as the Convention’s requirements suggest “one place for a family per 10,000 inhabitants,” urging an increase in the overall availability of specialized support services for women victims over the medium and long term.
The group of experts calls on national authorities to remove the requirement for accessing shelters conditioned on reporting violence and to swiftly eliminate the condition that requires rape to be reported to authorities within six to twelve months after the crime as “a prerequisite for opening an investigation.”
“Lastly, GREVIO believes it’s urgent to review the emergency barring orders and protection orders, as currently, emergency barring orders take 48 hours to be obtained and can only be issued by a judge within the proceedings of an ongoing criminal case, which experts deem as not providing immediate protection to victims,” the report emphasizes.
In assessing the measures implemented since 2019, GREVIO acknowledges Portugal’s “remarkable long-term efforts invested across different sectors.”
“GREVIO welcomes several criminal law reforms, notably the adoption of a consent-based definition of rape,” the report states, while also “commending the authorities’ successful efforts” in the health sector, notably with the violence prevention teams present in all hospitals and health centers across the country.
The report praises awareness measures regarding the issue of female genital mutilation and highlights “the positive effect on victim confidence brought by victim support offices integrated into the work of the public prosecutor’s offices.”
