Portugal The majority of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation is Brazilian

October 9, 2007

Comment: The Portuguese media reacted the very first day of the international conference “Trafficking in Human Beings and Gender”, organized in Porto by the EU Presidency (see the announcement here). The article from 'Publico' describes the findings of a study presented by the Center for Social Studies from the University of Coimbra.

If most of the victims are coming from Brazil (passing through Madrid and Paris airports), the second region of origin of women victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in Portugal is Eastern Europe. The third region is logically Africa, where Nigeria seems to be the first sending country.

From the interventions at the conference and from the media coverage, we can understand that Portuguese citizens discover now the phenomenon of trafficking in human beings, its globalized nature and its transnational aspects. The program of the conference was quite comprehensive, integrating several forms of exploitation, including black labor and other illegal activities such as begging and small organized crime. The necessary distinction between child trafficking and trafficking in human beings in general has been made by both child rights NGOs: Terre des hommes and Save the children.

The international event started with a video conference from Brussels in which Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission, declared: “Zero tolerance for the criminals, total protection for the victims.” The organizers confirmed that the conclusions of the conference will be presented on October 18, the first European anti-trafficking day.