Food for thought on Valentine’s Day 2024
Portugal’s GNR – the main police force in non-urban areas – recorded 1,497 crimes of dating and relationship violence in all age groups, last year – 76 more than in 2022 according to data released today.
In a statement to mark Valentine’s Day, the GNR said that in 2023, in its area of responsibility, it recorded 1,497 crimes of dating and relationship violence in all age groups, with 434 of the victims of these crimes aged up to 24.
In the previous year, 1,421 such crimes had been recorded in all age groups, with 244 victims aged up to 24.
From Wednesday through Sunday, the GNR is running an awareness and prevention campaign aimed at encouraging all young people to report – and to not accept – any kind of psychological, emotional, physical, social or sexual violence.
The campaign also aims to raise awareness of the elimination of violence and all forms of aggression in dating relationships, especially among young people.
“It’s important to alert young people to the importance of healthy relationships, based on principles and values such as self-esteem, respect and tolerance, which are pillars of dating relationships, promoting an anti-violence culture through greater awareness,” says the GNR’s statement.
For this reason, police will continue to target and prioritise community policing in schools and to educate and raise awareness among young people.
“With the aim of changing behaviour and preventing violence from continuing, the intention of this campaign is to raise awareness among young people so that they say no to violence and so that they can stop this type of behaviour, both towards themselves and others,” the note stresses – referring to the impact of this type of violence at an early age, which can lead to its acceptance into the future.
Meanwhile PSP police – Portugal’s main urban force – has announced its own campaign, dubbed “No Dating No War”, to take place in schools across the country from tomorrow, to raise awareness among pupils against dating violence, which it says last year prompted 1,363 formal complaints in its area of intervention.
The awareness-raising actions on domestic and dating violence carried out by police assigned to the Safe School programme, are to run until February 23, and are aimed mainly at pupils aged between 13 and 18 – in the so-called ‘3rd cycle of basic and secondary education’.
In their statement to mark Valentine’s Day, PSP police have stressed the need for early and specialised intervention in cases of dating violence, calling on victims and those closest to them to be “alert to signs” of such behaviour, and to file a complaint at police stations, with the Safe School Teams (in a school context) or with Victim Protection and Support Teams.
Source material: LUSA
