Even without the figures to back it up, Portugal’s public prosecutor believes that the recession and human trafficking go hand-in-hand. Speaking after a conference on human exploitation promoted by the PSP police in Lisbon on December 11, Joana Marques Vidal gave a clear warning: while there is an “effective link” between forced child begging and human trafficking networks, these are able to act much more easily during recession periods.
“It is natural that during crisis periods the number of child exploitation cases and vulnerable families increases,” she said – adding that authorities must be on the lookout so that their intervention can be more effective.
Claiming not to have any concrete data on the subject, Marques Vidal reckoned there is not a cause-effect relationship between the two situations, but that there is a link that “needs to be further analysed” and investigated from a criminal point of view, as “usually these situations involve complex and sophisticated organised crime networks”. To fight the latter, the police needs to intervene on “multiple levels”, namely by establishing preventative measures, she said.
“The authorities and institutions that work to promote children’s rights need to intervene and send them over to the competent authorities,” she stressed, adding that such intervention will have to be “very rigorous” – not only when it comes to police, but also by the Public Prosecutor’s Office so that crimes don’t go unpunished.
While accepting that the Portuguese justice system is still slow in dealing with “some of these situations”, Joana Marques Vidal added that Portugal has come leaps and bounds when it comes to handling cases where children are at risk.
However, the criminal investigation of “complex situations could take a while longer”, as they require international justice cooperation instruments “which often imply a thorough and profound investigation of such networks”.
According to Marques Vidal, human trafficking networks are extremely sophisticated, are linked to other criminal networks – such as arms trafficking and drug dealing – and need to be fought with “very specific resources” – both at a national and international level, “which is not easy”, she concluded.
