It is becoming increasingly difficult to answer questions from foreign colleagues about the migration situation in Portugal. When it’s not posters that shame us, it’s a Nationality Law that goes back decades. When they are not immigrants separated from their families at the airport, they are news of human trafficking networks that involve precisely the agents responsible for their control. And we started to see this as if it were a “new normal”.
The recent investigation by the Judiciary Police, which resulted in the arrest of ten GNR soldiers, a PSP agent and six civilians, reveals a classic scheme of modern slavery: hundreds of immigrants from South Asia, Timor-Leste and African countries came to Portugal in search of work, ending up being exploited in conditions of total destitution, crowded together without basic rights, kept in a true climate of terror. Furthermore: the suspects would also assure the victims that reporting to the authorities would be useless.
According to the Annual Internal Security Report (RASI) 2024, 76% of reports of human trafficking in Portugal are related to labor exploitation, mainly in agriculture, construction and domestic work. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) confirms that since 2022, labor exploitation has surpassed sexual exploitation as the predominant cause of trafficking globally. Portugal follows this deplorable trend: migrants have become the new slaves of the 21st century.
It should be noted that the crime of trafficking is not always easy to prove: it requires proof of an activity, such as enticing, transporting or harboring people, through a means, such as violence, ruse or abuse of authority, and with a purpose, which will be the exploitation of the person. It is not uncommon for suspects to be unable to prove their involvement in the three elements mentioned, which is why they end up being convicted of only one of them, such as exploitation. Meanwhile, we helplessly observe an abyss between the moral gravity of the crime and the criminal response it actually receives.
International and European standards require that the country where a trafficking situation has been detected immediately proceeds to protect and recover victims. It is also important to note that our immigration law provides for the granting of a residence permit to them, as long as they cut off any relations with those involved in the crimes. Unlike other EU countries, Portugal does not require victims of trafficking to cooperate with the authorities. This is a fair solution, which takes into account fears of reprisals, and aims to provide some compensation for this unacceptable failure of the State in preventing such a crime.
One day we will read this in history books. Films will be made about this slavery. And future generations will ask: how did they manage to live with this? How did they allow this to happen in their countries, in their fields, in their cities? The idea of getting used to this is unbearable. The least I can do is recognize and express the deep shame that these cases leave us with. Here, and outside.
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon