Suspected cases of human trafficking at World Youth Day in Lisbon

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - The Portuguese Association for Victim Support said on Monday that it detected four possible cases of human trafficking at the World Youth Day event in Lisbon.

The Portuguese association, which collaborated with organizers to tackle crime at the major Catholic event, alleged that the victims were working for subcontractors hired to work at the event venues.

The 2023 World Youth Day was held in Lisbon in early August, attracting around 1.5 million people for its final mass.

The organization said it only learned about the suspected human trafficking cases after the event and immediately contacted the police.

The police investigation is ongoing.

The association hailed its collaboration with World Youth Day organizers as “innovating” and “pioneering” as it aimed to not only offer support to victims during the massive event, but also prevent incidents and train almost 25,000 volunteers and staff on best practices.

Outside of the human trafficking allegations, the organization also supported five fraud cases, four thefts, three cases of sexual harassment and two cases of harassment during the event, it said in its review.

According to a 2023 US government report, Portugal still has human trafficking cases but is making significant efforts to eliminate it.

The majority of trafficking victims in Portugal are from India, Moldova, Morocco, Pakistan, Portugal, and Romania, but victims also originate from West Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America, specifically Brazil, according to the assessment.

It said labor traffickers tend to exploit foreign victims in agriculture, construction, and domestic service and that seasonal migrant workers are especially vulnerable.

In June, hundreds of alleged victims of labor exploitation were found working in the illegal harvesting of shellfish around the Lisbon area. They were all migrants and mostly from Southeast Asia.

In June 2022, the Council of Europe said Portuguese authorities identified 1,152 presumed victims of trafficking between 2016 and 2020. At the time, the council added, the number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions in Portugal remained low compared to the number of identified victims.