Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 8^th June 2022 

Good morning – we start the day with a shocking statistic and that is that so far this year 13 women have been killed as a result of domestic violence by a spouse, two in the last few days. This compares with 16 for the whole of last year. It is not just women as it was reported last year that five men had also died as a result of conjugal violence. Unfortunately domestic violence in 2021 was the most reported crime in Portugal.

Domestic Violence is a public crime in Portugal. This means that anyone in addition to victim can file a complaint with the PSP, GNR, Judiciary Police, Public Prosecutor or Legal Medicine Institute. Also via the internet through the Electronic Complaint System. Whether the victim lodges a complaint or not, a complaint or knowledge of the crime is sufficient for the authorities to act and for an investigation to be opened. There are also organisations such as APAV, who are experienced and trained in handling such cases.

Safe Communities and APAV will be holding a seminar on Domestic Violence in Loulé on Thursday 9th June at the Palácio Gama Lobo, Rua de Nossa Senhora de Fátima, 8100-557, Loulé. I am sure this will be raised with a view of what more can be done to prevent such tragedies. The seminar is open to the public, is in English and we encourage people to attend.

Turning to beach safety, APA the environmental authority have identified 103 bathing areas that have cliffs that are potentially dangerous, 28 have half of the sand in cliff protection areas, according to the decree that defines the beginning of the bathing season. On these beaches it is only advisable to sunbathe in a narrow strip next to the water – not at the foot of the cliff itself. There are warning signs where this risk exists and we ask people to heed such warnings and not put yourselves/your family at risk.

This article in yesterday’s Expresso appears following a meeting by Safe Communities Portugal with the Algarve Regional Director APA on 24th May, requesting that more publicity and awareness be given to the state of cliffs and compliance with danger signs. The director undertook to do so.

Over the next few days according to the IPMA temperatures will increase slightly and in certain parts in particular the eastern Algarve temperatures of around 36C – 37C are expected. With this of course comes the increased risk of rural fires. The civil protection authority and all those involved in tackling fires are prepared – but are you? We urge to monitor the fire risk at the start of each day which can be done on our Facebook page (posted around 0800 hrs), follow the restrictions which are in place to avoid inadvertently starting a fire.

In particular please remember that when the fire risk is VERY HIGH/MAXIMUM in your municipality, you are prohibited from using motorised equipment such as chainsaws scrub-clearing machinery and shredders, all equipment with exhausts without flame-retardant equipment, cutting equipment such as chainsaws or grinders, or the operation of mechanical methods which, in their use on natural or artificial materials, generate sparks or heat”. On the other days there are no restrictions on the use of machinery. This is applicable in rural territories AND in the surroundings of built-up areas.

Should you not follow this and a fire results, you could be charged with causing a fire through negligence which is a criminal offence – DO NOT take the risk.

Lastly again a reminder on rip currents. The tragic death of a German tourist whilst swimming with a colleague off the unsupervised beach in Sintra yesterday, highlights the dangers of rip tides and currents which can happen all along the Portuguese coastline.

Whilst it has not been confirmed that this was the cause of this tragedy it is prudent to remind people of the dangers that exist around our shores. Agueiros can be fatal and cause death by drowning. The bather must above all not panic, nor try to overcome the current. You should ask for help and swim sideways until you no longer feel the effect of the current. Afterwards, he should try to get out of the water in a place away from this current.

We have an extensive article on our website regarding beach and water safety which you can access here: https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/find-information/for-tourists/water-and-beach-safety/

With that please have a Safe Day.

Headlines

Portugal: President warns of ‘extremely complex, unpredictable’ global situation

Lisbon, June 6, 2022 (Lusa) – Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has warned of the extremely complex and unpredictable international situation, saying that the war in Ukraine has exceeded the limits of reason, generated enormous emotion and requires “enormous” care.

De Sousa was speaking at the close of a debate as part of a book festival staged in the grounds of his palace in Belém, Lisbon, which was moderated by one of his independent advisors, writer Pedro Mexia, with the participation of former Left Bloc member of parliament, José Manuel Pureza, and Diana Soller, a specialist in international politics.

“The international situation is extremely complex, because nobody knows what the epilogue of what we are living through will be; nobody knows what the costs of this epilogue and after the epilogue will be, and nobody knows what the definitive configuration will be in the correlation between the major powers” of the world, said the president in outlining the current global situation.

In an indirect reference to the US and the next presidential elections there, de Sousa said that nobody knows in what direction that country will go – and this “is not indifferent”.

“The position towards the other powers [under Donald Trump] was substantially different from the current position,” he recalled, going on to turn his attention to Ukraine. “There is a problem of correlation of powers here. Europe is the theatre where the whole set of current circumstances is projected, but Europe humbly knows that there are realities that go beyond it, warlike realities.”

On the war, the president expressed his deep concern.

“Emotion has always been in politics, but it was only disciplined substantially or apparently by reason,” he said. “Now, it has overstepped the limits of reason and the most that reason can do is try to condition and curb the excesses of emotion.”

On Ukraine, “there are issues to be dealt with through rationality, but others in a very emotional way,” he argued. “It will be said that with the passage of time, reason increases and reason diminishes, but this is not so linear. It is not linear when faced with dramatic, complex and brutally visible situations.” 

News

Union announces strike by health workers on July 1

Lisbon, June 7, 2022 (Lusa) – The National Federation of Workers’ Unions in Public and Social Functions (FNSTFPS) announced today that it will call a strike by health workers on July 1st.

The strike, which covers all professionals in the sector with the exception of doctors and nurses, is the first since the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic and, according to the coordinator of the Federation, was motivated by old claims that remain unanswered.

“There is a willingness to join the fight because, in fact, they have been waiting for many years to come to fruition and solve their problems”, said Elisabete Gonçalves at a press conference, adding that “after so many pats (during the pandemic), nothing resolves”.

Specifically, the FNSTFPS coordinator talks about problems that affect medical assistants, senior health technicians and senior diagnostic and therapeutic technicians, and that accentuate instability in health services and harm the National Health Service.

“These are situations that may seem diverse and distant, but which as a whole create a demotivation for health workers, which in terms of retaining health workers is of no benefit”, he said.

Elisabete Gonçalves mainly denounces problems related to the careers of these professionals, demanding the replacement of the assistant technician’s career, and also criticizing the change in the career of higher diagnostic technicians that “does not reflect the specificities of these workers”.

“As for senior health technicians, they have been fighting for years for public competition procedures that are not being carried out, which limits the appreciation of these workers”, explained the coordinator.

The strike on 1 July is aimed at all workers in mainland Portugal and the autonomous region of the Azores, being preceded by a strike on 30 June in the autonomous region of Madeira, as it is a public holiday on the following day. 

DGS says children up to 16 with symptoms of acute hepatitis should be seen urgently in hospital

According to the guidance released today by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) on suspected cases of acute hepatitis of unknown ethology in paediatric age, nonspecific manifestations such as abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, with more than a week of evolution and severe prostration may coexist with respiratory symptoms and fever.

In the context of hospital care, in the presence of a child with the clinical manifestations described above and which raise suspicion of hepatitis, laboratory investigation should be initiated with, among other analyses, complete blood count, coagulation study (INR), in the area of ​​biochemistry, indicators such as blood glucose, urea, creatinine, ionogram, total and direct bilirubin should be analysed, as well as blood culture should be performed if fever is present.

Since the information resulting from the ongoing investigation in the countries that reported cases is still limited, with enteric adenoviruses having been indicated as a possible agent involved, the DGS recommends, in the community, the strengthening of protective measures such as hand hygiene (supervision in younger children) and respiratory etiquette, aeration and/or ventilation of interior spaces, frequent cleaning and/or disinfection of surfaces in the presence of cases of acute gastroenteritis or respiratory infection.

In health facilities, contact precautionary measures are recommended for suspected or probable cases in case of respiratory symptoms, “in compliance with the rules established for infection control by the Program for the Prevention and Control of Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (PPCIRA)”, adds the DGS.

Ukraine: SEF investigates case related to trafficking for work purposes

Lisbon, June 6, 2022 (Lusa) – The Foreigners and Borders Service is investigating a case related to human trafficking for work purposes involving Ukrainian refugees, the deputy national director of SEF, Paulo Batista, told Lusa today.

“SEF is dealing with all the situations that come to its notice, namely complaints and indications from various entities and many situations have arrived, which we analyse quickly. So far, and from everything we have analysed, we have only detected a situation that will eventually be trafficking for work purposes”, said Paulo Batista.

In addition to this case that is being investigated by the SEF, Paulo Batista said that SEF had received from Amnesty International a complaint about a possible situation of human trafficking for work purposes.

“We have received and are processing the information”, he explained, noting that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) also received this complaint and the SEF will “wait for the MP to define to whom it delegates competence to carry out the investigation”.

Without giving details about Amnesty International’s complaint, the deputy national director of the SEF said that it was allegedly two Ukrainian victims.

Paulo Batista underlined that “a lot of complaints” related to Ukrainian refugees have reached the SEF. “It’s a good thing that people report everything they can see that is part of trafficking. Then we have to analyse and verify whether this is so or not, with diligence on the ground, which is what we are doing,” he said.

The deputy national director of the SEF also stated that in most situations verified by SEF no problem related to human trafficking is detected.

According to the latest update made by the Foreigners and Borders Service, since the beginning of the war, on February 24, Portugal has granted 40,955 temporary protections to Ukrainian citizens, of whom 12,696 were minors.

The largest number of temporary protections granted continues to be in Lisbon (6,973), Cascais (2,597), Porto (1,544), Sintra (1,466) and Albufeira (1,154).

In other words, “there is a great deal of emotion and this emotion requires enormous balances,” he added.