The Foreigners and Borders Service workers union says that the number of cases of human trafficking and modern day slavery in Portugal is around twenty times the number official reported - and then some.SEF inspectors report far more cases of labor exploitation than the number that gets reported in the official figures with the union referring to a "surveillance deficit” to describe the reason for the discrepancy.
Acácio Pereira, president of the SEF's union (SCIF), says that "if we multiply by 20 the number of cases of human trafficking that are noted in the official reports, this would still be too little to describe what is actually happening on the ground."
Pereia was referring mainly to the labour exploitation of foreigners, which equates to "a kind of 21st century slavery."
The union chief says the official figures are "an insult to the thousands of people who are victims of labour and sexual exploitation in Portugal every year."
According to the latest report from the Council of Europe Expert Group on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), Portugal is among the countries where human trafficking is on the rise and is one where labour exploitation exceeds sex trafficking - mostly labour used in agriculture, hotels and fisheries, with men as the main target.
Labour exploitation in agricultural areas is a particular problem in the Alentejo, which is outside the scope of SEF inspectors but where workers from Indonesia, Eastern Europe and Brazil are abused.
Labour exploitation in agricultural areas is a particular problem in the Alentejo, which is outside the scope of SEF inspectors but where workers from Indonesia, Eastern Europe and Brazil are abused.
In addition to the labour exploitation, SEF inspectors say that Portugal is being "used as a new route for trafficking children," mainly from the African continent.
Children and adolescents are then used "for exploitation and slavery in countries such as France and Germany."
