There is no specific legislation dealing with the trafficking in human beings. The Penal code contains a few provisions that may serve as a legal ground for the prosecution of traffickers, and other legal acts of relevance to the fight against organized crime provide investigative and prosecution tools that make it easier to punish crimes of trafficking in human beings for sexual purposes. Because of the loopholes and shortcomings in the overall legal framework governing these matters, new legislation is currently under preparation and discussion: first, the Council of Ministers has recently approved a bill to be submitted to the National Parliament, which foresees the punishment of those who assist not only the entry and residence in Portugal, but also the transit of illegal migrants; second, two other bills currently under consideration by the Parliament further amend the Criminal Code and foresee new measures for the protection of victims. Also, on 25 June 2002, the establishment of a National Immigration Plan, which includes amendments to the current legal framework, was announced by the government. Pending the enactment of these measures, the current state of the law with regard to the fight against trafficking in human beings can be summarized as follows.

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Article 169 of the Portuguese Criminal Code, amended by the Act 99/2001 of 25 August 2001, has criminalized trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation. Whoever by means of violence, serious threat, deception, fraud, or by the abuse of a position of particular vulnerability, recruits, transports, transfers, harbors, receives a person or creates the conditions for the practice, by a certain person, in a foreign country, of prostitution, shall be sentenced to a term of two- to eight-years imprisonment. The 2001 amendments have broadened the scope of Article 169 by including other forms of sexual exploitation.

Sexual exploitation of children is addressed separately inArticle 176 of the Criminal Code(also revised by Act 99/2001), according to which all those who recruits, transports, provides accommodation or receives a child under 16 years old, or makes arrangement for the child to get into prostitution or the sex industry in general in a foreign country, are sentenced to a term of 1 to 8 years imprisonment. Likewise, the 2001 amendments have widened the scope of this provision, which applies, regardless of the use of violence, threat, fraud or deception, which may be considered tough as aggravating circumstances resulting in imprisonment terms of 2 to 10 years. Other aggravating circumstances include the victim being under 14 year's age or the perpetrator acting professionally or with the intent of making benefits.

Trafficking in human beings for other purposes than sexual exploitation are addressed in other provisions of the penal code, in particular those applying to the criminalization of slavery and slave trade (Article 159), which provide for 5 to 15 years imprisonment.

Another aspect of the prosecution of trafficking is dealt with by theDecree Law 325/95of 2 December 1995, which sets out the legal regime to prevent and combat money laundering. The Act 10/2002 of 11 February 2002 has extended the scope of this act to the crimes of trafficking in human beings.

The Act 93/99 of 14 July 1999 ensures the protection to witnesses in the judicial proceedings involving cases of trafficking in human beings. Its provisions apply to victims and witnesses. Furthermore, Article 87 paragraph 1 of the Decree Law 244/98 foresees the possibility of exempting those foreigners who cooperate in the investigations from the visa requirement to obtain a residence permit. Thus, victims of trafficking can obtain a residence permit if they co-operate with the justice without fear of being deported back to their country of origin. Finally, the Act 5/2002 of 11 January 2002 describes specific measures for combating organized and economic crime, particularly with regard to the gathering of evidence in relation to several crimes, among which the crime of trafficking in children.

The protection of victims as such is addressed in the Act 61/91 of 31 August 1991, which contains general measures aimed at the protection of women victims of violence. Although it does not target women victims of trafficking specifically, the Act 107/99 of 3 August 1999 has some relevance insofar as it dispenses specific measures such as the establishment of a national network of support centres for women victims of violence.

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