The Conference ROAR: Challenges in providing support to victims of cybercrime will take place on the 3rd of November 2020 in the headquarters of Altice Portugal (Lisbon) as the final event of Project ROAR: Empowering victims of cybercrime.

By hosting this event, the Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV) and its partnership aim at presenting the results and outputs of Project ROAR but also at creating a knowledge-based space for the exchange of good practices and for pushing forward recommendations on how to enhance prevention on cybercrime and the support provided to its victims.

The Conference will gather civil society organisations, academia, industry, media, law enforcement agencies, judicial authorities and policy makers from across Europe, thus providing a unique opportunity to strengthen synergies and discuss multidisciplinary strategies to prevent and combat cybercrime, discussing current and future threats, challenges in investigating these crimes and in supporting victims.

The Conference programme is diverse not only in terms of speakers’ nationalities and background, but also in the types of sessions it foresees. In the Conference, besides the plenary sessions where key-note speakers will share their expertise on several matters related to cybercrime, participants will have the opportunity to register for different workshops in which relevant topics concerning the digital world will be discussed, such as online frauds and cyberstalking in the context of intimate relationships, among others, as well as prevention and mitigation measures through a multidisciplinary approach.

The range of topics within the Conference’s main theme and the diversity of session format is intended to encourage the active participation of those attending the Conference as the knowledge shared and produced will be in itself a positive result of the Project.

To organise this Conference, APAV is using its experience as an organisation which hosts similar events for almost 30 years but also on the inputs, ideas and suggestions of its partners in Project ROAR.

Programme, information and registration:
apav.pt/roar

This conference was funded by the European Union's Internal Security Fund — Police.
The content of this conference represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

Marking the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, celebrated on July 30, APAV presents an awareness campaign. In 2019, 86 victims of human trafficking in Portugal were reported, an increase of around 45% compared to 2018. According to the Immigration, Borders and Asylum Report of the Aliens and Borders Service, with regard to the type of exploitation, Portugal, in countercycling with the other European Union countries, continues to signal mostly victims of labor exploitation, coming from third countries. According to article 160 of the Penal Code, the crime of human trafficking is committed by those who deliver, recruit, entice, accept, transport, lodge or welcome a person with the intention of subjecting them to exploitation, namely sexual exploitation, sexual exploitation work, begging, slavery, organ harvesting or the exploitation of other criminal activities, through the use of violence, kidnapping, abuse of authority, taking advantage of the victim's mental incapacity or through another form of deception or coercion. Human trafficking is a very complex crime, as it involves different actions, forms of violence and exploitation, which continues to affect millions of people worldwide and increasingly requires the development and constant updating of effective measures to combat it and the protection of its victims. APAV continues to develop work in the area of ​​intervention with the victims of this crime, through the Center for Reception and Southern Protection (reception unit for women victims of Human Trafficking) and the assistance and support work provided by the Support Network to Migrant and Discrimination Victims (UAVMD). The campaign now presented was developed by Maianga, an advertising, audiovisual and cultural production agency that operates in Angola, Cape Verde, Portugal and Brazil.

The Portuguese Minister of Justice, Francisca Van Dunem, closed the PROVICTIMS Conference: the role of the Public Prosecution in the promotion of victims’ rights. The minister spoke about the main challenges of guaranteeing the rights of victims in Portugal and in the context of the European Union and acknowledged that APAV, “due to the processes it has led, the projects it works on, the way it works, has become a partner essential, in this unfinished and so demanding mission for all of us, to protect and dignify as specified in its statute”.

The Conference brought together civil society associations, the Academy, Security Forces, judicial authorities and policy makers from across Europe, providing a unique opportunity to learn about transnational practices and discuss how public prosecutor services can impact victims' rights.The PROVICTIMS Project seeks to improve the role of prosecutors in promoting the rights of victims, as well as improving cooperation between the Public Ministry and victim support services.

More information at apav.pt/provictims

This conference was funded by the European Union's Justice Programme (2014-2020).
The content of this conference represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

The Portuguese Association of Victim Support will promote, on September 15th-16th 2020 in Lisbon, the PROVICTIMS Conference: the role of the Public Prosecution in the promotion of victims’ rights. This Conference takes place as part of project PROVICTIMS, co-financed by the Justice Programme of the European Union, in which APAV counts with the collaboration of national partners and European the organisations Irish Council for Civil Liberties, White Circle Croatia and the Association for Social Reintegration of the Basque Country.

This event is destined to Public Prosecutors, Judges, other judicial actors, Police Officers, representatives of civil society organizations and members of the Academia, providing a unique opportunity to learn about transnational practices and discuss the role of Public Prosecutors in promoting and guaranteeing the rights of victims. 

The registration is free. The room capacity was limited; APAV complies with all public health rules.

Information and registration:
apav.pt/provictims

This conference was funded by the European Union's Justice Programme (2014-2020).
The content of this conference represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility. The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.