According to the report, four out of five countries around the world do not have laws protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex young people from bullying, and only six UN member states have adopted legislation to this effect.

According to ILGA World, an international organisation that brings together more than 2,000 associations from 170 countries in defence of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people, Portugal is one of the six states along with Andorra, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain.

With regard to Portugal, the organisation points out that the country has two articles in its Student Statute and School Ethics that “prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in educational environments and establish the duty and right of all students to treat others and be treated with respect and in an appropriate manner, without violence”.

The same articles also prohibit “discrimination based on gender identity in educational settings”.

The organisation points out that the Law on Self-Determination of Gender Identity and Expression “establishes the duty of public education authorities to adopt and implement [in schools] measures to combat discrimination, violence and exclusion” based on gender identity and expression in schools, as well as because of sexual characteristics.

According to ILGA World, 40 UN member states have national laws in which at least one of the grounds for bullying (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics) is mentioned.

“Of these [40], 38 [have legislation against bullying] on sexual orientation, 30 on gender identity, 13 on gender expression and 14 on sex characteristics,” the report states.

“Most jurisdictions use education or equal treatment laws and often rely on pedagogical approaches to educate perpetrators and provide redress to victims within the school system, rather than through criminal sanctions,” criticises ILGA World.

It also points out that there are 10 countries where protection is not equal across the board, namely Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

It also says that in Hungary and Bulgaria, “it is unclear whether the legal protections are still in force, either because there are contradictions between the different legislations or because case law has led to a situation of legal uncertainty”.