Between 2010 and September 2015, Portuguese authorities dealt with 326 requests for children to be brought back to Portugal after being unlawfully taken abroad by a mother or father.
This translates, over the past six years, to an average of more than 50 situations a year, or one a week, according to data from the Directorate General of Rehabilitation and Prison Services (DGRSP), the authority designated by the Government to be responsible for initiating proceedings and judicial operation for the child’s return, as foreseen by the Hague convention.
In more than 58 percent of cases in which Portugal intervened, children were taken to another European Union Member State, with France and the UK being the most common countries of choice.
Germany, Spain and Belgium made up eight percent of cases, with other countries such as Italy, Poland, Holland and Luxembourg also featuring on the list.
Ninety-three countries subscribed to the Hague convention, including Portugal and Brazil, the latter being the country outside the EU to where parentally-abducted children from Portugal are taken.
In fact official figures show that ‘tug-of-love’ children were taken to extra-EU countries in 42 percent of reported cases, which peaked in 2012 at 71.
Since then figures have remained higher than in 2010, when 35 situations were dealt with, followed by 53 in 2011.
Last year 55 situations of parental abduction were reported, and estimates are that 2015 will close with 61 cases.
Convening in the conference held at the Judiciary Police’s headquarters in Lisbon on Monday were judges, scholars, lawyers and psychologists as well as the head of the National Committee for Children and Youths at Risk.