The number of male victims supported by the Portuguese Victim Support Association (APAV) has increased by more than 23% in the last three years, totaling 10,261 people, mainly victims of domestic violence, but also hundreds of cases of sexually abused children.
According to APAV statistics on “Male Victims”, to which Lusa had access, between 2022 and 2024, 10,261 people needed the association’s support, registering an increase of 23.3% in the evolution of these three years. According to APAV, It is estimated that for every man victim of violence who asks for help, there are at least two others who do not report the situation.
“For each of these victims supported, of these 10,200 male victims supported, we know, because this is what incidence and prevalence studies tell us, that there are always at least two people, two men, who will not report the situation”, he revealed.
It means that the number of male victims asking APAV for help could exceed 30,700.
The number of people asking for support has gradually increased, with 3,013 male victims recorded in 2022, 3,532 in 2023 and 3,716 in 2024, which means that, on average, the association provided support to nine male victims per day.
For Daniel Cotrim, technical advisor to the APAV management, this increase can be explained by the fact that everyone has more information and sensitivity to the issue of violence, which increases the number of complaints.
“It is a phenomenon that we have been observing in recent years, of an increase in the number of reports from men regarding situations of victimization, so this data in some way manifests exactly this trend, of an increase in the number of requests for support from men. There is greater awareness”, he highlighted.
The majority of victims are adult men and represent 40.6% of the total, including people aged between 18 and 64.
Over the three years, APAV supported 4,167 adults, which represents an average of 116 people per month or four per day.
The second most represented group is children and young people, aged between zero and 17 years oldwith 3,556 victims (34.7%) who turned to APAV, which means that the association supported, on average, three children and young people per day.
There were also records of 1,136 elderly men (11.1%), which gives an average of 32 per month, seven per week and one per day, in addition to 1,402 (13.6%) people for whom there is no record of age.
With regard to the crimes and forms of violence of which they were victims, APAV data shows that Domestic violence is the crime that stands out, registering 11,906 crimes, with 885 crimes involving offenses against physical integrity coming in second place.
Third place in the top 6 is occupied by 731 crimes of threat and coercion, followed by 570 crimes of insult/defamation, 400 crimes of fraud and 331 crimes of child sexual abuse.
Specifically in relation to the latter, Daniel Cotrim explained that complaints arise in three ways: through family members – “whereas in the vast majority of situations, in 90% of situations, sexual abuse occurs in the family context” – by the Judiciary Police, the police authority responsible for investigating sexual crimes, and by schools or other entities, but in smaller numbers.
In total, APAV recorded 17,279 crimes over these three years, which represents an increase of 19.8% between 2022 and 2024.
The association explains that the difference between the number of crimes and forms of violence (n=17,279) and the number of male victims (n=10,261) has to do with the fact that a victim can be the target of multiple crimes and forms of violence simultaneously.
Regarding the characterization of the victim, the majority (77.7%) are of Portuguese nationality, against 12.1% foreign and 10.2% for whom there is no information, and live in the districts of Faro (20.2%), Lisbon (16.7%), Porto (10.8%) and Braga (9.6%).
In almost 50% of cases there is a very close relationship between the aggressor and the victimsince in 21.8% of cases the aggressor is the father/mother or stepmother/stepfather of the victim, in 21.2% they are or were in an intimate relationship with the victim, and there are also 5.1% of cases in which the aggressor is the victim’s son/daughter.
A phenomenon explained, according to Daniel Cotrim, by the fact that domestic violence was the main crime reported, with a record of 11,906 crimes over the three years, which presupposes a “context of intimacy” between victim and aggressor.
It is also domestic violence that explains why 36.6% of victims are victims of continued violence and the delay in asking for help, with 29.8% of victims taking between two and six years to ask for help from APAV for the first time, and another 10.9% who needed 12 or more years.
According to Daniel Cotrim, this delay in filing the complaint has to do with the cycle of violence, but also with “the difficulty that [os homens] need to understand that this is happening to them”, in addition to the associated stigma and shame.