The issue of domestic violence took up some of the time of Minister Ana Catarina Mendes' hearing at the Commission for Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, where she was being heard, along with the Secretary of State for Equality and Migrations, Isabel Almeida Rodrigues.

"The issue of domestic violence remains unavoidable and just this week we had the news of another death. Domestic violence continues to shock us all and it is a horror that impels us to act. Above all, the cases that we are getting to know show us that, in this field, all the work that we develop will always be scarce and as such, it needs to be constantly strengthened and deepened", said the Minister.

Ana Catarina Mendes admitted that "the problem of domestic violence is a huge scourge", which affects not only women and children, but also the elderly, as was demonstrated during the pandemic, which led the Government to "strengthen specific responses".

In this sense, "the opening of three more residential structures for elderly victims of domestic violence is foreseen, which will reinforce the network with 120 more vacancies at national level", announced the Minister.

She also said that the reinforcement of specialised assistance in the National Network of Support to Victims of Domestic Violence has led to the psychological support of 3,745 children, only in the first semester of 2022.

For Ana Catarina Mendes, domestic violence "is a difficult scourge because the aggressor will always be lurking", defending the need to unite the efforts of all entities that work in this area and recalling that the network was strengthened in August with 55 more vacancies, increasing the coverage to 97% of the national territory.

The minister also took the opportunity to announce that on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women a new campaign to combat the phenomenon will be presented.

In the first six months of 2022, and according to data published on the website of the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG), 17 people were killed in the context of domestic violence, 16 women and one child, while the police authorities recorded 14,363 incidents, 18% more than in the same period of 2021.