Stalking: "It starts with a message and ends up taking over your life"

Similarly to the previous years, APAV dedicated the 18th of April to raise the awareness towards stalking, by remembering the campaign launched in 2015, “It starts with a message and ends up taking over your life”. The campaign was developed with FCB Lisboa’s sponsorship and aims at raising stalking victims’ awareness to seek support and information at APAV. The date was also celebrated through the promotion of a Workshop on Stalking, at APAV’s Training Centre in Lisbon, targeted to college students, professionals from the field of Social and Human Sciences and other professionals interested to acquire knowledge in the field.

APAV alerts for the apparent harmless nature of stalking and to the almost flattering manner in which stalking behaviours may occur. APAV aims to raise the awareness for the possibility of these behaviours becoming more intense and serious, even intimidating, frightening and dangerous to the victim. Stalking became a crime in Portugal in August 2015 as established under article 154 A of the Portuguese Penal Code. Only in 2015 APAV registered 445 cases of stalking, a notably higher number than the 341 cases registered in 2014.