Anyone can be a victim of discrimination and/or violent acts committed with discriminatory motivation. Some forms of discrimination, although less frequent today, continue to significantly affect women, preventing or limiting the exercise of their rights on an equal basis with men. Other forms of discrimination have become more visible, for example those affecting elderly people or people experiencing homelessness.

It is important, however, to recognize that in Portugal, the majority of victims are targeted by discrimination and acts of discriminatory violence because they belong (or are perceived as belonging) to certain minorities or communities that are generally discriminated against, subjected to humiliation, exclusion and marginalization, and tend to be seen as “different” or “less than” a socially established norm, namely: