At this very serious moment in our collective life, many citizens are wondering about the meaning and scope of the State of Emergency, decreed on the 18th by His Excellency the President of the Republic. The questions, associated with natural feelings of unease and apprehension, are in themselves more than justified. Never before, during the almost forty-four years of the…
The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, sent a recommendation to the Minister of Health proposing a revision of the legal regime for issuing Multipurpose Disability Medical Certificates (AMIM), as well as clearer and more comprehensive disclosure of its purpose and scope. This recommendation follows the reception of complaints in increasing numbers, particularly in the last two years, the majority focusing on…
The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, sent a recommendation to the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security following the receipt, in the last two years, of more than two and a half hundred complaints on issues related to attribution of the Social Inclusion Benefit (PSI). Created by Decree-Law no. 126-A/2017, of 6 October, the PSI would progressively aggregate a set…
The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, and the Deputy Ombudsman, Teresa Anjinho, participated in an international workshop on "Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights", organised by the IOI and the Catalan Ombudsman, in Barcelona from 2 – 3 March 2020. The great opportunities and challenges in the application of artificial intelligence in our daily lives must be accompanied by specialist agents control…
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The Ombudsperson, Maria Lúcia Amaral, sent a recommendation to Infraestruturas de Portugal to assume the responsibility of compensating a citizen for the damages suffered as a result of the collision with an animal that occurred on the A23 motorway, managed by this public company. In the light of Law no. 24/2007 of 18 July, and of the Concession Agreement, the…
The Prime Minister, António Costa, came today to the headquarters of the Ombudsman, at the invitation of the head of the institution, Maria Lúcia Amaral. The presence of the Prime Minister allowed, among others, to address the fulfillment of the international obligations of the Portuguese State under the National Prevention Mechanism (NPM) against Torture. Created in 1975, the Ombudsman…
Within the scope of the 5th assessment of the Portuguese State on compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, this State body, acting on its quality of National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), sent its contribution to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. This contribution highlights the need for social protection, in particular for people with disabilities, as…
The Ombudsman sent letters to the Presidents of the Governing Councils of the Instituto da Segurança Social and of the Instituto de Informática where Maria Lúcia Amaral draws attention to the urgent need to establish articulation mechanisms in order to solve the “application constraints” that, according to the social security services, will be at the base of several problems in the attribution…
The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, travels to Madrid on January 20 for a working visit to Defensor del Pueblo, a similar institution in Spain, headed by Francisco Fernández Marugán. The two-day visit aims to strengthen cooperation and share good practices and experiences. As in the case of the Ombudsman of Portugal, the Defensor del Pueblo accumulates in Spain the original…