International Human Rights Day. Know who in Portugal defends them

Today is International Human Rights Day, when the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which lists the basic rights for everyone.

In Portugal, since 1999 Ombudsman has been, along with the role of defender of the citizen in the face of possible abuses of public administrations, the National Human Rights Institution, accredited by the United Nations with status A, in full compliance with the Principles of Paris.

As a result, the Ombudsman is the privileged interlocutor in Portugal of the international institutions that accompany the signatory states’ fulfillment of the rights enshrined in the Declaration, while part of its activity is the constant dissemination of fundamental human rights and their protection, being primarily vigilant about respect for the rights of the most vulnerable: children, elderly and people with disabilities.

To summarize and illustrate its activity, the Ombudsman promoted last year a new edition of the UDHR noting each Human Right with cases and problems that over time it has been called upon to resolve.

Alongside the Ombudsman, there are specialized human rights bodies in Portugal, and others to which you can complain. To know them click here.