The Ombudsperson took part in the commemorations of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, organised by the Syndicate of Greuges in Barcelona on 1 July 2024, presenting the paper “The Portuguese penitentiary system and its monitoring by the National Preventive Mechanism”. NPM coordinator Miguel Feldmann was also present. The International Day in Support of Victims of Torture…
Within the scope of the Collaboration Protocol with the National Centre for Legal Innovation (CNIJ), set up by the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon in Bragança, the Ombudsman’s Office held its first Annual Meeting on 28 June to publicise its attributions and activities. This first initiative centred on the recent Report on Citizen Service in Public Services.…
On 7 June, the Ombudsman obtained the renewal of its accreditation as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), maintaining the maximum ‘A’ status it has held since 1999. The demanding accreditation process takes place periodically under the auspices of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), in order to assess and certify the degree of compliance of NHRIs…
On 3 and 4 June, the Ombudsman, Mária Lúcia Amaral, received a delegation from Georgia, led by Ombudsman Levan Ioseliani, for a working visit that culminated in the signing of a cooperation agreement on the promotion and protection of human rights. This visit to Portugal, which allowed for an intense exchange of experiences and good practices, was organised as part…
On March 19, the Ombudsperson, Maria Lúcia Amaral, took part in the congress organised at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon on ‘50 years of Law in Portugal: anatomy of a system in transition’.
Universal Periodic Review (2024). Ombudsman submits report on the human rights situation in Portugal
In the exercise of its mandate as the National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), in April the Ombudsman submitted the alternative report with a view to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) to which the Portuguese state will be subject at the end of 2024. Recognised as an accredited NHRI with A status, in full compliance with the Paris Principles, the Ombudsman…
The Ombudsman has sent a recommendation to the Order of Nurses to amend its Disciplinary Regulations, in order to remove the prohibition on the presence of a lawyer when witnesses are examined in disciplinary proceedings. To read the Recommendation, click here [in Portuguese only].
Special noise licences are administrative permits – to be issued by local authorities (municipality or parish, depending on the case) – that allow temporary noisy activities to take place, under certain conditions, near sensitive locations (such as residential buildings, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, and on working days between 8pm and 8am, or near hospitals or similar establishments). As…
The Ombudsperson, Maria Lúcia Amaral, took part as a speaker in the opening session of the final event of the project “Integrating Human Rights in Administrative Detention Centres”, organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which took place in the Congress Area of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon on 30 November. The event marked the end of the…
The Ombudsman has submitted a request to the Constitutional Court for a declaration of unconstitutionality, with general binding force, of rules in force in the Autonomous Region of Madeira that limit the activity of individual passenger transport in uncharacterised vehicles, known by the acronym TVDE. At present, TVDE activity in the Autonomous Region of Madeira is subject to a numerus…
