Portuguese Ombudsperson takes over the interim presidency of the CPLP-Human Rights Network

The Ombudsperson, Maria Lúcia Amaral, has taken over the interim presidency of the Network of Ombudsmen, National Human Rights Commissions and other Human Rights Institutions of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP-Human Rights Network) for the 2024-2025 biennium, succeeding Florbela Rocha Araújo, Angola’s Ombudsperson, as the Network’s rotating director. Due to the fact that the institution of São Tomé and Príncipe, the country currently holding the presidency of the CPLP, has observer status (and not membership) in the CPLP-Human Rights Network, the Portuguese Ombudsman, as head of the Network’s Executive Secretariat, is taking over the presidency on an interim basis.

The Closing Session of the Angolan Presidency of the CPLP-Human Rights Network took place in Lisbon, on the premises of the Ombudsman’s Office, on 15 March 2024 and was attended, in person or by telematic means, by representatives of all the institutions that make up the Network, as well as by representatives of the Angolan Ambassador to Portugal and of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries.

The Network of Ombudsmen, National Human Rights Commissions and other Human Rights Institutions of the CPLP was created in 2013 and its general objectives are the protection and promotion of human rights, as well as the strengthening of National Human Rights Institutions within the CPLP.  It is made up of the Ombudsmen of Portugal, Angola, Mozambique and East Timor, the National Human Rights Commissions of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, the Federal Prosecutor for Citizen’s Rights of Brazil, and, since 2015, the Ombudsman of Cape Verde. The Interministerial Human Rights Commission of São Tomé and Príncipe is also a member of the network, with observer status.

You can find out more about the CPLP-Human Rights Network here.