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 acts as a link between the Portuguese system and the United Nations’ international system for the promotion and protection of human rights. In this capacity, it regularly cooperates with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in assessing the fulfilment of the Portuguese state’s obligations, presenting alternative reports and other contributions.

Established in 2006, the UPR is one of the most important instruments of the United Nations Human Rights Council and is conducted every four and a half years in the form of an interactive dialogue between the State under review and the other UN member states.

It is a ‘peer review’ exercise; in other words, unlike other types of dialogues in which states are assessed by committees of independent experts, the UPR has the peculiarity that states issue recommendations to each other. In addition to the report submitted by the state under review, the recommendations are based on other contributions from other countries.

The examination of the Portuguese state by the Human Rights Council is scheduled for 6 November 2024. It will be the fourth time that Portugal has been submitted to this evaluation mechanism, with the last Universal Periodic Review of Portugal having taken place in May 2019.

You can read the alternative report submitted by the Ombudsman here.