2024 Report: Challenges in State Action in the Context of Poverty, in a Year when Disability and Inclusion was a Strategic Priority

The 2024 Report of the Ombudsman, delivered today to the Portuguese Parliament, follows the structure adopted in recent years, with distinct sections dedicated to cross-cutting issues, a selection of topics analysed throughout the year, and information regarding the Ombudsman’s activity as the National Human Rights Institution.

This year, poverty is the cross-cutting theme presented, both as a serious and persistent reality and as an expression of the structural weaknesses in the State’s response and action.

The Ombudsman’s experience in handling complaints related to poverty shows that tackling it requires a State that operates in a close, swift, coordinated, transparent, and accessible manner. Many of the failures reported lie precisely in this operational dimension, revealing how administrative inefficiency can, in practice, hinder effective access to social rights and, in some cases, exacerbate deprivation and exclusion.

Among the areas analysed in the chapter dedicated to poverty are problems with access to and granting of benefits specifically designed to address it, such as the Social Insertion Income (RSI) and the Social Benefit for Inclusion (PSI), as well as deficiencies in essential goods and services, such as water supply and sanitation, which lack adequate coverage in several regions of the country.

Housing is another critical area, with inadequate and delayed social housing solutions and considerable obstacles to accessing support programmes, particularly for families in need.

Among the elderly, poverty is often worsened by shortcomings in the implementation of measures specifically designed to combat it. The report highlights cases where social support mechanisms were rendered ineffective due to administrative barriers and a lack of coordination between public services, particularly in accessing the additional health benefits regime for recipients of the Solidarity Supplement for the Elderly (CSI).

The “Thematic Analysis” chapter reflects the diversity and complexity of the concerns raised by citizens in 2024, covering essential areas of societal life. These range from environmental and land use planning issues, such as waste management and urban hygiene, to citizenship matters, including restrictions on the exercise of political rights and civic participation, especially at the local level.

Other central topics include justice and internal security, the prison system, data protection, social security, and the integration and rights of foreign nationals in Portugal. This comes at a time when the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) completed its first year of operation (October 2024). Employment issues and the functioning of the public administration, particularly in recruitment and performance evaluation, complete this multifaceted portrait.

Closing this thematic analysis section is “Disability & Inclusion”, which revisits studies carried out throughout the year. Topics include the disability certification system and the provision of equipment such as wheelchairs and prostheses. Disability and Inclusion was established as a strategic priority for 2024, reflecting the Ombudsman’s commitment to ensuring the effective protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.

Over the course of the year, the Ombudsman’s Office received complaints from a total of 11,790 individuals. Of these, 2,582 complaints were formally investigated, while the remainder were resolved more promptly, without the need for a formal procedure. These figures reflect both the persistence of previously reported issues and the recurrence of similar complaints submitted by different individuals—particularly concerning the entry and residence of foreign nationals.

The possibility of jointly addressing similar complaints is one of the outcomes of the institutional reform initiated in 2021, which sought to balance individual case handling with a more systemic and cross-cutting intervention aimed at improving administrative performance.

This model helped reduce response times to citizens, with over half of enquiries answered within two weeks. It also facilitated the production of thematic reports on recurring issues:

• Report on the Assistive Products Allocation System (SAPA)
• Medical Certificate of Multipurpose Disability – Review and Recommendations
• Report on Public Services Assistance

Topics of complaints formally investigated in 2024

With regard to the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM), the Ombudsman’s department dedicated to preventing ill-treatment of persons deprived of liberty, and which is the subject of its own report, 2024 was marked by intensified monitoring of detention facilities operated by security forces, which accounted for over half of the 50 unannounced visits.

On the one hand, regular visits continued to the facilities of Lisbon Metropolitan Command of the Public Security Police (COMETLIS), which serves as a centralised detention area. On the other hand, monitoring of the National Republican Guard’s (GNR) territorial units was concluded, with the findings from visits carried out in 2023 and 2024 published in a thematic report in 2025.

Within the prison system, the NPM maintained its priority of visiting prisons with complex management issues and housing more than 300 inmates, where risk factors for ill-treatment are heightened. It also continued in-depth reviews of safety and administrative procedures, whose improvement, unlike material conditions or resource shortages, is not always dependent on public investment, but rather on changes in practice. Of particular concern, the Lisbon, Monsanto, and Porto prisons continued to pose high risks to inmate safety.

2024 also saw the first full cycle of operation of the new institutional model for border control by the PSP, following the dissolution of the Immigration and Borders Service (SEF). Eight visits were made to temporary holding centres (CIT) and equivalent facilities (EECIT), doubling the number conducted in 2023. The NPM notes the absence of a systematised record of how long foreign nationals are held in the airport’s international area while their legal situation is assessed. A standard procedure for identifying particularly vulnerable cases also remains to be established.

Other key figures from the Ombudsman’s activity:

• 101 meetings held with external entities, including 14 with civil society organisations
• 86 communications and participations in public events, such as congresses, seminars, and conferences
• 130 proposals for legislative or procedural changes issued
• 5 formal recommendations made under Article 38 of the Ombudsman’s Statute
• 232 visits conducted to various public entities and facilities

To read the 2024 Ombudsman Report, click here [in Portuguese only].
To read the 2024 NPM Report, click here [in Portuguese only].

To see photos of the delivery of the Reports to the Parliament click here.