The National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) for Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has made public the summaries of the reports on the visits carried out in 2023 to places of deprivation of liberty. The transparent operation of places of deprivation of liberty is fundamental to compliance with the rules that regulate the activity of these spaces,…

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 medical certificate of multipurpose incapacity (AMIM) is today a central document in access to a series of rights granted to people with a certain degree of incapacity (generally equal to or greater than 60%), which derive from the State’s duty to promote and protect the fundamental rights of those who are in a situation of physical or mental disadvantage.…

A Provedora de Justiça requereu ao Tribunal Constitucional a declaração de inconstitucionalidade com força obrigatória geral de normas constantes da Lei n.º 22/2023, de 25 de maio, que regula as condições em que a morte medicamente assistida não é punível e altera o Código Penal. Para ler o requerimento, clique aqui.

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].

Vulnerable families who are part of the convergent social protection scheme are still not receiving the extraordinary support to mitigate the effects of inflation created by Decree-Law 21-A/2023 of 28 March, and the Ombudsman recently renewed her call to the Secretary of State for Public Administration in July for the problem to be resolved. The law establishes that, among others,…

On the eve of its half-century anniversary, on 15 November the Ombudsman has moved its headquarters from Rua do Pau de Bandeira, in the residential neighbourhood of Lapa, to Palácio Vilalva, located between Rua Marquês de Fronteira and Largo de São Sebastião da Pedreira, in one of Lisbon’s central hubs. This fulfils a long-standing ambition to place the state institution…

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…

The Ombudsman has submitted a request to the Constitutional Court for a declaration of unconstitutionality, with general binding force, of rules contained in Law no. 13/2023, of 3 April, which amended the Labour Code and related legislation “within the scope of the decent work agenda”. The rules in question are those contained in Article 10(3) of the Labour Code, which…

The Ombudsman’s Office welcomes the decision by EMEL – Empresa Municipal de Mobilidade e Estacionamento de Lisboa, E.M.S.A., to reverse the imposition of a fine for non-payment of a parking fee after it was proven that the nearest parking meter was out of order. This review followed the intervention of the Ombudsman’s Office, which found that the metadata of the…