The National Preventive Mechanism (NMP) took part in the international conference “Prisons and Detention Regimes in Portugal: before and after 1974“, with a paper presented by its Coordinator, Miguel Feldmann. The event took place in the Auditorium of the Portimão Museum on 19 and 20 April, as part of “The Portuguese Prison Photo Project – 2024“, an exhibition about the…
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.…
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…
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.
Difficulties related to the service provided by public services have long been the subject of the Ombudsman’s attention. However, the pandemic of 2020 and 2021 and the need to confine the population have profoundly changed existing practices, and, after the health emergency, many doubts and complaints have arisen about how the channels between public services and citizens are being resumed.…
On 26 January, the Ombudsman’s Office, represented by the Deputy Ombudsman, Estrela Chaby, signed a collaboration protocol with the National Centre for Legal Innovation (CNIJ), located in Bragança. The CNIJ embodies a long-standing collaboration between the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon and Bragança City Council, under the slogan of a “University without walls”, with summer courses, conferences…
The Ombudsperson, Maria Lúcia Amaral, attended the audience to present New Year’s greetings to the President of the Republic, which took place on 10 January at the Belém Palace in Lisbon. Also present were the President of the Constitutional Court, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, the President of the Supreme Administrative Court, the President of the Portuguese…
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…