The Ombudsman participated in the IV Conference organized by the Santa Casa da Misericórdia on "Longevity and Neurodegenerative Diseases" and the importance of the humanization of the medical act, that took place in Lisbon on June 4. Maria Lúcia Amaral intervened in the panel that addressed "Ethics and Rights" from the perspective of people who are especially vulnerable and /…
The promotion and defense of the rights of the child are fundamental tasks of the State and of the community, being assumed not only as ethical duties, but also as obligations that have already reached the juridical level, based on national and international instruments. Therefore, celebrating the day of the child implies to affirm its singularity as a holder of…
In 2018, the Ombudsman’s Office received a total of 48,129 requests through the various channels available to citizens, including 36,111 entries of complaints and other communications. During the year, 9338 new procedures were instituted, five of them from the Ombudsman’s initiative, which translates into an increase in the handling of complaints of 20% over the previous year. Activity indicators are…
The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, received a delegation of experts from the Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe for the Protection of National Minorities, within the framework of the first follow-up visit of this body to Portugal. The meeting dealt with the situation of human rights and cases of discrimination. In Portugal, the Ombudsman is also a National Human…
The Portuguese Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, closed on 24 May in Ankara the cycle of human rights training actions with a view to strengthening of the Ombudsman of Turkey. In her speech, Maria Lúcia Amaral explained that the creation of the Nordic-inspired “Ombudsman” was one of the first consensuses of the Portuguese democratic era, and that today still remains intact…
As part of the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Office of the Ombudsman – which in Portugal is the National Human Rights Institution – wrote an annotated version, illustrating each of the rights enshrined in it with cases and problems that The Ombudsman has been called upon to solve the problem over…
The second interim evaluation of the twinning project aimed at strenghtening the role of the Ombudsman of Turkey on enforcement of Human Rights, under the responsibility of the Ombudsman of Portugal, was held in Ankara on 30 April. The representatives of the two institutions, the European Union Delegation in Turkey, and representatives of the Turkish Government and Parliament were present.…
The DEMOS Project, integrated in the INTERREG 2014-2020 programme and financed by the European Regional Development Fund FEDER, aims to foster activities aimed at increasing the levels of development and socioeconomic integration of the outermost regions of Portugal and Spain, composed of the archipelagos of Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands. Within the scope of the Ombudsman’s Office participation…
The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, addressed a suggestion for a legislative amendment to the Minister of Labor Solidarity and Social Security in order to revising the invalidity pensions of the two social protection regimes which were penalized by the sustainability factor on the date of their assignment or when they were convoked in old-age pensions at 65 years of age.…
The Ombudsman, Maria Lúcia Amaral, received this afternoon Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The meeting addressed the concerns and recommendations that the Ombudsman, as National Human Rights Institution, has recently presented in the scope of the Universal Periodic Review. As part of this process, which this year focuses on Portugal, the 193 UN member countries…
