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 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.

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.

Over the last five years, the Ombudsman’s Office has received around a thousand and a half complaints about AMIM and has issued several recommendations to remedy the difficulties reported – and noted. Despite the progress made, there are still a number of unresolved problems in the system for assessing the incapacity of people with disabilities, as well as considerable delays in issuing certificates.

It is these problems that motivate this report, which aims to systematize the Ombudsman’s concerns, namely with regard to the recovery of backlogs, tax benefits, social support, the AMIM model and some particular situations in need of attention.

To read the report, click here [in Portuguese only].

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.

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 and other initiatives being held in the city.

In addition to the Ombudsman’s Office, the Supreme Administrative Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the Order of Notaries, the Order of Solicitors and Enforcement Agents, the Superior Council of the Judiciary and the Library and Academic Association of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon also signed protocols with the CNIJ.

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].