24 April 2024
- Seven police officers accused of torturing immigrants were authorized to resume their duties*.
- Concerns persisted about low prosecution rates for domestic violence.
- The number of families without adequate housing tripled compared to 2018**.
- Six young people filed a historic lawsuit against 33 countries for inaction against climate change***.
TORTURE AND OTHER ILL TREATMENT
In December, following a visit in 2022, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture reported that ill-treatment of detainees by police officers is a persistent practice. The report reiterated the Portuguese authorities’ obligation to ensure effective investigations into these allegations and the application of fundamental safeguards to combat impunity in the police.
In June, the Évora Court of Appeal acquitted a military police officer and reduced the sentences of four other agents convicted of torturing immigrants in the city of Odemira, Beja region. After an initial suspension of their duties, all seven police officers involved in the case were authorized to resume their duties*.
According to a report by the Ombudsman published in April 2023, the average prison occupancy rate in December 2022 was 100.8%, with 25 of 49 prisons overcrowded.
DISCRIMINATION – GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
In March 2023, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) expressed concern about the “high and persistent level of domestic violence” in Portugal. The Committee urged authorities to address the problem of low prosecution rates for domestic violence suspects, as well as the insufficient provision of shelter for victims seeking safety.
MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS
In March 2023, the Government’s annual report on internal security estimated an 18.2% increase in the number of people subject to human trafficking, almost half for labor exploitation. In February 2023, an adult and a child died and 14 other people were seriously injured in a fire in an overcrowded house in the Mouraria neighborhood, in the capital, Lisbon; all were migrants.
FREEDOM OF MEETING
In February 2023 – two years after it was revealed that, for more than a decade, the Lisbon City Council transmitted to employees of foreign embassies the personal data of protesters who demonstrated in front of the embassies – three activists sued the municipality of Lisbon for alleged violation of their rights. The case was initiated a year after the National Data Protection Commission fined Lisbon City Council 1,200,000 euros for 255 violations of data legislation.
RIGHT TO HOUSING
In October, the Government admitted that there were 86 thousand families with housing needs, triple the number recorded in 2018. Data from the National Statistics Institute, from January 2023, estimated that 9.2% of people lived in overcrowded housing, affecting almost 20% of families that were at risk of poverty**.
In March, the CDESC expressed concern about the persistent housing shortage and the lack of data on access to adequate housing for marginalized groups.
RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT
In January, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment urged the government to “improve access to environmental information, strengthen public participation and facilitate access to justice.”
In September, the European Court of Human Rights began judging a case brought by six young people from Portugal against 33 countries, including their own country. Citing problems of extreme heat and wildfires, they argued that governments were violating their human rights by not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect them from climate change***.
UPDATES
* In January 2024, the Beja Court determined, in legal terms, the application of an effective prison sentence to two soldiers from the Republican National Guard (GNR) and a suspended sentence to another of the soldiers. The two soldiers sentenced to serve eight years and eight months and eight years and seven months, respectively, have already been separated from the GNR. The third remains in office.
** According to data published in March 2024, the National Statistics Institute (INE) estimates that 12.9% of families live in overcrowded housing, which represents an increase of more than 3% compared to 2023 data. INE estimates that 27.7% of families at risk of poverty are in overcrowded housing situations.
*** In April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights considered the case brought by 6 young Portuguese people to 33 countries inadmissible. At issue is the fact that the panel of judges considered that extraterritorial jurisdiction did not apply to the States mentioned in the case and that, in the case of Portugal, national legal remedies had not been exhausted.
