Latest news and stories about human rights in Portugal for expats and residents.
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Since 2007, the year abortion was legalised, until 2024, Portugal has recorded a total of over 270,000 cases of voluntary termination of pregnancy.
At issue are the amendments to the law on the right to self-determination of gender identity and gender expression and the protection of each person's sex characteristics.
Two bills aimed at banning 'ideological' flags from public buildings were not approved by the Assembly of the Republic during Friday morning's plenary session, following a debate marked by a heated exchange between CDS member João Almeida and Left Bloc member Fabian Figueiredo. The legislative initiatives met different fates: the CDS proposal was sent to committee without a vote, while the Chega proposal was rejected by all parliamentary groups except for CDS. The debate was defined by criticism from left-wing benches, who accused the authors of attempting to ban the LGBT rainbow flag, leading to a personal confrontation after João Almeida responded to Fabian Figueiredo's criticism of the bill by calling him 'ridiculous'.
She could neither read nor write when she was found by the authorities. She was in a state of extreme thinness. The foster family reports on the difficult recovery of the woman who was enslaved for 25 years.
The decision comes after six plaintiffs filed a civil lawsuit and one day after the Public Prosecutor's Office archived the criminal complaints. The Court of Appeal is categorical: 'It is evident that the message “Roma people must obey the law” is discriminatory.'
The court considers that the “dignity of the human person” was violated
The European Court ruled in favour of the CMTV journalist, and an extraordinary appeal for review determined her acquittal.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic stated today that formal and cultural obstacles persist, hindering women's participation in society, and stressed that these challenges call upon all citizens to defend gender equality.
The Bulgarian Court of Cassation had invoked the “moral and religious values of society” to deny the request. The CJEU rejected the argument and imposed clear limits on Member States.
Director Marco Martins adapts Henrik Ibsen's classic play to explore the manipulation of immigrants' images by media and political parties. Inspired by a 2024 police operation in Lisbon where dozens of immigrants were lined up against a wall, the production features real-life participants to challenge the dehumanisation of migrant communities and spark a collective reflection on democracy and the 'minority versus majority' conflict.
Reducing human complexity to political symbols always requires the same method: choosing a fragment, amplifying it until it occupies the entire story, and letting the rest fall into silence.
The Public Prosecution Service has archived the inquiry opened following several complaints regarding Chega's posters about Bangladesh and the Roma community.
At issue were posters from presidential candidate André Ventura, leader of Chega, featuring the phrases 'This is not Bangladesh' and 'Roma people must obey the law'.
Among the first signatories are activist Francisca de Magalhães Barros, Manuela Ramalho Eanes, Dulce Rocha, former president of the Institute for Child Support, Rui Pereira, former Minister of Internal Administration, lawyer António Garcia Pereira, lawyer Isabel Aguiar Branco, and judge Clara Sottomayor.
A petition requesting that the Assembly of the Republic (AR) take measures to make rape a public crime and establish femicide as a separate crime was delivered to parliament on Monday with over 200,000 signatures.
The Portuguese Episcopal Conference (Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa or CEP) has finalized the financial compensation amounts for victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. While specific values have not been publicly disclosed to protect privacy, the CEP stated that victims will soon be notified of the decisions based on independent expert opinions. Those affected should be aware that notifications regarding compensation decisions will be sent privately in the coming weeks.
The Portuguese Episcopal Conference (Conferência Episcopal Portuguesa or CEP) is the official assembly of Catholic bishops in Portugal. It serves as the representative body for the Catholic Church in the country, coordinating religious activities and engaging with the government on social and legal issues. The organization recently established a framework for financial compensation for victims of sexual abuse within the church.
The eastern Algarve town of Alcoutim is preparing to unveil a new sculpture dedicated to women who have suffered abuse. The ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, March 22 at 10.30am The post Alcoutim unveils sculpture dedicated to female victims of abuse appeared first on Portugal Resident.
The author reflects on the difficulty of discussing gender equality with men who are blind to systemic discrimination. Through personal anecdotes from a human rights mission and a Portuguese university, she illustrates how those who do not experience oppression often fail to recognise it. She draws a parallel with her own journey in understanding racism, concluding that to truly grasp the necessity of equality, we must listen to the experiences of those who are marginalised rather than those who have never faced such barriers.
The article discusses the upcoming quarterly meeting of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers, scheduled for March 9-11, where they will oversee the implementation of judgments from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Several countries, including Portugal, are involved in cases under review. The Committee supervises how national authorities enforce ECHR rulings, which are legally binding under the European Convention on Human Rights. The meeting will examine specific cases from multiple countries, with decisions published on March 12. Notably, Russia is no longer a party to the Convention since September 2022 but continues to be supervised regarding relevant judgments. The article emphasizes the importance of ECHR judgments in safeguarding human rights across Europe.
Sometimes it's Starlink that helps, other times it's a VPN: the internet as we know it does not exist in Iran because it is not a free internet; the speed of messaging is also not as fast as here: we ask someone in Iran a question and the answers take hours or even more than a day to arrive. But they do arrive: “They control every aspect of our humanity – what we wear, how we think, even how we speak. Many of our natural rights have been violated to a point that it has become normal for us, we no longer consider them rights we deserve.” Two women bypassed the blockade in Iran, where “being a woman is the hardest thing in the world” and where being a protester is the second hardest. War is not desirable, they admit, but it is the last hope to overthrow the theocracy.
The political prisoner had been detained since October.
He had been detained since October 'for political reasons', described as 'opposition activity on social media', the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.
The neo-Nazi's lawyer says he is 'locked up 22 hours a day in an eight-square-metre cell' and confirmed he will appeal.
The Public Prosecutor's Office alleges that more than ten officers assaulted detainees at two Lisbon police stations and that images of alleged torture were shared among over 70 police officers. Two people have been formally identified as suspects in the alleged torture inquiry, and the prosecution's file describes ten particularly violent assaults. The allegations raise serious criminal and human-rights concerns and the investigation is ongoing.
