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Human Rights in Portugal

Human Rights in Portugal ...

(maybe move this to history) > On the 25^th of April 1974 a military coup ended the Estado Novo regime which ended fascism in Portugal and was the beginning of a new democracy. This led to the new Constitution of the Portuguese Republic which guarantees citizens fundamental rights. The citizens fundamental rights and duties are specified in Part 1 I of The Constitution.

Portugal is also a member state of the European Union (EU) and therefore its citizens are protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.As well as being a member of the EU Portugal is also a member state of the United Nations(UN) and have signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so are signatory to upholding those rights.

Portuguese Colonial Wars and Carnation Revolution memorial

LGBT Rights

Until 1982 homosexuality was a crime. It was in 1982 when amendments were made that decriminalised homosexual relations between people over the age of sixteen in private. The LGBT community in Portugal benefited when Portugal joined the European Union (EU) which they joined formally on the 1^st of January 1986. This benefited the community through being in contact with freedoms that were enjoyed in other countries that were members of the EU. After the decriminalisation of homosexuality there was an emergence of LGBT organisations and gay rights groups in the 1990s in Portugal. Since 1982 Portugal progressed quickly in legal advances in protecting and upholding the rights of the LGBT community. It was in 2001 that they acknowledged civil unions for same-sex couples. Then in 2004 they introduced constitutional rights that explicitly forbid discrimination that is based on someone’s sexual orientation and are one of the only countries in the world to include this in their constitution. In 2010 they also legalised same-sex marriage being the ninth country in the world to do so at the time. It was only a short six years after this that they also legalised the adoption of children by same-sex couples.

Relative to the rest of the worlds countries Portugal has been acknowledged as progressive with the rights of the LGBT community. More recently, in April 2018 the Portuguese parliament approved a law which allows Transgender people to have their preferred gender legally recognised by government without having to be diagnosed as mentally ill. Portugal are one of only six European nations to allow this. With this bill they also banned the unnecessary surgery on intersex infants which can cause life-long pain, health complications and loss of sexual sensation.

Women's Rights

History

Before the overthrow of the authoritarian government in 1974 women were restricted by the penal code and had no contact with international women’s groups thus having little organisational power. With the new constitution in 1976 women gained the same legal equality as men. The Commission on the Status of Women (renamed the Commission for Equality and Women’s Rights in 1991) had the role to improve the position of women in Portugal and protect their rights, this was established in 1977. Then twenty years later the Council of Ministers integrated a gender perspective at all policy levels and since then several national plans for equality have been issued.

Gender Equality Index

In the Gender Equality Index 2017 which uses a scale from 1, full inequality, to 100, full equality, Portugal scored a 56 which is 10 points lower than the EU average. This demonstrates that Portugal is below average with its progression with women’s rights. Although its score was below average it did show higher than the average progress from 2005 to 2015 increasing its score by 6.1.

National Action Plan

Portugal has a national action plan (NAP) which covers domestic and sexual violence and is intended to combat domestic and gender-based violence (2014-2017). As well as this Portugal was the first country that is apart of the European Union to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Domestic violence is at the forefront of gender equality policies within Portugal with multiple strategies in place to fight the issue.

Abortion Laws

Previous to February 2007 abortion law was strict and was only allowed if serious injury or death would be caused to the woman. In February 2007 there was a referendum that had a 59% vote in favour to decriminalise abortion. This gave women the ability to terminate a pregnancy up to the tenths week of pregnancy. Since this change of law it has overall reduced deaths and the number of abortions.

Refugee Rights

Portugal currently has in force The Asylum Act 27/2008 which is legislation that is considered in line with international and EU standards. In conjunction with this Portugal is a state party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. It also accepted and ratified the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in 1960. The 1951 Refugee Convention document which Portugal has ratified lays out the rights of refugees and also the legal obligations of states to protect them therefore refugees in Portugal are protected by these rights. Recently in 2018 Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa made a statement, “We need more immigration and we won’t tolerate any xenophobic rhetoric”. This indicates Portugal’s recent need for refugees to help counteract its declining population. Portugal is part of a voluntary programme which began in January 2018 by the European Commission which aims to resettle 50,000 refugees over the next two years.

Although Portugal has expressed a welcoming attitude towards refugees the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have expressed concerns about the quality of reception conditions in Portugal. In 2012 UNHCR witnessed overcrowding at the existing reception facility and problems becoming worsened by the suspension of Social Security services.

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