Human rights problems persist in Portugal but there has been some progress, says Amnesty International whose latest report highlights housing inequality and the discrimination against vulnerable people and minority communities.
"After decades of international human rights commitments and significant progress in Portugal," there have been problems in integrating refugees and asylum seekers.
Amnesty points out that long processing delays have continued when assessing applications for international protection. This has caused barriers to integration.
Amnesty also notes reports by international human rights monitoring bodies of maltreatment of individuals by members of the various security forces and some continuing problems in Portugal’s prisons.
As for violence against women, Amnesty notes data which shows that the number of convictions for domestic violence is tiny when compared to the number of complaints.
In October, the Porto Court of Appeal upheld the suspended sentence of two men convicted in 2015 of assaulting a woman. The woman’s former partner abducted her and her former husband beat her with a nail-spiked bat.
The judges justified their decision by referring to religious beliefs and gender stereotypes, stating that “the adultery of the woman was a very serious attack on the honour and dignity of a man.”
In December, the Superior Council of the Judiciary opened disciplinary proceedings, which were pending at the end of the year, against the two judges responsible for the ruling.
The report points out continuing problems of inadequate housing conditions, particularly affecting people of African descent and the Roma communities.
The existence of a body, independent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has long been advocated by Amnesty International and also has been recommended by international monitoring bodies.
The prison service gets the usual allegations of prisoner mistreatment by guards and inter-prisoner violence, overcrowding, poor cell conditions, the need for more staff and better training and care for inmates.
Afro-descendants, gypsy and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexual communities continued to face various forms of discrimination.
In April, a government-sponsored bill aiming to bring the protection of LGBTI people’s rights in line with international standards was presented to Parliament.
The bill was being considered at the end of the year. The bill proposed removing the requirement for psychological assessments and introduced the requirement for expressed consent to any medical treatment aimed at determining the gender for intersex people, including children.
Next year, notes Amnesty, a law to promote equal pay for equal work for women and men comes into force.
The government agrees that gender equality and the fight against discrimination and all forms of gender-based violence, involve more than legislative changes, these require policy changes and practices that promote changes in social and cultural patterns of behaviour, as well as the eradication of harmful gender stereotypes and myths.
