- Conteudo Principal

Bilateral Relations

Within the scope of the development of bilateral relations, the National Commission may be consulted in preparation of high-level and State visits involving Portugal and other countries. Usually, information on the Portuguese system for the protection of children and young people, on the activities of the 310 local commissions and on the National Commissions’ own initiatives and projects to promote the rights and protect children and young people is provided.

Moreover, the National Commission may be consulted on proposals or updates on Bilateral Cooperation Protocols established between Portugal and other countries, whenever the instruments at stake encompass matters of childhood and youth or issues that may produce impact on children and young people.

Additionally, the National Commission may be directly contacted by entities with intervention on the protection of children of other countries that seek to be received within the scope of technical visits aimed at strengthening cooperation relations, getting to know better the projects and initiatives of the National Commission, exchanging information and good practices and innovative ways to address common challenges.

The National Commission also strengthens bilateral relations by engaging in bilateral initiatives aimed at addressing areas of common interest.

On Portugal and Norway

Currently, the bilateral relations between Portugal and Norway are being worked on, through the implementation of the Bilateral Initiative “Enhancing the protection of the rights of the child in priority areas”. The Initiative, which is totally financed by the Fund for Bilateral Relations of the EEA Grants, involves Portugal and Norway, namely through the National Commission for the Promotion and the Protection of Children and Young People as the promoter of the Initiative, and the Agency for Child and Family Welfare of the City of Oslo as partner.

logos da cnpdpcj de oslo e das bolsas islândia, liechtenstein e noruega

The launch event of the Initiative took place on July 2, 2019, at the Assembly of the Republic, in Lisbon, integrated in the opening session of the international Seminar “Reflecting upon children participation in public decision making” whose program included presentations by Braggi Gudbrandsson, Eivind Pedersen, Odete Severino and Olive McGovern. The conclusions of the seminar are available here.

The closing event of the Initiative was held online, on December 16, 2020. The opening panel counted with the participation of Rosário Farmhouse (President of the National Commission), Tove Bruvik Westberg (Ambassador of Norway to Portugal), Hege Hovland Malterud (Director of the Agency for the Welfare of Children and Families of the Municipality of Oslo) and Portuguese and Norwegian children and youngsters, who spoke about the importance of child participation.  National and international speakers also participated: Célia Chamiça and Fátima Duarte, for the Bilateral Initiative’s Technical Team on behalf of the National Commission and Iben Schier van den Berg, for the Bilateral Initiative’s Technical Team on behalf of the Norwegian partner entity; Pedro Raposo de Figueiredo (Center for Judicial Studies, Portugal); and Mieke Schuurman, representing Eurochild. The closing panel was carried out by Rosário Farmhouse, President of the Promoter, and Susana Ramos, Coordinator of the EEA Grants National Focal Point (Portugal). The recorded session is available here.

This event included the pre-launch of the two outcomes of this Initiative: the Thematic Glossary of Child Protection Systems and of the Promotion of Children’s Rights focused on the hearing of the child in especially vulnerable contexts, in English and in Portuguese, and the Referential of Good Practices for Enhancing Child Participation in the Promotion of the Rights of the Child, also in English and in Portuguese.