News

On 23 July 2020, the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) published the document “Portugal and the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic”, with which it aims to systematise the main measures taken in the context of the pandemic with a view to promoting and protecting human rights, serving as a source of information on this matter.

The document was prepared by the Executive Secretariat of the CNDH, an interministerial coordination body on human rights, based on sectoral contributions provided by various Ministries.

The document also contains the measures taken by the CNPDPCJ (pp. 20 / 21):

“Development by the National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and Protection of Children and Youth (CNPDPCJ) of various actions that contributed to the implementation of child protection responses during and after the pandemic, including:

- Launch of the National Campaign under the slogan ‘protecting children is the responsibility of all’, with the aim of raising civil society’s awareness of the dangers of children and young people;

- Creation of a new functionality on the CNPDPCJ Portal and the national line “Children in Danger” (96 123 11 11) to ensure the protection of children and young people in danger and allow reporting abuse and/or ill-treatment of children and young people. This line is the responsibility of the CNPDPCJ and ensures the referral of situations to the CPCJ territorially competent;

- Preparation of a form, disseminated by the Ministry of Education, addressed to teachers for the communication of situations of children in danger potentially perceived in the context of distance teaching/learning;

- Production and dissemination of a digital document on the prevention of sexual abuse and exploitation in the context of the pandemic, in Portuguese and English;

- Production of resources for children and families, containing guidance on how to deal with the pandemic crisis;

- Dissemination of news and information from international bodies and committees of international organisations on best practices, recommendations and international reference standards on how to deal with COVID-19, while promoting the rights of the child in the context of the pandemic, including the prevention of violence against children.”