The Portuguese Ombudsman has been reaccredited as A status National Human Rights Institutions, in full compliance with the Paris Principles, for the period of 2012-2017.

On 22 May 2013, FRA’s Management Board formally decided to extend the contract of Morten Kjaerum as Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights for another three years, with effect from 1 June 2013.

As of 1 July 2013, pensioners working in the public sector will stop receiving their pension as long as they remain employed. According to the Hungarian Ombudsman, this alteration of pension regulations infringes the right to property, therefore he requested the Constitutional Court to annul this amendment.

On 20 May 2013, Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, announced the six eligible candidates for the post of European Ombudsman.

The Report reveals that in 2012 the Portuguese Ombudsman opened 7027 cases, of which 7015 stemmed from a complaint and 12 from his own initiative. This represented an increase of 1215 cases, i.e. 21%, in relation to 2011. In total, 27218 complainants addressed the Ombudsman.

On 9 May 2013 the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution appointing the Portuguese Ombudsman as the National Preventive Mechanism envisaged in the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT).

Prof. Irena Lipowicz visited the former German Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen-Gusen, met with FRA representatives in Vienna and and attended the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM).

People’s Advocate Igli Totozani presents the English version of the institution’s Annual Report 2012. The Annual Report is divided in four chapters and describes the activities of the People’s Advocate during 2012.