Key Benefits:
CHAIR OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
1
Proposal for Resolution No 16 /XIII
The Portuguese Republic is, since November 9, 1978, part of the Convention for the Protection of
of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, to which it was approved, for ratification,
by the Assembly of the Republic, by Law No. 65/78 of October 13, having its instrument
of ratification was deposited on November 9, 1978, as notice published in the I Series
from the Journal of the Republic n. 1/1979, of January 2.
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms acknowledges,
above all, rights belonging to the group of so-called "civil and political" rights, being the
interdiction of discrimination consecrated in respect of respect Article 14 limited to these rights. Thus,
and in the face of the finding that the protection provided by Article 14 of the Convention in what it says
respect for equality and non-discrimination is limited in comparison with the provisions of
other international instruments, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has resolved
adopt Protocol No 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the
Fundamental freedoms, open to signature in Rome, on November 4, 2000, which
was signed by the Portuguese Republic on the same date.
By supplementing the protection already provided for in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms, for containing a general interdiction clause of discrimination
relatively to the enjoyment of the whole and any right provided for in national legislation, the Protocol
n. 12 comes to strengthen the legal mechanisms already in place in the Portuguese legal order, in the
scope of the protection of human rights, by extending the scope of the clause of
general interdiction of discrimination also for economic, social or cultural matrix rights.
CHAIR OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
2
Thus:
Under the terms of the paragraph d ) of Article 197 (1) of the Constitution, the Government presents to the
Assembly of the Republic the following motion for a resolution:
Approves Protocol No 12 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and the
Fundamental freedoms, open for signature in Rome, on November 4, 2000, whose
text in the English-language authenticated version and respect translation in Portuguese language, if
publish in attachment.
Seen and approved in Council of Ministers of June 30, 2016
The Prime Minister
The Minister of Foreign Affairs
The Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs