1. The Inspectorate General of Home Affairs (Inspeção-Geral da Administração Interna – IGAI) was created by Decree-Law No. 227/95, dated September 11, 1995, later amended by Decree-Law No. 154/96, dated August 31, 1996, Decree-Law No. 3/99, dated January 4, 1999, Decree-Law No. 58/2012, dated March 14, 2012, and Decree-Law No. 146/2012, dated July 12, 2012.

The implementation of the IGAI took place with the nomination of its first Inspector General, an Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. António Henrique Rodrigues Maximiano, of February 26, 1996.

According to the legal text that created the Inspectorate General, Decree-Law No. 227/95, the IGAI corresponded, in the scope of Home Affairs and the activity of domestic security, and we quote: “…to the pressing need to endow the Ministry with an inspection and supervision service especially focused on the control of the legality, the defence of the citizens’ rights and a better and more expedite management of disciplinary justice in situations of great social relevance”.

Putting beside the prologue of Decree-Law No. 227/95 with that of Decree-Law No. 58/2012, the latter amending the legal text that created the IGAI, we can see that, to achieve such goals, the Organism followed, in its legal structural framework, a special model and one that is focused in the promptness and high quality of action, keeping the same principles and reinforcing the mission and tasks of the IGAI.

So, the first legal text puts a stress in the specialities, exceptions and flexibility in what concerns the recruitment of the staff, from whom a great maturity and professional experience is required, “(…) highly qualified and with credibility for the performance of the tasks committed to the IGAI, with impartiality, independence, neutrality, dedication and self-sacrifice (…)”.

These numerous exceptions, especially dedicated to the mission of the IGAI, are justified by the unique aspect of this Inspectorate General which has no career inspectors; its work is done, and always was, by inspectors appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs (Ministro da Administração Interna – MAI), under proposal of the Inspector General, and temporarily appointed for a period of three years that may be renewed.

For this reason and because, contrary to other sectorial inspectorate services, the IGAI has no professional career of inspectors, they must be recruited from several areas: judges, public prosecutors, high rank officers of the Public Security Police (Polícia de Segurança Pública - PSP), National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana - GNR), Immigration and Borders Service (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras - SEF), inspectors of the Criminal Police, as well as inspectors in the area of public finances (Inspectorate General of Finances - Inspeção-Geral de Finanças (IGF), Audit Court - Tribunal de Contas).

Besides the fact that this Inspectorate has a technical and administrative autonomy, it ensures high level tasks of audit, inspection and control over all entities, services and organisms that depend on or whose activity is legally controlled or ruled by the Minister of Home Affairs, which is not the case with most of the several sectorial inspectorate services.

The IGAI is in charge, among other duties, of investigating all news of serious violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens by the security forces and services or by their elements that come to its knowledge; it performs inquiries, audits and expertise work, and initiates or collaborates in the opening of proceedings in the scope of those services, whenever its collaboration is required and authorised by a superior authority; it communicates to the competent authorities to investigate criminal behaviours the facts with a relevant criminal nature and collaborates with them to obtain pertinent evidence, whenever asked to.

In the scope of its inspection, control and investigation duties, it must also perform ordinary and extraordinary inspections and audits to assess the efficacy of the services, which include thematic and budgetary areas.

In the scope of its inspection, control and investigation duties, it must also perform ordinary and extraordinary inspections and audits to assess the efficacy of the services, which include thematic and budgetary areas.

Accordingly, the Inspectorate General of Home Affairs, an Organism which is different from all others with inspectorate duties not only in its area of Mission, acts in a way so as to complement other systems of external control of police activity (Ombudsman, Courts of Law, Director of Public Prosecutions) and is controlled by international organisms, such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT).

In its essence, it is a high level inspectorate whose recipients are all services that depend on or whose activity is legally regulated by the Minister of Home Affairs, as well as the enterprises that carry out the activity of private security.

On the other hand, this Inspectorate General is in charge of the proceedings of regulatory offences proposed by the High Commissioner for Migrations and by the President of the Commission for Equality and against Racial Discrimination, for the opening of the necessary procedures of inquest, according to Law No. 18/2004, dated May 11, 2004, and Law No. 134/99, dated August 28, 1999, and Article 3 of the General Regulations of Regulatory Offences, by reason of alleged discriminatory behaviours (High Commissariat for Intercultural Integration, I.P. – ACIDI – nowadays known as High Commissariat for Migrations, I.P. – ACM, I.P.).

2. The Inspectorate General of Home Affairs is directed by one Inspector General, assisted by one Deputy Inspector General. It has also an intermediate post of Director of Services. The posts of the Direction Board are provided by judges and/or public prosecutors. In its organic structure is has an inspection and control service.

It has a Nucleus of Technical Support which is composed by elements of the various branches of knowledge, such as law, linguistics, human and financial resources, social sciences and two sections, an administrative and general support section and a financial and human resources section. It also has a Nucleus of documentation and library.

3. In the domestic field, the IGAI is a member of the following Councils and Networks:

    • Coordinator Council of the Domestic Control System (Conselho Coordenador do Sistema de Controlo Interno - SCI) (Decree-Law No. 166/98, dated June 25, 1998);
    • Council of Private Security (Conselho de Segurança Privada - CSP) (Article 20, par. 2, subpar. (b) of Decree-Law No. 35/2004, dated February 21, 2004, amended and republished by Decree-Law No. 114/2011, of November 30, 2011);
    • European Network of Contact Points Against Corruption (Decision of the Cabinet 2008/852/JAI, dated October 24, 2008, and Communication of the Secretariat General of the Council of the European Union 7295/1/09, REV 1, CRIMORG 35, dated March 9, 2009) to which belong, besides the IGAI, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Council for the Prevention of Corruption of the Audit Court and the Criminal Police;
    • According to Recommendations No. 1/2009, dated July 1, 2009 (points 1.2 and 2), and No. 7/2012/, dated November 7, 2012, the IGAI cooperates with the Council for the Prevention of Corruption and, with it, is part of the European Contacts Points above mentioned.

In the international field,

    • The IGAI is a member of the EPAC/EACN.

In November 2013, the present Inspector General was elected Vice-President in the field of control of police action during the Assembly General that took place in Krakow, Poland.

    • In the scope of the OCIP, the IGAI signed an agreement with the Inspectorate General of Home Affairs of Angola (IG-MININT), holding a large set of conferences, seminars and training actions.

    • Establishes bilateral cooperation with its peers in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau.

4. It is a strategic purpose of the IGAI to enhance training actions, both in an external perspective of connexion with the security forces and services, and in an internal perspective of development of capacities that makes performances more in accordance with the degree of requirements of the areas of intervention of the services, in a way to obtain results of productivity mainly oriented towards the reinforcement of the efficacy, control, achievement of gains and the promotion of the continuous improvement of the quality of the services available and, especially, the induction and implementation of police practices that are in accordance with the defence of human rights, stressing the significant aspects regarding the defence of human and fundamental rights of citizenship, by promoting conferences and seminars whose conclusions may stimulate the reflexion and debate on the learning and consolidation of police action, having in mind the continuous evolution of the society in which we live and the challenges of active security and citizenship we face daily.

In this aspect, the IGAI has provided training actions in the High Institute of Police Sciences and Domestic Security (Instituto Superior de Ciências Policiais e Segurança Interna - ISCPSI), in the Military Academy (Academia Militar) and in the Institute of Advanced Military Studies (Instituto de Estudos Superiores Militares - IESM) in the scope of the Degree in Law and Security, by invitation of the Faculty of Law of the New University of Lisbon (Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and, more recently, in the Training Centre of Figueira da Foz of the National Republican Guard.

5. The intervention is highly selective and, for that reason, the IGAI initiates the investigation of the most serious procedures - police ill treatment, torture, bodily harm and death of citizens - and controls, by proceedings of follow-up, in a very near way, the less serious cases whose proceedings are initiated within the security forces and services, complying thus with Ministerial Order No. 10529/2013, dated August 13, 2013, in Official Gazette, Series II, of August 13, 2013.

The IGAI is competent to make studies and proposals having in mind the improvement of quality of police action and technical support to the Minister in what concerns the answers to requests presented by national and international organisations of defence and protection of human rights, especially the Amnesty International and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe.

It has no competency for criminal investigation since it is not an organ of Criminal Police; accordingly, it must communicate as soon as possible to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions all situations deemed to be considered a criminal offence, cooperating with the organs of criminal investigation to gather evidence, whenever its collaboration is requested by them; in Portugal is in force, by reason of its law and constitutional system, the principle of autonomy of disciplinary proceedings vis-à-vis criminal proceedings, considering the violation of the interests in appreciation and without breach of the principle non bis in idem.

In this context, it is important to mention the Circular No. 4/98, dated May 4, 1998, from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions which established the obligation to inform the IGAI of all proceedings instituted against elements of the security forces and services which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs. So, the same fact is subjected to both evaluations, which allows a prompt and efficient disciplinary action (IGAI) without prejudice to the criminal justice (courts of law).

To perform its activity, in compliance with the law, the IGAI is subjected to the principle of legality and by criteria of rigorous objectivity. When the IGAI intervenes in a disciplinary investigation, by its own initiative or following ministerial orders, the power to investigate and to propose a decision that belonged to the security force or service in which the agent belongs is immediately transferred exclusively to the IGAI, in the part dealing with the investigation and proposal of decision, and to the Minister of Home Affairs in what concerns the decision.

This results in proceedings that are completely external to the security force or service and which have proved to be effective and highly considered by public opinion and the media.

6. The objectives and strategies that constitute the Mission of the IGAI have always at their core the problematics of police behaviour regarding citizenship and the nucleus of human rights.

We must remember that,:

Since it began to operate, the IGAI has systematically developed actions aiming at ensuring the intransigent defence of the fundamental rights of the citizens, of human rights and the implementation of training actions aiming at improving the quality of police action.

It has maintained the preventive activity of police action, especially in the area of detention and identification of citizens and the respect for their dignity, and developed inspection proceedings without previous notice aiming at the assessment of the compliance with the legality by security forces and services, but also at the working conditions, both physical, material and personal, trying to assess the organic structures of the organisms, the disciplinary and punitive regimens and the professional careers.

It is worth mentioning in this area, and by initiative of the IGAI which created it, the entry into force in Portugal by Ministerial Decision of May 1999, of the Regulations of the Material Conditions of Detention in Police Facilities, in which are established the areas of the cells, the characteristics to which must obey the premises, the beds, the lighting system, the floors, as well as the procedures to observe regarding the detainees. These Regulations were recently reviewed and published in the Official Gazette, No. 106, Series II, of June 2, 2015.

These rules are complied with when new units are built and led to the renewal of the old ones, according to Ministerial Orders dated January 16, 2013, and April 8, 2013; we must said that the precincts which have detention areas in which irregularities have been detected are already registered in a list of premises to be repaired, of which is in charge a working group established by an Order of the Minister of Home Affairs (composed by representatives from the PSP, GNR, DGIE and IGAI), to ensure the compliance with the Regulations of the Material Conditions of Detention in Police Facilities.

Also as a consequence of the activity of the IGAI, certain practices such as the registration of detainees became mandatory, as well as the information concerning their detention, by telecopy, to the judiciary authority, namely to the public prosecution service, and the right of the detainee to contact a lawyer was recognised and ensured, as well as the rights to medical assistance and telephone contacts.

Namely Resolution No. 43/173, dated December 9, 1988, of the Assembly General of the United Nations, which approved The Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any form of Detention or Imprisonment, was developed and became part of police practice. In this line of concerns and by the initiative of the IGAI, who wrote the project, a single law was published regarding the use of firearms by police forces and services, which corresponds to the international texts on this subject and whose legislative amendments have had the contribution of the IGAI. Also with great commitment and significant contribution of the IGAI was compiled and approved the Code of Deontology of the Portuguese police forces and services, applicable to the PSP and GNR.

7. The persistence of the first Inspector General of Home Affairs, the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Mr. António Henrique Rodrigues Maximiano, and his open and simultaneously critical vision made this Inspectorate General, both domestically and at an international level, an organism of reference in the defence of human rights, carrying out the control of legality for a better and quicker administration of the disciplinary justice in the situations of a most social relevance, regarding all entities, services and organisms depending on or whose activity is legally controlled or regulated by the Minister of Home Affairs.

With his great contribution and intransigent defence of the public cause, he gave form to this Inspectorate General, which grew with a strong feeling of defence of citizenship and the total commitment to the defence of human rights, becoming, since then and without any feeling of immodesty, an organism of reference of a democratic State based on the rule of the law.

Source of the inspiration which created this Inspectorate General, it was clear since the early days that the tasks of all those who work here cannot be accomplished without the understanding of the material contents of the principle of dignity of the human being and the sense of implicit connexion between the fundamental rights and human dignity, hence the moto of the IGAI: human dignity is the source from which all fundamental rights derive.

Since its creation, The IGAI has been organising itself in a system based in a functionally sober conception, keeping elements of culture and identity outside the norms of competition and market.

The Inspectorate General has overcome the difficulties that are inevitable in the interpretation of a renew corpus of rules which have demanded, more than the legal instability that is in itself disturbing, the definition of good practices in the management of the proceedings, instruments of management of human and material resources and suitable internal proceedings.

The attributions that better characterise the IGAI and make it different from other sectorial inspectorate services are focused on the control of the observance and protection of the citizen’s fundamental rights, freedoms and safeguards, which translate into a better citizenship.

The principles that guide this Inspectorate General since its creation respect the development of operational functions of control, audit and inspection, being the IGAI especially directed to the external control of the legality in one of the areas of the action of a democratic State based on the rule of the law which is undoubtedly a very sensitive one: the exercise of the authority powers and the legitimate use of coercive means by police forces and services whose action, considering their specific characteristics, may come into conflict with the citizen’s rights, freedoms and safeguards.

The intervention is highly selective and, for that reason, the IGAI institutes the most serious proceedings, such as police ill treatment, torture, bodily harm and death of citizen, and controls, by means of follow-up procedures, and in a very close way, the less serious situations, whose proceedings are initiated inside the security forces and services.

The structure and the model of organisation of the IGAI has always been respected, both in terms of its recipients, who see the IGAI as an organism who carefully looks after the defence of human rights, and of the citizens in general, and yet all those who work in the different security forces and services.

The performance of the IGAI regarding all entities, organisms and services under the authority of, or whose activity is legally controlled or regulated by the MAI, carrying out an external control, performing audit, inspection and control actions, without previous notice, with respect for the safeguard of independence, ensuring that the exercise of that control will not be subjected to any constraints, namely conflict of interests, pressures or any other kind of influence.

With the implementation of the IGAI, Portugal has now a complex and complementary system of external oversight of the security forces and services.

Yet a word to Senior Judge Mr. António Manuel Clemente Lima, who succeeded the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Rodrigues Maximiano in the leadership of the IGAI and continued to shape the guiding principles that formed the basis for the creation of the IGAI. His way of thinking was of great relevance, defending that a larger number and better training actions of all those who ensure domestic security is the way to achieve a positive assessment of their performance.

Many conferences and essays written by the Senior Judge Mr. Clemente Lima still reverberate in the construction of the IGAI, incorporating several books that are still used in the current training of the elements of the security forces and services.

In what concerns the opening to the Portuguese speaking countries in Africa, our appreciation goes to the work and intelligence of Senior Judge Mr. Mário Manuel Varges Gomes.

Without all those who worked and those who currently work in this Inspectorate General of Home Affairs the existence of the Inspectorate General of Home Affairs would not be possible.

A public acknowledgement is due to all, directors, inspectors, staff and those who contributed and still do to make the IGAI, since its implementation, a respected organism of reference, both domestically and at an international level, with its recipients considering this Inspectorate General as an organism which carefully looks after the defence of human rights, both of the anonymous citizen and all those who work in the different security forces and services.