The Board of Directors of the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra has announced a set of measures that give shape to a new institutional policy to combat and prevent harassment and abuse. The presentation was made on Wednesday, 13 March, at a press conference at the CES premises.

With the announced measures, the CES Board intends to strengthen internal democracy and map and duly address any situation of harassment and abuse within the institution. The Board is committed to providing clear guidelines and a transparent path for following up on complaints of this kind, accompanying victims, protecting witnesses, and guaranteeing the rights of all those involved. At the same time, it will train and sensitise all members of the community to prevent and deal with cases like these.

This new policy follows the final report of the Independent Commission (IC), which CES set up to clarify situations of harassment reported within the institution. The report concludes that there is evidence of “patterns of behaviour involving abuse of power and harassment on the part of some people in senior positions at CES.” CES will evaluate the feasibility of opening disciplinary proceedings against people reported and will send the report to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for the purposes deemed appropriate. Considering the breach of the values by which CES is governed, the Board will also convene a meeting of the General Assembly to assess other initiatives to be taken. The full IC report is available on this page.

The CES Board of Directors has also published an open letter addressed to all those who feel they have been victims of harassing or abusive behaviour, whether or not they have testified before the Independent Commission, available here.

Following the recommendations made by the Independent Commission in its report, CES will implement the following measures:

Institutional measures
• Revision of the Code of Conduct and inclusion of sanctions for non-compliance with the prescribed behaviour;
• Revision of the CES Ombudsperson’s Office model;
• Limiting the number of mandates in CES management bodies;
• Revision of the statutes with a view to promote broader student participation.

Intervention measures
• Creation of a working group, with representatives from the entire CES community, to implement intervention measures;
• Conducting an anonymous internal questionnaire to identify the prevalence of situations of harassment and abuse;
• Creation of a protocol for dealing with situations of harassment and abuse, both inside and outside CES premises;
• Partnership with the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality (CIG) for psychological support services for people who consider themselves victims of gender violence, through the National Support Network for Victims of Domestic Violence, coordinated by the CIG.

Prevention measures
• Continuous provision of an anonymous reporting channel via the external FaceUp platform;
• Training in team management and emotional intelligence, among other initiatives to defend ethics and deontology;
• Raising awareness of unwanted and non-consensual behaviour;
• Actively publicising the Code of Conduct to new members of the CES community.

CES reiterates its rejection of any form of harassment or abuse and stands in solidarity with all those who consider themselves victims of violence of this nature. The CES Board remains committed to its mission of defending human rights and to its duty of transparency, protection, and justice towards all members of its community.