The Fundamental Rights Report 2025, just published by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), warns of worsening threats to fundamental rights across Europe.

Based on events from 2024, the report, which can be read here, identifies five critical areas: the threat to democracy, with the rise of disinformation, harmful rhetoric and the misuse of artificial intelligence, which have undermined the integrity of several electoral processes; the persistence of violence against women, with one in three women in the EU continuing to experience gender-based violence, including cyber violence; the growth of hate speech and discrimination, particularly against Muslims, Jews, black people and LGBTIQ communities, especially in the digital environment; abuses and violations of rights at EU borders, with more than 3.500 people dying or disappearing at sea while trying to reach Europe; and the challenges posed by new technologies, where it is essential to ensure that new European digital regulations, such as the Digital Services Regulation and the Artificial Intelligence Regulation, are implemented effectively and consistently to safeguard human rights.

In view of these challenges, the FRA calls on Member States and EU institutions to ensure free and secure elections, strengthen support mechanisms for victims of violence, combat racism and hatred, improve conditions and monitoring at borders, and ensure that technological development respects fundamental rights. In this sense, the report serves as a clear warning of the need for coordinated and urgent action to protect the fundamental values of the European Union, such as democracy, equality, freedom, and human dignity.

The report on Portugal, prepared by the Permanent Observatory for Justice (OPJ) of the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra (UC), which contributed to the European report, also warns of the emergence of the same risks, with different scales and rhythms, but which are moving in the same direction. It is necessary to address these dangers with concrete measures that reduce misinformation, strengthen mechanisms to support violence, increase control and effectively combat hate speech and racism, and guarantee fundamental rights in the management of migration flows.

The FRA's annual report is based on its own quantitative and qualitative research, as well as documentary analysis conducted in each Member State. This national component is provided by the FRA's European research network, FRANET. In Portugal, the contribution to FRANET is prepared by the OPJ/CES/UC, which collects, analyses and reports relevant information on the situation of fundamental rights in the country.