A/HRC/34/51/Add.2 I. Introduction 1. The Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Leilani Farha, visited Portugal from 5 to 13 December 2016, at the invitation of the Government. The visit was conducted jointly with the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Léo Heller. 2. The purpose of the visit of the mandate holder was to examine the implementation of the right to adequate housing through legislation, policies and programmes and to identify positive outcomes and remaining challenges to the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing at the national and subnational levels. 3. The Special Rapporteur visited Lisbon and Porto, and the surrounding areas of both cities. She thanks the Government of Portugal for its cooperation throughout her visit, and also the municipal authorities of Lisbon and Porto for their welcome and support. She also thanks the Parliamentary Committee on the Environment, Territorial Planning, Decentralization, Local Government and Housing, and the Ombudsperson (Provedor de Justiça) for the opportunity to meet. 4. The Special Rapporteur also expresses her thanks to the representatives of the civil society community organizations and networks, and the academics and experts, who shared information and insights with her. She is deeply appreciative of all the residents who met her in their homes and communities, who offered testimonies and explained their living conditions to her. A. Overview 5. For over 40 years, until 1974, Portugal was under a dictatorship. The “carnation revolution” led to the restoration of a democratic system, and eventually to the adoption of a Constitution in 1975. Several colonies – Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea, and São Tomé and Principe – became independent in the mid-1970s, effectively ending over five centuries of Portuguese empire. Portugal joined the European Economic Community in 1986, which was incorporated into the European Union in 1993, and the euro became its currency in 1999. Since 2007, Portugal has faced an unprecedented economic crisis that has been addressed through a number of austerity measures, with serious effects on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights for persons in vulnerable situations. 6. In 2015, Portugal had a population of 10,341,330. According to the 2011 census, more than 61 per cent lived in urban areas, with more than 2.8 million (or 27 per cent) living in the Lisbon metropolitan area. According to government sources, owing to the economic crisis, emigration increased from 11,000 per year in 2000 to approximately 54,000 in 2013. The increase in emigration included low-skilled workers, including from the construction industry, seeking better jobs and living conditions elsewhere.1 As in other European countries, the population in Portugal is steadily aging, and has had a negative growth rate since 2010. Between 2005 and 2015, the median age of the population rose by more than four years: in 2015, people 65 years or older represented 20.7 per cent of the population, or approximately 2 million people. 2 The age distribution of the population is 1 2 David Justino, Emigration from Portugal: Old Wine in New Bottles? (Washington, D.C., Migration Policy Institute, February 2016), pp. 1-3. Eurostat, Population age structure by major age groups, 2005 and 2015 (% of the total population) YB16.png. 3