Overview
- The Síndica de Greuges presented the 2024 Childhood Report recommending a “first majority” at 16 that would enable adolescents to vote and participate formally in politics.
- It also proposes extending compulsory education from 16 to 18, a point that drew a public difference of view between the Síndica and her deputy, who cited Portugal’s experience in reducing dropout.
- The office would keep criminal responsibility at 14 and points to Austria as a model for lowering the voting age without changing penal thresholds.
- The report documents service and welfare gaps, noting higher child poverty risk (27% versus 15% for adults), longer social-housing waits for families with children (618 versus 460 days), and limited adolescent mental-health and early-intervention coverage.
- The document urges an age-focused approach across public policy and has been sent to other regional ombuds offices and the national Defensor del Pueblo, with the recommendations not yet adopted into law.