The Community of Portuguese Language Countries, founded in Lisbon in July 17 1996, integrate all countries with Portuguese as Official Language: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor.
The new and more sophisticated challenges, as well as natural disasters in the end of 20 century and beginning of 21st century, have been creating threats to CPLP countries and citizens’ security, which proves the importance of having strong cooperation links between the countries that belong to this Community.
CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum
The origin of the CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum is connected to the importance and necessity to jointly debate common problems and concerns related to security and home affairs the CPLP countries.
I CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum (Lisbon, 2008)
The importance and urge to debate common issues related to security and home affairs that concerns CPLP countries led Portugal, at that time as president of CPLP, to organize the First CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum in 2008, in Lisbon.
At the end of the Forum, the Lisbon Declaration was signed, which improved the multilateral cooperation relationships, but also had some impact in bilateral cooperation between the countries that belong to this Community.
With this first Forum, CPLP, started a new journey of multilateral cooperation in security and home affairs areas. For this new journey was important not only the Forum, which represented an innovative and propitious application of a more proactive and regular political framework in this area, but also the Lisbon Declaration that built a dynamic of actions and meetings, strengthening the cooperation between those countries.
Among the actions developed in post-Lisbon, there were four seminars, which were important opportunities for the CPLP joint reflection on cooperation regarding Public Security and Order, Border Control and Civil Protection. Those seminars took place in 2008 in Brasília, in 2009 in the City of Praia, in 2010 in Maputo and in 2011 in Luanda.
II CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum (Luanda, 2011)
The II Forum took place in Luanda in 2011, with the presence of Ministers and High Representatives of Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and East Timor. In this event, the commitment between countries resulted in signing the Luanda Declaration.
III CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum (Maputo, 2013)
The III CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum happened in the city of Maputo, Mozambique, in 2013.
This Forum was defined by a very positive assessment of the work carried out in this field over five years. The Ministers signed a set of documents that constitute milestones in the continuous deepening of the cooperation link’s between states, namely, the Addendum to the Protocol of Cooperation between Portuguese-speaking Countries in the domain of Public Security/Internal Security; Internal Rules of the Meeting of Ministers of Home Affairs/Interior of the CPLP and Joint Declaration of Maputo.
IV CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum (Dili, 2015)
The IV Forum of Home Affairs Ministers took place in Dili, in 2015.
In this Forum, attended for the first time by the Equatorial Guinea delegation, the foundation of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) were reaffirmed, namely to strengthen human bonds, solidarity and fraternity among all the Portuguese-speaking countries.
V CPLP Home Affairs Ministers Forum (Praia,
2019)
At the Fifth
Meeting of Ministers of Home Affairs/Interior of the CPLP, held in the City of
Praia under the Presidency of Cape Verde on April 24, 2019, representatives
from each CPLP Member State discussed and approved measures to strengthen
cooperation and internal security. The meeting underscored the importance of
mobility and circulation within the CPLP space, as well as the necessity of
balancing citizen expectations with internal security. Key decisions included
the creation of a platform for real-time sharing of criminal information, the
enhancement of operational cooperation, and the harmonization of police
procedures. The meeting also acknowledged the importance of empowering security
forces to detect risks at airports and combat transnational crime. In the area
of migration, the exchange of experiences and the strengthening of
institutional cooperation were promoted. A community integration model project was
discussed, aiming for a common strategy for document security. For civil
protection, the meeting encouraged international assistance in the event of
natural disasters and the creation of a training network in civil protection
matters. The Praia Declaration reflects the commitment of Member States to
cooperation and the promotion of internal security and stability within this
community of countries. (Dec_Praia-V_RMAI_2019)