25 DE JULHO DE 2023

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«The Convention cannot be interpreted in a vacuum and should as far as possible be interpreted in

harmony with other rules of international law concerning the international protection of human rights».

These rules support the interpretation of the constitution in light of the convention.

The constitution of the Portuguese Republic of 1976 was drafted by a constituent assembly that was elected

on 25 April 1975, one year after the Carnation Revolution.

Today, in Portugal, we celebrate the 49th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution.

The world, and Europe, has changed. Portugal is now a full member of the Council of Europe and a proud

member of the European Union.

But, we still have presented the determination of our constitution, reflected in its historic preamble:

«The Revolution restored fundamental rights and freedoms to the Portuguese. In the exercise of these

rights and freedoms, the legitimate representatives of the people came together to draft a Constitution that

corresponds to the aspirations of the country. The Constituent Assembly affirms the decision of the Portuguese

people to defend national independence, to guarantee the fundamental rights of citizens, to establish the basic

principles of democracy, to ensure the primacy of the democratic rule of law and to pave the way for a socialist

society, in the respect for the will of the Portuguese people, with a view to building a freer, fairer, and more

fraternal country.»

Madam President,

Let me finish by saying to all you dear colleagues, in Portuguese:

Viva a Liberdade, 25 de abril sempre, fascismo nunca mais.

Thank you.

O Deputado Nuno Carvalho (PSD) também participou no debate com a seguinte intervenção:

Thank you, Madam President.

First of all, I'd like to congratulate the rapporteur for this very important subject that

you have brought to us in debate.

Of course, being Portuguese and like my other two Portuguese colleagues, I have to

underline the importance of this day in Portugal: the 25th of April, «25 de Abril» like it is

called in Portugal, is the day in which we celebrate the revolution that has brought us the

democracy.

But speaking of democracy, of course, we know that human rights help, are one of the pillars of, a

democracy, but democracy by itself does not bring human rights. Human rights only by itself are not able to

exist or coexist in a healthy democracy.

A very good example that I've heard a few days ago was if two wolves and one sheep were to vote what's

for dinner, the two wolves would vote that the sheep would be eaten; of course that is not democracy, and of

course that is not respecting human rights.

So, to apply the human rights, even if you say that you are democracy, it's very important.

As the rapporteur said, it is very important to have this awareness, because we are not a federation, but

human rights are global rights.

So, in Portugal, for example, when we were able to achieve these rights with the revolution, we knew that

these were Portuguese rights but also human rights were Portuguese rights, and Portuguese rights were

human rights.

Just like Ukrainian rights are human rights and so on and so on.

These are global rights, and for that matter it is very important for us to have this kind of awareness.

The application of them is of course a very, very big challenge in which all of us must be very much

committed, because human rights also represent an endless ammunition to fight dictatorships, to fight anyone

who wants to oppress people.