"Portugal represents an example for Europe in rising above the crisis, but [without a] rejection of the bases of democracy," said the organisation's legal officer, Bruno Stagno Ugarte.

Speaking in Fafe, where he was taking part in a homage that the Portuguese organisation Terra Justa was hosting for HRW, Ugarte said that the Portuguese should feel proud at the path the country took to overcome the crisis while hewing to "commitments and principles of the European Union".

Ugarte went on to criticise the political options taken by some other EU member states that did not suffer such a serious economic crisis as Portugal, such as Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland, where he said "opportunism, populism and demagogy are destroying democracy".

He also criticised what he termed the "complicit silence" of various Western democracies in face of violations of human rights that are taking place around the world where there are armed conflicts, and recalled that small and medium-sized countries can have an important role in denouncing such cases, for example in the United Nations. He cited as good examples the Netherlands, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Ugarte stressed the importance of public opinion being involved in influencing governments, at a time when there is "so much disinformation and lies on the internet".