The Beginning
On April 3rd, 1921, at the Hall of “AteneuComercial de Lisboa”former President of the Republic Mr. Teófilo Braga founded the Portuguese Human Rights League, rooted on the French Human Rights and of the Citizen League, founded on June 4th, 1898 in Paris, France. de 1898, em Paris.
Presided by Sebastião de Magalhães Lima, the Directory was formed by theVice Chairman Luz de Almeida and seven vocals: Estêvão da Silva, Carlos de Lemos, Luís de Melo Ataíde, Agostinho Fortes, Álvaro Neves, Carneiro de Moura and Ramos Paiva.
The Ruling Status were approved on April 21st, 1922 and submitted to the Lisbon Civil Government. The provisory headquarters was at Rua do Mundo, no. 92, 2nd floor.

During Dictatorship Time
The Leaguesurvived the dictatorship regimes that ruled Portugal from 1926 to 1974. Despite of the difficulties felt during the governments of National Dictatorship and New Sate, with loss of great part of its documentation, the League managed to exercise the purpose of contributing in the defense of the Human Rights in Portugal.
From the documents that reached the present moment, it is possible to know that in 1945, the Directory of the League was formed by:
- President: Carlos Lemos (António Carlos Cardoso de Lemos);
- Vice-Chairman: José de Macedo;
- General-Secretary of Interior: Alberto Freire de Aragão;
- Secretary of External Relations: Virgílio Marques;
- Vocals: Luís Estevão da Silva and Albano Dinis de Oliveira.
In January of 1953 were elected to the social organs for the triennial of 1953-1955:
- Honorary President: Carlos Lemos;
- President: José Maria Barbosa de Magalhães;
- Vice-Chairman: Manuel Barbosa Sueiro;
- General-Secretary: Virgílio Ferreira Marques;
- Deputy General-Secretary: Armando Adão e Silva;
- Treasurer:Américo Amorim Leitão;
- Vocals: António Sérgio, João Cândido de Carvalho, Abílio da Costa Mendes and Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos.
The General Assembly was formed by:
- President: Luís Filipe Estêvão da Silva;
- Vice-Chairman: Luís Pedro Martinez Moitinho de Almeida;
- 1st Secretary: Fernando Vieira;
- 2nd Secretary:Adelino Cabral.
On October 31st, 1960, PIDE(International and State Defence Police – security service agency) raided and apprehended the archive of the League.
In 1967, the social organs were elected with the following names:
- President: Armando Adão e Silva;
- Vice-Chairman: Fernando Mayer Garção;
- General-Secretary: Ângelo Vidal de Almeida Ribeiro;
- Deputy General-Secretary: Carlos Augusto Gonçalves Estorninho;
- Treasurer: Tenente José Francisco da Silva;
- Vocals: Mário Soares Andreia, António Silva, António Marcelino Mesquita and Raul Rego.
The General Assembly was formed by:
- President: Luís Hernâni Dias Amado;
- Vice-Chairman: José Magalhães Godinho;
- 1st Secretary: Élio Sucena;
- 2nd Secretary: Carlos Alberto S. de Araújo Sequeira.
The Juridical Commission was formed by José Magalhães Godinho, Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos and Vasco da Gama Fernandes.
Before April 25th, the League was presided by Armando Adão e Silva, and the Directory was formed by Nuno Rodrigues dos Santos, Virgílio Ferreira Marques, Carlos Pereira, Victor Cesário da Fonseca, Fernando Mayer Garção, Abílio Mendes, Raul Rego and Francisco José Cardoso Júnior.
After April 25th, the League assumed its public action by the hand of president Vasco da Gama Fernandes and the directory was formed by:
- Vice-Chairman: José Magalhães Godinho;
- Secretary of External Relations: Henrique de Barros;
- General-Secretary: António Marcelino Mesquita;
- Deputy General-Secretary: Manuel Alpedrinha;
- Treasurer: Carlos Alberto Ferreira de Andrade;
- Vocals: Maria Barroso, Miguel Serrano and Xencora Camotin.
The General Assembly was formed by:
- President: Luís Hernâni Dias Amado;
- Vice-Chairman: Teófilo Carvalho dos Santos;
- Secretaries: Nuno Godinho de Matos and Vasco Ataíde Fernandes.
The Juridical Commission was formed by:
- President: José Magalhães Godinho;
- Vocals: Vasco Serrano de Castro and Manuel Macaísta Malheiros.
There is a clear renovation throughout the League: the inclusion of young people and for the first time a woman – Maria Barroso.
By assuming the function as President of the Assembly of the Republic, Mr. Vasco da Gama Fernandes renounced the presidency of the League and he was replaced by Ângelo de Almeida Ribeiro.
Fusion of the League

On December 15th, 2008, the League merged with CIVITAS – Association for the Defence and Promotion of Citizens’ Rights, and, since then, its present denomination is Portuguese Human Rights League – Civitas.
CIVITAS was founded in 1989 and its 1st General-Assembly was held at Sociedade Nacional das Belas Artes presided by Magalhães Mota, with the secretaries Vasco Lourenço and Sá Machado.
Vitor Alves and Helena Cidade Moura spoke in the name of the Founding Committee and Vítor Melícias, Fernando Amaral, Natália Correia, Domingos Moura and José SanchesOsório intervened as associates.