Spain will have to pass next Wednesday in Geneva the examination that the United Nations to the Member States of the human Rights Council. It is about Universal Periodic Exam that analyzes the action of each state in terms of human rights. The last examination, in February 2020, the Spanish State was already forced to give explanations about police violence of 1-O and on respect for freedom of expression and meeting. This time, again, the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights insists on the need to punish police violence of 1-O, and alert against the persecution of independentistas, the restrictions suffered by members of the “Catalan minority” or the discrimination of Catalan. The report also includes concern about the need to guarantee judicial independence or for the fact that Spain does not investigate disappearances during the dictatorship, as well as the situation of unaccompanied migrants or racism, among other issues.
The exam consists of three parts: a report prepared by the State, of 26 pages, in which the situation of human rights and the monitoring of the recommendations of the last examination is reviewed; a 15 -page report with the information prepared by the United Nations High Commissioner Office for Human Rights; and the summary of the communications presented by different entities within the framework of the exam. This last document includes communications sent to the United Nations by entities such as Cultural Òmnium and the Catalan national Assembly, which refer to persecution against independence, the inadequate application of amnesty and judicial obstacles in the execution of this law, but also to issues such as the difficulty of accessing housing.
Catalan minority
Also the collection of information presented by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights indicates issues related to the State’s response to the independence process. Thus, in the chapter dedicated to justice and rule of law, the concern of the committee against torture is collected “for the slow investigations“In the prosecution of 45 Spanish police officers indicated by the violent performance during the referendum of 1-O. At this point, rapid and impartial investigations are required, with adequate punishments and repairs to the victims.
In the chapter of fundamental freedoms and participation in public life, concern is collected “for interference in the Human Rights of Catalan leaders and other minority activists to freely maintain and express their opinions, gather peacefully and participate in associations. ” restrictions imposed to political figures already manifested to the Catalan minority as well as for the criminal accusations made against him, with the consequent judgments and sentences issued, “adds the report in which the criminal accusations against the independence leaders are attributed to the Attempt to “coercion them for their political opinions.
The high commissioner text not to mention Amnesty’s law, but indicates the rapporteur’s recommendation about the need for in the Open causes against independence Spain complies with “The principle of legality and certainty regarding crimes the definition and interpretation of which the International Human Rights Standards could contravene. “Likewise, denounces the persecution against Catalan leaders and activists with the spy software Pegasus I Candiru, and warns that “Catalan leaders and other minority activists had the right to private life and the privacy of correspondence, as well as to be treated on equal terms before the law.”
Hate speech
The language It also appears as another of the outstanding concerns of the High Commissioner report, which claims Spain to ensure the use of Catalan in the administration of justice, in addition to claiming to study the impact of different educational models in the use of state co -official languages. It also includes the opinion of the Special Rapporteur on Minority issues, which recommended “undertaking an exhaustive review of school textbooks to incorporate more inclusive and positive exhibitions of the diversity of the country“.
In the minority chapter, and linked to the 2017 referendum, information about “the Increased hate speech and acts of aggression against members of the Catalan minority and other national minorities, so the high commissioner recommends approveing a Comprehensive Law for the Fight against Racism, Discrimination and other forms of intolerance.
independent justice
In a more general area, the High Commissioner report dedicates a touch of attention to the need in Spain of a impartial and independent justice, that directly links to the functioning of the General Council of the Judiciary, and insists on the reproaches to the Spanish State for the fact that the human rights violations that occurred during the Franco dictatorshipwhich, remember, remain silenced by the Amnesty Law of 1977. The non -repair of the victims of the Civil War and the dictatorship also includes among the concerns indicated by the communications that the UN has received from entities.
The report reviews the situation in the Spanish State of Fundamental Rights such as the right to health and education, or the attention to children, and shows the rapporteur about the treatment received by unaccompanied minor migrants or concrete episodes as the response of the Spanish Police in the face of the Mass Input attempt of migrants in June 2022 by Melilla.
