HISTORICAL MEMORY IN SPAIN CONFERENCE

“All peoples have the inalienable right to know the truth about past occurrences in relation to the perpetration of aberrant crimes, and of the circumstances and motives which led to, by means of massive or systematic violations, the perpetrations of such crimes. The full and effective exercise of the right to the truth provides a fundamental safeguard against the repetition of such violations.”

This is the second article of the Group of updated principles for the protection and promotion of human rights with the help of the United Nations' fight against impunity.

But, what does this "inalienable right to know the truth" consist of? What is its basis? How is its effective application guaranteed? How are the right to justice and the processes of transition related?

The Human Rights Institute of Catalonia has organised a day session to attempt to give answers to these questions from different perspectives:

• an analysis from a legal point of view that will tackle the idea of the right to the truth, its legal basis and its relation with justice and processes of transition;
  
• a comparative analysis of the situation looking at how such situations have been faced in other countries which have also suffered repressive regimes massively violating human rights and fundamental liberties.

PROGRAMME

The principles of Truth, Justice and Reparation in International Public Law and their application in the process of transition in Spain.

10.00 International law and the principles of truth, justice and reparation.
Margalida Capellà, Professor of International Law at the University of the Balearic Islands

10.30 The bill of the law of historical memory: achievements and obstacles.
Daniel Fernández, Member of Congress

12.00 The process of democratic transition in Spain.
J.A. Martín Pallín, Emerit magistrate of the Supreme Court

12.30 The problem of the annulment of Francoist sentences.
Carlos Jiménez Villarejo, ex-head of Special Anticorruption Prosecution

13.00 The process of the recovery of historical memory in Spain.
Pelai Pagès, Professor of Contemporary Historia at the University of Barcelona

Truth commissions and the national experience

16.30 Truth commissions as instruments of transitional justice.
Ferriol Sòria, Co-ordinator of the Fundació Ernest Lluch and Investigator of the Truth Commissions.

17.30 Video

18.00 Round table discussion: the national experience.

Argentina: Cecilia Rossetto, Cultura del Consulado General de la R. Argentina en Barcelona

Morocco: Ali Tabji, Moroccan Association of Human Rights.

Algeria: Ismet Terki Hassaine, University of Orán

Israel y Palestine, the role of the Historians: Meir Margalit, Historian y member of the Israeli Commitee against the demolition of houses

20.00 The law of "memorial democrático" in relation to the right to truth and justice.
Josep Vendrell, Secretary General of the Departament de Institutional Relations and Participation of the Generalitat of Catalonia

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday 18th of September 2007
Place: Pati Llimona | c/ Regomir 3 | Barcelona
Time: 10:00 - 20:20

FURTHER INFORMATION

Programme (PDF 50Kb)

Las ponencias de los participantes en la jornada están disponibles en la publicación MEMORIA HISTÓRICA

By analysing the diverse solutions adopted in the international sphere, the parliamentary proceedings that are currently taking place in the Congreso de los Diputados for the controversial Law of Historical Memory, and in the Catalan Parliament for the Democratic Memorial Law can be appreciated with better perspective. The work examines to what point these legislative iniciatives carry out the objective of making these rights effective, and serve to compensate victims. Authors: Anaïs Franquesa, Margalida Capellà, Cecilia Rossetto, Meir Margalit, Pelai Pagès, Carlos Jiménez Villarejo Download in PDF (in Spanish)

JOURNALIST IN ARMED CONFLICTS CONFERENCE

Journalists who work in situations of war are exposed to grave dangers. What does International Public Law provide for their protection and to facilitate their professional activity? Does International Humanitarian Law contain any special protection for this group?

This questions lead on to other, more fundamental ones. What is the role of journalist in an armed conflict? Is there a right to access of information in the case of war? Important matters that arise include the international legal protection of journalists in armed conflicts, freedom of expression, the right to information and the journalist’s responsibility in dealing with that information.

All of these matters arise when journalists work in regions with armed conflicts, disturbances or internal tensions.

It must also be mentioned that it is not only the journalists working in such situations who consider such matters. Their readers, and hence the public opinion in general, also take interest in the level of protection offered to journalists, as well as in the content and veracity of the information that they receive.

In order to answer these questions and to make sense of these situations, the Institute of Human Rights of Catalonia organised a day of debate and reflection that was open to the public and which included the participation of journalists who work in areas of armed conflicts.

PROGRAMME

11:00-14:00h Israel and Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon

Eugeni García-Gascón, Correspondent for numerous Spanish media groups in Israel and Palestine
Joan Roura, Journalist and TV3 Special Reporter in Iraq
Maruja Torres, Journalist
David Bondia, Director of the IHRC and Professor of International Public Law (Moderator)

17:00-20:00h Chechnya, Africa y Colombia

Oleg Panfilov, Russian Journalist and President of the Centre of Journalism in Extreme Situations in Moscow
Ramón Lobo, Journalist and Special Reporter for El País in numerous conflicts in the African continent
Jairo Valencia, Colombian Journalist in exile in Spain
Jaume Saura, President of the IHRC and Professor of International Public Law (Moderator)

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: Monday the 4th of December 2006
Place: Sala Auditorio de la Facultad de Periodismo | Universitat Pompeu Fabra La Rambla 30-32 | 08002 Barcelona
Time: 11am - 8pm

FURTHER INFORMATION

Programa (PDF 180Kb, in Spanish)

The speakers’ talks will be published soon.

Recommendations: The “Institute of Human Rights of Catalonia”, following the event which took place in Barcelona on the 4th of December 2006, and echoing the proposals of the participants, makes the following recommendations public. They are aimed at the directors of media organisations and state governments with the hope improving the protection of journalists who cover events relating to armed conflicts:

•  There cannot be press freedom without freedom for journalists; there cannot be freedom for newspapers without freedom for journalists; there cannot be freedom of information without freedom for journalists. Guaranteeing the principle of freedom of information for journalists who work in armed conflict zones is a duty that all states have, and it is for this reason that all censorship or attempts to interfere in journalists’ work must be denounced and condemned.

•  Governments, as well as military and security forces must respect the security of journalists working in their area of operation - whether or not they accompany such forces -, and must not unnecessarily restrict their freedom of movement nor compromise the media’s right to obtain and disseminate information. This right must not be questioned in tribunals, whether internal or international, by forcing journalists to reveal their sources of information.

•  The vulnerability of journalists throughout the world must be remembered. In armed conflicts journalists are subjected to attack, murder, disappearance, threats, censorship, expulsion, harassment, detention and legal action. Even when the rules of International Humanitarian Law protecting journalists (especially article 4, A.4 of the Geneva Convention of 1949 and article 70 of the 1st Protocol of 1997) are meagre, states must strictly adhere to international obligations.

•  States must concern themselves with investigating those cases which violate the physical and psychological integrity of journalists. Complicity in any impunity that might surround such actions would make them directly responsible.

•  The systematic use of security arguments to flagrantly refuse the right to access to information in conflict zones must be combated. Certain governments hide behind issues of security in order to “close conflict zones to the press”, while media groups, defending themselves on the grounds of badly defined safety criteria, “close conflict zones to public opinion”.

•  The safety of journalists must be of fundamental importance to media groups. This means that they must discourage the taking of unjustified risks, make coverage of war zones and other hostile areas a voluntary option and provide adequate training and equipment.

•  Media groups must recognise their responsibility in relation to their journalists and must take out insurance which guarantees coverage in conflict zones. Journalists and auxiliary workers in conflict zones must have insurance that covers their physical and psychological wellbeing. The management of media groups must take the necessary measures for this before sending or contracting employees to carry out dangerous work.

•  Media groups must provide local journalists and assistants with security teams, cover their medical costs if necessary and take equal responsibility in situations of risk as they would with their own correspondents.

•  There exist some especially dangerous zones for profession of journalism. The fear of denouncing these situations must be overcome and appropriate measures must be taken

Barcelona, 4th of December 2006.

JURIST MISSION IN PALESTINE

From the 4th to the 10th September 2005 the director of IDHC, David Bondia, went to Israel and the Palestinian Territories with the delegation of jurists from the Federación de Asociaciones por la Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (Federation of the Associations for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights) in collaboration with the Asociación para las Naciones Unidas de España (United Nations Association in Spain [ANUE] ), and with the help of the Agència Catalana de Cooperació al Desenvolupament (Catalan Development Co-operation Agency).

The programme included meetings with Palestinian and Israeli authorities and representatives, the intention being to compile the maximum amount of information from both sides of the conflict.

The delegation also had several meetings with international organisations that work in the area, such as the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The aim of the mission was to evaluate the compliance to international law on the first anniverary of the judgement of the Internation Court of Justice on the legal consequences of the construction of the Israeli West BAnk Wall.

The report was presented to the Spanish Parliamentary Committee for Palestine on the 30th of September 2005.

DOCUMENTATION

Evaluation Report (PDF 6Kb, in Spanish)

RELATED LINKS

Federación de Asociaciones por la Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos

United Nations Association in Spain (ANUE)

Agencia Catalana de Cooperación al Desarrollo

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

IMAGES GALLERY

"Overthrow or construct the wall: A dilemma for Israel and Palestine"

Following the presentation of the report of the delegation of jurists, The United Nations Association in Spain and the IDHC, organised a round table discussion on the 28th November under the title 'Overthrow or Construct the wall: A Dilema for Israel and Palestine'.

Present were Meir Margalit (member of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions), David Bondia (Director of IDHC and member of the jurists), Ferran Izquierdo (Professor of International Relations at the Autonomous University of Barcelona [UAB] ), and, David Minoves (Director of the Catalan Development Co-operation Agency).

RELATED LINKS

Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions

WORLD TRIBUNAL ON IRAQ

The penultimate session of the World Tribunal on Iraq was held in Barcelona from the 20th-22nd of May, 2005. It was organised by the Iraqi Sovereignty and Freedom Platform (PASI), within the framework of the Spanish Campaign Against Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI).

This initiative consisted of the organisation of popular courts in several countries with the objective of establishing a common moral judgement against the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the United States and its allies. Jaume Saura, president of the IDHC, took part as a member of the Court in the Barcelona session.

DOCUMENTATION

Final report (PDF 101Kb, in Spanish)

RELATED LINKS

Spanish Campaign Against Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq

Further information

REGULARISATION OF THE LEGAL SITUATIONS WITH ORIGINS IN THE CIVIL WAR

The Constitution of 1978 explicitly repealed all the legislations which opposed the establishment of the Constitution (in the Third Countermand Disposition), but it did not make similar pronouncements on the invalidity or loss of efficiency of the unjust sentences handed out by the courts during the dictatorship. These statements were based on political, social or ideological motives with a discriminatory character. They violated fundamental rights and public freedoms.

The magistrate Angel Garcia Fontanet, with an article published in the newspaper “El Pais”, pointed out the opportunity to revise all the sentences which were classified as “persecution” in order to be rid of, once and for all, the consequences of the Civil War. The IDHC took on this initiative and created an ad hoc commission. This commission was made up of individuals with a high degree of commitment to the defence of democratic freedoms, and with different ideological perspectives. The object of this was to give legal status to the project as a part of the policies of national reconciliation.

The members of the commission were: Jordi Carbonell; Ainaud de Lasarte, Historian; Angel Garcia Fontanet, Magistrate; Miguel Nuñez and Jordi Solé Tura, Senators. The commission was coordinated by the President of the IDHC. The commission was interested in the scientific opinion of Luis Lopez Guerra, Professor of Constitutional Law; Lorenzo Martin Retortillo, Professor of Administrative Law; Josep Maria Socíes, Lawyer; and Josep Mª Solsona, Lawyer and Director of the IDHC. They created the first draft of a law called: “Regularisation of the legal situations with origins in the Civil War”. The draft was presented on 1 April 2003 to the President of the Catalan Parliament, with the hope that it would arrive at the Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament) and be put into use.

Ten days later, the draft was presented to the Catalan Parliamentary Groups during a working session. It was presented to the following politicians: Joaquim Ferrer (CiU), Josep Mª Vallés i Àlez Masllorens (PSC-CpC), Joan Ridao (ERC), Daniel Cirera (PP) i Rafael Ribó (IC-V).

The aim of this initiative is to review the unjust sentences handed out during General Franco's dictatorship. These sentences were handed out with ideological motives and without any legal guarantee as to the presumption of innocence or the right to defence. This initiative aims to restore justice, to promote civil harmony and to claim and replace the honour of the victims, bringing to a definitive close the legal injustices produced by the civil war.

José Manuel Bandrés
Barcelona, abril de 2003

PEACE IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY

For more than five years the Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya (IDHC) has tried to contribute to the Basque Country peace process by creating forums for dialogue and reflection such as the programme 'Peace Initiatives for Euskadi' and the 'Commission for Peace, Institutional Normalisation and Civil Agreement in Euskadi'.

Peace Initiatives for Euskadi

In 2000, IDHC together with the United Nations Association in Spain, the Catalan UNESCO Centre, and Justicia i Pau (Justice and Peace), began a series of activities with the aim being to contribute to the pacification of Euskadi.

The inspiration for these activities began on December 10th 1999, which coincided with the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the first activity was a Declaration of Catalan intellectuals for Peace in Euskadi (in Spanish). This declaration was written by the four above-mentioned associations and with the support of many Catalan intellectuals.

In May 2000 the associations invited the Lehendakari (President) of the Basque Country, Juan José Ibarretxe, to give a lecture entitled 'Achieving Peace and Respecting ideas the Democratic Way'. The following November a series of conferences took place under the title 'Euskadi: ideas and proposals for peace' with the participation of Pedro Luís Arias from Gesto por la Paz; Goraka Espiau from Elkarri; Gaspar Martínex, General Secretary of the Bishopry of Bilbao; Alfonso Basagoiti, President of the Basque Circle of Entrepreneurs; and Joan Sarasua of Bersolari.

Commission for Peace, Institutional Normalization and Civil Agreement in Euskadi

In 2001, the Human Rights Institute of Catalonia organised a forum for Basque and Catalan politicians and intellectuals who deal with proposals for peace, institutional normalisation and civil agreement in the Basque Country. The forum was developed in conjunction with the Fòrum Cívic pel Diàleg (Civil Forum for Dialogue).

The members of the Commission were: Carles Bonet, Senator; Pedro Luis Arias, President of Gesto por la Paz; Rafael Ribó, member of the Catalan Parliament; Ramón Jauregui, member of the Spanish Parliament; Enric Argullol, Professor of Administrative Law and ex-rector of the University Pompeu Fabra; Emilio Olabarria, member of the Basque Parliament; Jordi Solé Tura, Senator; Txema Montero, lawyer; Marc Carrillo, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Pompeu Fabra University ; Gurutz Jauregui, Professor of Constitutional Law at the Basque Country University; Jordi Borja, Fòrum Civic pel Diàleg; José Manuel Bandrés, President of the Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya.

In the following year, 2002, the HRIC coordinated the work of the Commission with the aim of creating a space for discussion, reflection and debate about institutional normalisation and civil agreement in Euskadi. The aim was to advance the dialogue of this saddening conflict which affects the whole of Spain.

The Commission met monthly in Barcelona in the stictest confidence. In each meeting two papers, one Basque and one Catalan, were presented which dealt with different aspects of the conflict. This work was finally edited and titled 'Commision for Peace, Institutional Normalisation, and Civil Agreement in Euskadi'. This was presented on the 3rd June, 2002, to the Lehendakari (President), Juan José Ibarretxe, and to representatives of all the political parties.

The book “Concordia civil en Euskadi” compiles the work of the Commission with the aim of providing a precise diagnosis of the Basque situation, and includes proposals for the creation of long lasting liberty and co-existence for all Basque citizens in a system which respects human rights.