Spain lacked “a state policy regarding truth” after the end of Franco’s dictatorship, said the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, after whose words several Spanish NGO called back to Madrid government to investigate the crimes of Francoism.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition, the Colombian Pablo de Greiff, presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva the report on his visit to Spain between 21 January and 3 February this year.
“was not established never a state policy regarding truth, there is no official information on the violations or the number of victims, and formal mechanisms for establishing the truth, “De Greiff said during the presentation of this 22-page report, culminating in 31 recommendations.
“also predominates model ‘privatization’ of the exhumations, which delegates responsibility to the victims and associations to find and identify the remains of their relatives,” the Rapporteur to submit his report to Council.
To De Greiff, “this feeds the indifference of state institutions and methodological difficulties involved, approval and formalization of the truth.” “Many families today and very old people, claiming power to bury their loved ones before they die,” he said.
The report urges Spain to “officially investigate and prosecute all enforced in the light of international obligations “disappearances, and that the authorities organize a timetable for implementation of the measures within 90 days after the adoption of the report.
1977 Amnesty Law
Pablo de Greiff said that the Amnesty Law, passed in 1977 in an effort to pave the road to democracy and their “restrictive interpretations (…) and continue to deny access to Justice also prevent any kind of investigation. ” The Spanish delegation expressed its dissatisfaction with the perception of the rapporteur on this standard.
“The balance between peace and democracy, justice and reconciliation, was found in Spain at the expense of giving up the criminal justice (…) there are multiple references to the belief that only through forgetfulness and forgiveness reconciliation was possible, “he said in his speech the Ambassador of Spain to the UN in Geneva, Ana María Menéndez.
The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory Menendez described the response of “enormous disrespect to the thousands of families searching for their missing.”
Meanwhile, the International Foundation Baltasar Garzón, chaired by renowned former judge urged Madrid to create a Truth Commission “capable of investigating the crimes of the Civil War (1936-1939) and the Franco regime (1939-1975).”
In addition, several NGOs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Association of Spain , asked the Spanish justice in a joint statement to work “with judicial proceedings abroad,” referring to the complaint educated Argentina since 2010 by Judge Maria Servini of Cubría into the disappearance of 114,000 people and the theft of about 30 thousand children.
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