• EU: Rights Abuse at Home Ignored
    Press release
    Jan 22, 2012
    The European Union and member governments proved unwilling to tackle human rights abuse at home during 2011, even as they proclaimed the issue’s importance in inspiring the Arab Spring, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2012.
  • Spain: Garzón Trial Threatens Human Rights
    Press release
    Jan 13, 2012
    The upcoming trial of the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón for investigating abuses from Spain’s past threatens the concept of accountability in Spain and beyond.
  • Global: Flawed Policies Expose Migrants to Abuse
    Press release
    Dec 11, 2010
    Many governments’ immigration policies and protection gaps expose migrants to abuse, Human Rights Watch said in a report today in advance of International Migrants Day, December 18, 2010. The abuses include labor exploitation, violence, trafficking, mistreatment in detention, and killings, yet the nations involved offer limited recourse to seek justice.
  • Statement to the Human Rights Council on Spain
    Oral statement
    Sep 24, 2010
    During the review of Spain, five countries raised the question of impunity, particularly in regard to crimes, such as "disappearances," committed during the Franco dictatorship. Mexico, for instance, recommended that Spain "investigate, punish and provide reparations for the crime of enforced disappearances, regardless of the passage of time."
  • Spain: Migrant Children at Risk
    Press release
    Jun 22, 2010
    Canary Islands government’s decision to keep more than 250 unaccompanied migrant children in unregulated emergency shelters puts the children at risk and threatens their well-being.
  • Masses Rally to Support Spain’s Garzón
    Media spotlight
    Apr 29, 2010
    On Saturday, 60,000 people marched through the streets of Madrid- as many others did in cities around Spain and the world-to call for justice for Franco-era atrocities and for a halt to criminal proceedings against Judge Baltasar Garzón, who had been trying to investigate those abuses.
  • European Union: Protest Sanctions Against Judge Garzón
    Press release
    Apr 21, 2010
    The president of the European Union Council, Herman van Rompuy, and EU member states should express their concern over the prosecution and the potential suspension of Judge Baltasar Garzón of Spain for investigating Franco-era abuses.
  • Gunning for the judge
    Commentary
    Apr 19, 2010
    Thirty-five years after the death of General Francisco Franco, Spain is finally prosecuting someone in connection with the crimes of his dictatorship, and of the Spanish civil war which came before it. Unfortunately, the defendant in the case is Baltasar Garzon, the judge who sought to investigate those crimes.
  • Spain: End Amnesty for Franco Era Atrocities
    Press release
    Mar 19, 2010
    Spanish authorities should abide by the United Nations call for an end to its 1977 amnesty law rather than prosecuting a judge seeking accountability for past abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.
  • Madrid needs to stand up for the forgotten children of Tenerife
    Commentary
    Mar 18, 2010
    Madrid needs to stand up for the forgotten children of Tenerife By Simone Troller 18.03.2010 / 05:14 CET The Canary Islands' treatment of its boat children is a disgrace. It is now almost four years since 30,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, the first EU landfall for boats from West Africa. Since then Spain has repatriated most of them or transferred them to the mainland, and the number of new immigrants has fallen. However, some 500 unaccompanied children remain – children who, under Spanish and international law, are entitled to special protection from the state.