• Human Rights in Spain
    The year was marked by the economic crisis and social unrest. Widespread protests against austerity measures were marred by excessive use of force by the police. Positive immigration reforms made it safer for undocumented migrant women to report domestic violence. Reforms also facilitated access to residency permits for parents of children with Spanish citizenship as well as unaccompanied migrant children once they turn 18. The violent nationalist group ETA announced it would give up its armed struggle for Basque independence. Incommunicado detention for suspects of serious crimes, including terrorism, remains in place.
  • Judge Baltasar Garzón leaves the Spanish High Court in Madrid on April 14, 2010.
    © 2010 Reuters
    Spain: Garzón Trial Threatens Human Rights
    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.
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  • Eternal Emergency
    No End to Unaccompanied Migrant Children’s Institutionalization in Canary Islands Emergency Centers
  • Returns at Any Cost
    Spain’s Push to Repatriate Unaccompanied Children in the Absence of Safeguards
  • Unwelcome Responsibilities
    Spain’s Failure to Protect the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the Canary Islands
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Spain

  • NATO: Clarify Response to Deaths at Sea
    Mar 26, 2012
    NATO and its member states should provide information to help clarify the chain of events that led to the death of 63 boat migrants in the Mediterranean a year ago.
  • Joint NGO Letter to the Spanish Minister of Defense Regarding Investigations into Boat Incident from March-April 2011
    Mar 26, 2012
    We are writing to inquire about internal investigations into the fatal boat episode of March-April 2011, in which a disabled boat filled with migrants fleeing Libya drifted for two weeks in the Mediterranean before landing back in Libya on April 10, 2011. Sixty-three out of the 72 people on board died.
  • Statement at the Human Rights Council on accountability for civil war victims in Spain
    Mar 8, 2012

    A military rebel group takes power through a bloody civil war and imposes a dictatorship. Over 100,000 people are "disappeared," the great majority in unmarked mass graves which still litter the country today 

  • EU: Rights Abuse at Home Ignored
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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.
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