The Euro-Mediterranean Network for Human Rights
(EMHRN), the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) deplore the adoption of the draft Basic Law
for the Protection of Public Security, by the plenary of the Congress of
Deputies on 11 December 2014. Our three organisations denounce the growing
restrictions on the right to demonstrate in Spain.
This law, also called the “gag law,” was adopted on 25
November by the Commission on Internal Affairs of the Congress of Deputies,
without modifying the text in any meaningful manner so as to protect citizens’
rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly. Despite its rejection
by all the opposition parties and civil society organizations, which denounced
the direct threat that the law poses to the right of peaceful assembly, and
despite the opposition of 82% of the Spanish public opinion according to recent
polls, this law was adopted the very day after Human Rights Day and will enter
into force by the end of this year.
Using the pretext of improving public safety, the
Basic Law on the Protection of Public Security establishes an arsenal of
administrative sanctions, some of them very severe, aimed at dissuading
citizens from expressing their concerns by means of public demonstrations. This
law would criminalize collective action and new forms of expression that have
developed in recent years, including escraches
(“demonstrations aiming at public denunciations”), sit-ins, “occupying” public spaces, peaceful “surrounding”
of parliaments and “concerts of pots and pans”.
In addition, it is particularly alarming that fines
can be imposed for organizing public meetings and demonstrations without advising
the authorities in advance, including spontaneous gatherings, for which prior
notification is impossible. No account at all is taken of the peaceful nature
of the demonstrations. Peaceful assemblies in the vicinity of the Congress, the
Senate or the legislative assemblies of the Autonomous Regions, will be
considered as “serious offence” punishable by a fine of up to 30,000 euros should
they seriously disturb public order. The “non-authorized” use of images of the
authorities or law enforcement personnel would also be considered a “serious
offence”, which could hinder the documentation of abuses by law enforcement
personnel and reinforce the impunity they already enjoy.
EMHRN, OMCT and FIDH also denounce the legalisation,
by an amendment presented at the last minute by the Government, of the practice
of summary expulsion, used in Ceuta and Melilla, by which migrants from Morocco
who have succeeded in crossing the border are immediately sent back. Our
organisations consider that this new provision violates the right to asylum and
the principle of non-refoulement. Moreover, this amendment exposes these
migrants to serious risk of torture and ill-treatment since they would be deprived
of the possibility of filing a claim in case of abuses by law enforcement
personnel.
The adoption of the draft Basic Law for the Protection
of Public Security is contrary to the international commitments undertaken by
Spain, in particular the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951;
articles 12.1, 18 and 19 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union and article 4 of Protocol No 4; article 11 of the European Convention on
Human Rights; and the recommendations of the European Court of Human Rights and
other international human rights bodies. The Council of Europe High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Nils Muiznieks, has also emphasized the
threat that the law poses for the exercise of the right of peaceful assembly
and has called for the prior authorization requirement, the classification of
demonstrations around Congress or the regional assemblies as grave offences and
the prohibition on recording images of law enforcement personnel in the
exercise of their duties to be removed from the final version. The Commissioner
also noted that the proposal to legalise automatic and collective expulsions of
migrants is “unjust and illegal” under international law.
EMHRN, OMCT and FIDH therefore call upon the Spanish
authorities to modify the law without delay so that it conforms to the
international standards concerning the rights to assembly and to asylum, and
expects a firm reaction from the European Union, including the European
Parliament and other member States, in the face of this violation of civil
liberties in Spain.
For more information, please contact:
·
EMHRN: Samer Ibrahim Abu Rass : Tel:
+32 2 213 51 95
·
OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui: +41 22
809 49 24
·
FIDH: Arthur Manet/Audrey Couprie: +33 1
43 55 25 18
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