COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION TAKES UP REPORT OF SPAIN
Press Release
RD/860
COMMITTEE ON ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION TAKES UP REPORT OF SPAIN
19960308 GENEVA, 8 March (UN Information Service) -- The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination this afternoon took up the situation in Spain, focusing on the situation of the Gypsy community and anti-foreigner violence attributed to extremists and police officials.The panel's discussion was based on the contents of a Spanish Government report highlighting the steps taken by the country to give effect to the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Introducing the report, a Spanish delegation announced that the Government's recognition of the Committee's competence to examine individual complaints of violations of the Convention was imminent. The delegation highlighted provisions of a new Penal Code which, among other things, strengthens existing measures to repress discrimination and hate crimes.
The Committee will resume its discussion on the situation in Spain at its next meeting.
Report of Spain
The report of Spain (document CERD/C/263/Add.5) recalls that the documents submitted by the Government the last time it came before the Committee in August 1994 had been severely criticized for their brevity. The present document contains detailed replies to the questions asked by Committee members at that session.
Introducing the report, ISABEL VEVIA ROMERO, Technical Adviser of the Sub-Directorate General for International Legal Cooperation of Spain, said a new Penal Code, due to enter into force next May, contained new provisions to punish the justification of genocide and strengthened existing measures to repress crimes involving discrimination and incitement to racial hatred. The law on asylum, meanwhile, had been modified in 1994, and now provided for the possibility of allowing asylum seekers whose application had been denied to remain in Spain for humanitarian reasons under the general aliens regime. The law on foreigners had also been revised to take into account the growth of the foreigner population in the country.
During its presidency of the European Union during the second half of 1995, she continued, Spain had proposed a draft joint action plan against racism and xenophobia. She also announced that Spain's recognition of the Committee's competence to examine individual complaints of violations of the Convention under its article 14 was imminent.
Discussion of Spanish Report
EDUARDO FERRERO COSTA, expert from Peru and country rapporteur for the report, asked about the actual state of transfer of authority from the central Government to the 17 Autonomous Communities. What was the degree of application of the Convention in the Autonomous Communities? He asked for further information regarding specifically the Communities of Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia and the Basque Country, including the number of cases of racial discrimination detected or prosecuted in the four.
Concerning the Government's Gypsy Development Plan, the expert asked whether there had been any concrete results that could allow one to say that the situation of the Gypsy population was improving. The report spoke of positive results. How was the success of the programme measured? The doubts expressed about the results of the Plan were due to the continuing reports of discrimination against Gypsies by the general population. He further asked whether the Rehousing Plan of the Madrid Municipal Corporation could be seen as favouring the segregation of the Gypsy population.
The expert then requested a breakdown by religion and nationality of the populations of the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in Africa. Could the delegation comment on information from the Human Rights Association of Andalusia that 300 African migrants who had tried to enter Spain had been held in Ceuta in subhuman conditions last year? There were presently 50 persons reportedly still being held in Ceuta's so-called "no-man's-land", unable to go to Spain or leave the territory.
Equality before the law and non-discrimination as enshrined in the Constitution seemed to be only guaranteed with regard to Spaniards, he said. Under the law on asylum, which had been criticized for restricting the criteria for the granting of this status, it was reported that in 1993, only 3.95 per cent of 12,600 applicants had been granted asylum. Why so few? He asked for information regarding the detention of asylum seekers and their access to legal assistance and language interpretation. How many foreigners had been allowed to stay even though their asylum requests had been denied?
There were many reports of violence against dark-skinned persons, he said. People from Africa and Latin America had been frequent targets. The non-governmental organization SOS Racismo in Catalonia had relayed 175 allegations of acts of racism for 1994, involving for the most part Moroccans,
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other Africans, Asians and Latin Americans. Most of the abuses had been attributed to the security forces. The Government recognized that there had been an increase in the number of acts of racist violence committed by neo-Nazis and "skinheads". The efforts made so far to stem the rise of racist violence were insufficient and should be strengthened.
It had been reported that Spain was a refuge for neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing groups, he went on to say. Could action be taken to ban and dissolve such associations? Did the new legislation mentioned by the delegation prohibit incitement to racial hatred as well as acts motivated by racism?
Neo-Nazi organizations could not enjoy legal protection and act with impunity against the anti-racism and anti-discrimination policies of the Government, added another expert. Members also raised questions regarding the figures of acts of racism and xenophobia contained in the report. The report detailed 33 such acts against Africans and seven against Latin Americans from mid-1993 to mid-1994. This was rather low, especially as the report later on spoke of 47 such acts in the second half of 1993 alone. The report also said that no racist or xenophobic attitudes were found in the units of the Civil Guard, and that most of the complaints known to have been lodged against them had been dismissed. Why had most complaints been dismissed? A member asked whether training in cultural sensitivity was given to police officials. Were minorities, including Gypsies, represented in the ranks of the police forces?
Concerning the situation of Gypsies, one expert asked whether the mass media had given effect to the 1994 agreement reached with the Ministry of Social Affairs on the protection of the culture and image of ethnic minorities, especially of the Gypsy community. Castilian-speakers in Catalonia had complained that their children could not receive instruction in their mother tongue. It was a human right to be educated in one's mother tongue.
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