The UNPO, in collaboration with the ANC, has submitted to the Human Rights Committee for its 144th session a report on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Spain with a focus on the situation in Catalonia. The report critically examines the ongoing human rights violations in the region and highlights the Spanish authorities’ broader pattern of denial and lack of engagement with regards to these violations despite both national and international expressions of concern.
Background
Catalonia is currently incorporated in the Kingdom of Spain as an autonomous region and is located in its north-eastern corner. The Catalan people have their own language, culture and traditions which have faced efforts of suppression for decades. When in 2010 the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled for amendments to the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, the call for the exercise of the right to self-determination intensified and led to a referendum on independence in 2017, which was met with legal warfare and grave human rights violations by the Spanish government. Currently, the stretching of legal provisions and the politicized judiciary continue to encroach upon a multitude of human rights laid down in the ICCPR like the right to fair trial and equality before the law, the right to privacy, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, right to public participation, right to language and culture and the right to equality and freedom of discrimination.
Right to fair trial and equality before the law
First of all, the right to fair trial and equality before the law has severely eroded for hundreds of Catalan pro-independence representatives due to a systemic lack of judicial independence and the politicization of the judiciary. International concerns about the respect of the right to fair trial were raised and can be illustrated by the refusal of the Spanish European Arrest Warrant extradition requests for several elected Catalan representatives by several European countries.
Moreover, the amnesty law which was approved by Spanish Congress in May 2024 and supposed to annul the sentences issued against hundreds of Catalan pro-independence activists and representatives that occurred between 2011 and 2023 is highly criticized for its selective implementation.In December 2024, of the 486 Catalans under prosecution only 97 of them benefitted from the amnesty law, while 51 amnesty requests have been denied, and 67 amnesties have been derived to third-party courts. On the other hand, 96 Spanish police officers have been granted amnesty for disproportionate police violence, despite the law excluding inhuman and degrading treatment. To date, only four amnesty requests of police officers have been denied. This selective implementation of the amnesty law hampers the right to fair trial and equality before the law.
Right to privacy
Furthermore, the Spanish authorities extensive use of illegal espionage tools against the Catalan pro-independence movement has led to several cases of violations of the right to privacy. The use of the spyware Pegasus and Candiru against 65 Catalan elected representatives, civil society leaders, activists, lawyers, journalists, high-tech specialists and their relatives over the period of 2015 to 2021 was revealed in April 2022. Despite international bodies’ expression of concern and demands for transparency to ensure external investigations on the matter, Spanish authorities’ secrecy on the matter remains and no redress has been provided to victims of unlawful surveillance.
Besides the use of spyware, several cases of police infiltration in Catalan pro-independence and other social movements were revealed. Some of these police officers engaged in personal relations with activists to gain their confidence and obtain information, which constitutes a serious violation of the right to privacy.
Freedom of opinion and expression
Moreover, freedom of opinion and expression are continuously encroached upon with the broadening of provisions on the ‘glorification of terrorism’ in the so-called ‘Gag Law’.
The law has been used to target Catalan activists, pro-independence movements, artists, journalists and social media users posting content sympathizing with pro-independence movements. Besides the ‘glorification of terrorism’, other charges like slandering of the Spanish Crown or flag are used to silence dissent.
Despite several requests for the amendment of the ‘Gag Law’ from international bodies, no amendments have been enacted.
Right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association
Additionally, the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association are encroached upon as peaceful protests are being cracked down with reports of OC gas and activists are being prosecuted for unfounded terrorism charges or other fabricated violent offenses. The Spanish authorities’ violent narrative with regards to the Catalan independence movement has led to the movement’s inclusion in Europol’s terrorist and trend report in 2023. Even though the 2024 does not make mention of the movement, the reference made in the 2023 report continues to damage the peaceful civil society movement’s image , with consequences for their international capacities.
Right to public participation
Furthermore, during the last decade, Spanish authorities have worked to undermine the democratic process in Catalonia, targeting institutions and elected representatives to obstruct their policy-making capacity. Constant threats of prosecution, fines and called-of elections have pressured the right to public participation in Catalonia. A lawsuit issued by former Vice President of the Parliament Mr. Josep Costa to the UN Human Rights Committee illustrates efforts to attack institutions and elected representatives. Mr. Costa described how he has received threats of persecution, and even of imprisonment, by the Spanish Government and Constitutional Court with the aim to change the will of the majority of the parliament and consequently to block the investiture of President Carles Puigdemont in early 2018. Another case, would be the fining and banning from office of the Catalan President Mr. Quim Torra by the Supreme Court for refusing to withdraw a banner displayed at the Catalan government building calling for respect of civil and political rights of the Catalans in 2020. These violations of the right to public participation have led international bodies to react. The United Nations Human Right Commission for example highlighted that Spain violated the right of public participation of four Catalan parliament members while they were in pre-trial detention in 2018.
Right language, culture, equality and freedom of discrimination
Lastly, the right to equality and freedom of discrimination and the right to language and culture are under pressure. This because a decision of the Spanish Supreme Court that ruled that in addition to already existing Spanish subjects, at least 25% of all other subjects taught in Catalan schools must also be taught in Spanish, jeopardizes the immersion model in Catalan education which has always ensured the bilingual character of Catalan education. This decision risks undermining and deteriorating the status of the Catalan language in educational systems. Besides this an increase in discrimination against Catalan speakers, and hate speech has become apparent. These incidents are generally not prosecuted. Rather, unfounded hate speech charges are used to target activists from the independence block.
Finally – despite significant national and international concern regarding the human rights violations discussed in the report, the Spanish government chose to deliberately omit any reference to the situation of the Catalan people in its 2025 United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This omission reflects a broader pattern of denial and lack of engagement with the underlying human rights concerns, and raises serious questions about Spain’s willingness to address systemic violations and ensure accountability and dialogue within its own borders.
Some of the recommendations proposed by the UNPO include:
● Urging the Kingdom of Spain to bring their national Penal code in line with international human rights law respecting the principles necessity and proportionality to safeguard freedom of expression by:
- The repeal of the Gag law and the ‘glorifying terrorism’ provisions.
- The decriminalization of defamation and its transfer from the Penal to the Civil Code.
● Urging the Kingdom of Spain to consider an amendment of Article 2 of its constitution to exclude its reference to the ‘indissoluble unity’ of the state as this renders any practice of the right to self-determination unconstitutional.
● Urging the Kingdom of Spain to drop all unfounded criminal charges, including terrorism charges, against peaceful civil society organizations and their members and facilitate the allocation of proportionate legal remedy to all victims of these arbitrary detentions and prosecutions.
● Urging the Kingdom of Spain to re-install the immersion model system to ensure the preservation of the Catalan language and call on the Kingdom of Spain to facilitate the possibility of receiving judicial and administrative services in the Catalan language.
