Last January, during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Spain, 22 member states expressed their concerns on the deterioration of these rights in the country since 2015. Questions regarding police violence, the infamous Citizen Security Protection Law (also known as the Gag Law), as well as arbitrary detention and torture, were especially poignant.

The member states called on Spain to guarantee the right of freedom of peaceful assembly and association, to ensure that right in the context of public protests or demonstrations, and to respect the right to freedom of expression so that all measures are in conformity with international standards

On July 16 a follow up session of the UPR will take place, in the framework of the 44th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, where Spain will announce which of the recommendations are accepted and which ones rejected.

In order to raise awareness on this issue, and its potential implications as a systemic threat for European Human Rights System, on Wednesday 15th of July, Assemblea, alongside the Society for Threatened Peoples and the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), will be hosting an International Digital Roundtable on the deterioration of civil and political rights in Spain, especially against the Catalan minority and its pro-independence movement.The event will count with the participation of the following speakers:
Clare Daly, member of the European Parliament for Ireland (GUE-NGL),
Ralph Bunche, lawyer and Secretary General of Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization.
Neus Torbisco, professor of human rights in the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of Geneva

Presented and moderated by:
Adrià Alsina, teaching fellow in Global Communication, Central University of Catalonia (UVIC), and General Board member of Assemblea.

The debate will be streamed live at 17h CET on our YouTube and Facebook channels.