Tag Archives: Spain
1 October 2014
In attempting to seal their borders, European nations are facing an ‘impossible’ task, the UN independent expert on the human rights of migrants wrote in an open letter to the EU’s Committee on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, as he encouraged the EU to identify new legal channels of migration in an effort to save lives. ‘Sealing international borders is impossible, and migrants will continue arriving despite all efforts to stop them, at a terrible cost in lives and suffering’, Special Rapporteur François Crépeau wrote. (more…)
Source: UN News Centre | UN expert urges European nations to rethink policies as migration-related deaths rise
11 March 2014
On 10 March 2014, the heads of state of Caribbean nations unanimously adopted a 10-point plan requesting reparations from European states for the continuing suffering caused by the Atlantic slave trade. Sir Hilary Beckles, the chair of the reparations task force, insisted that the main objective of the plan was not money, but to enter into a dialogue with former slave-trading nations including the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Spain and Portugal. (more…)
Source: The Guardian | Caribbean nations prepare demand for slavery reparations
Source: The Washington Post | Caribbean adopts plan to seek slavery reparations
26 February 2014
On 24 February 2014 the members of the Caribbean’s political and economic body Caricom met in order to discuss their campaign for reparation by former slave-owning nations in Europe – principally the UK, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The claim is channelled through the UN Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), which can be employed as a forum for negotiation according to Caricom. If no agreement is concluded, however, the Caribbean leaders will take their claim to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). (more…)
Source: The Guardian | UK sternly resists paying reparations for slave trade atrocities and injustices
31 October 2013
Head of the National Security Agency (NSA), General Keith B. Alexander stated, during the House Intelligence Committee meeting on NSA spying, that the phone records of European citizens were collected by allied spy services, rather than the NSA, and then subsequently turned over to the NSA. The Wall Street Journal reported that US officials stated that intelligence services in France and Spain collected phone records of their own citizens, which were then turned over to the NSA. Such information is collected by the US and NATO allies in the name of defending their countries and identifying national security threats.
The US has been recently criticised for its spying on European citizens and leaders, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, James R. Clapper Jr., director of national intelligence, at the same House Intelligence Committee meeting, stated that it is a ‘fundamental given’ that other countries, including allies, spy on the US as well. While spying on foreign leaders, according to Clapper, is a ‘basic pillar of American intelligence operations,’ other US officials suggest it is time to review that policy. Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, declared that the US should not be collecting the phone calls and emails of friendly leaders. Furthermore, President Obama is prepared to order the NSA to stop spying on its allied leaders.
Source: The New York Times | N.S.A. Head Says European Data Was Collected by Allies
Source: Wall Street Journal | U.S. Says France, Spain Helped NSA Spying
Source: The Washington Post | NSA chief says NATO allies shared phone records with the U.S. spy agency
1 October 2013
An Argentine judge has issued arrest warrants against four officials of the Franco regime. The arrest warrant follows upon a lawsuit filed by a group of Spaniards claiming to have suffered torture by the officials. They had previously failed to get redress in Spain, where such crimes are covered by a 1977 amnesty law. In the New York Times, Victoria Sanford, professor of anthropology at the City University of New York, commented that even if Spain eventually refuses to extradite its citizens, the request from Argentina is in itself ‘a very important moral sanction on the Franco regime, which also shows Franco’s victims that they can count on international support.’
Source: The New York Times | Argentine Judge Seeks to Put Franco Officials on Trial