A United Nations envoy meets with the Ombudsman and the Assembly for a Bilingual School to learn about the situation in the classrooms.
The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations (UN) on issues of minorities, Fernand de Varennes, began on January 14 a visit to Spain, which will conclude on the 25th, in order to "gather information of first hand on the situation of minorities in the country, as well as to identify good practices and key areas that require improvement, "according to the organization itself in a statement.
De Varennes intends to analyze the existing policies for the protection and promotion of the rights of persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities in Spain. Access to quality education, including education in minority languages, as well as issues related to freedom of religion, problems of inclusion and political participation, and the fight against intolerance, are among the issues evaluated during his visit. the hate speech, according to clarifies the mentioned note to which this newspaper has had access.
In his tour of Spain, whose agenda is not public, the rapporteur met on the first day, as confirmed by ABC, with the Ombudsman, Francisco Fernández Marugán, who, accompanied by technicians from the institution, explained to De Varennes the point of view and the opinion that the Ombudsman has of three specific topics: the situation of the Roma community, the rights of religious minorities and the linguistic aspect in the Autonomous Communities with more than one official language. The intention of the UN rapporteur is to prepare a report and his visit to Spain is not coordinated with the Government.
Thus, last weekend, the rapporteur came to Catalonia and met with the president of the Assembly for a Bilingual School (AEB), Ana Losada. It was the only constitutional association that could expose to the UN envoy its vision on the Catalan reality in linguistic matters. The meeting took place on Saturday at a hotel in Barcelona and lasted for an hour and a half.
Losada gave De Varennes the report on indoctrination in Catalan classrooms made by the AEB and also explained the linguistic reality in the school, where "Spanish is discriminated against with only two hours of curricular presence in Primary and three in Secondary".
«He did not hide his surprise»
"My impression was favorable because he took note of the situation and showed a lot of interest and asked me again to explain him certain issues", explained Losada to this newspaper. He explained that the three aspects that most caught the rapporteur's attention were: "Castilian hours in schools", "reports of indoctrination" and "the inaction of the Government, the Government and the Síndic de Greuges (the defender of the people at the regional level) before the problem ». "He did not hide his surprise at the situation," he added.
Losada also raised to the UN representative the denunciations that other constitutional entities sent him: "He has chosen us but we offered to get him the voice of other entities that defend the rights of minorities." This would be the case of the Association for Tolerance and of Hablamos Español, who have protested the situation in two letters. "We suspect that this trip responds to urgent requests from the so-called peripheral nationalisms ... Our suspicions are transformed into certainties, when we see that Mr. de Varennes has the agenda to meet with representatives of groups prone to nationalist separatism," the Association Tolerance said in its letter sent to the same rapporteur.
For their part, from Hablamos Español they went directly to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet: "Mr. de Varennes will meet (on Wednesday, 23) with high officials of the autonomous government in Galicia. That afternoon and the next day are reserved for interviews with civil society, probably with nationalist entities. Will not there be, Mrs. Bachelet, 30 minutes for us?
With the nationalists
It is hoped that the UN rapporteur will also meet with independentist groups and associations. Yesterday, Òmnium Cultural denied to ABC that it had had some encounter with De Varennes; and from the Generalitat of Catalonia they indicated that they had not met with the rapporteur. For its part, Plataforma per la Llengua - a belligerent entity against bilingualism - also officially denied it, although sources from the association did confirm this meeting with the rapporteur.
With all the information collected during 2019, De Varennes will sign a report at the beginning of 2020 about the situation in Spain. The next 25 he will offer a press conference in Madrid to explain their meetings.
The UN Special Rapporteur, before visiting the country, announced that he would integrate a strong gender perspective, highlighting the situation of women and girls belonging to minorities. He also advanced that he will analyze the situation of vulnerable minorities, such as the Roma community, Muslim communities and descendants of migrant communities. And, as a novelty - on its twelve-day trip through the Basque Country, Catalonia, Andalusia and Galicia - it includes the deaf community, in relation to their rights as members of a linguistic minority ». In fact, on the 17th, according to Servimedia, De Varennes met with Concha Díaz, director of the State Confederation of Deaf People, to analyze the situation of this group in Spain.
Fernand de Varennes, expert in conflict prevention
Fernand de Varennes was appointed Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on minority issues by the Human Rights Council in June 2017. The UN Human Rights Council entrusted him with the task of promoting the implementation of the Declaration on the rights of minorities. persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, among other things. The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, the broadest body of independent experts within the UN Human Rights system. These address country-specific situations or thematic issues around the world. The experts of the Special Procedures work voluntarily; they are not UN personnel and they do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. De Varennes is a professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Moncton (Canada) and was for 20 years at the University of Murdoch (Australia). He is a specialist in the prevention of ethnic conflicts, the rights of migrants, democracies and the use of federalism and other forms of agreements.
https://www.abc.es/sociedad/abci-evalua-discriminacion-castellano-cataluna-201901212141_noticia.html
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