Response to article in El País - Joint statement by the OMCT and the Coordination Committee of the Civic Solidarity Platform
29 October 2017
On 26 October 2017, El País published an article on a humanrights assessment mission conducted by the Civic Solidarity Platform (CSP)entitled “Two Russian NGOs make propaganda on police charges on theOctober 1 Referendum – OMCT facilitates a visit to Barcelona”.
Between 23 and 27October 2017, a needs assessment mission, organized by a broad internationalcoalition of human rights NGOs called the Civic Solidarity Platform, wasconducted in Barcelona following reports of police violence on the referendumday. The CSP brings together more than 90 organizations from 30 countriesin Europe, Eurasia, and North America, including the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT).
The mission wascomposed of two delegates, Yuri Dzhibladze and Olga Zakharova, both Russiancitizens, internationally renowned human rights defenders, co-founders ofthe CSP in 2011 and members of its Coordination Committee.
The OMCT and theCoordination Committee of the CSP wish to clarify the following:
First, we deplorethat the El País articlemisrepresents damagingly CSP delegates and by extension member NGOs of thePlatform including OMCT, portraying them as “Russian propaganda agents” harmingtheir reputation and questioning their independence. The impermissible irony isthat it discredits without any basis whatsoever as ‘propaganda agents’ the veryindividuals who like few others and at personal risk have spoken out on humanrights violations in the Russian Federation and across the OSCE region, andwhose reputation, integrity, objectivity and professionalism is internationallyrecognized.
Second, while basicinformation regarding the nature and goals of the mission was shared when OMCTwas approached by El País, the OMCTnotes with great surprise that the article gives as basis for the article“Spanish intelligence sources”. While the OMCT and the CSP are not privy to anyinformation in this regard, they recall that any form of surveillance of humanrights defenders in and outside Spain would be inacceptable and a breach of theUN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, OSCE’s human dimension commitmentsand OSCE Guidelines on the Protection of Human rights Defenders.
The concern of membersof the Civic Solidarity Platform is not the contentious issues of independenceor referenda, but human rights. It is the obligation of any state underinternational law to investigate allegations of excessive use of force – nomatter where and no matter when it happens. Addressing those concerns islegitimate in particular in times of tensions, and firmly recognized by the governmentof Spain who supported the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders as well theHelsinki Final Act’s principle of legitimate international concern about thehuman rights situation in any OSCE participating state.
Finally, in a context of increasingconfrontation, the OMCT and the CSP restate the call for anindependent, transparent, exhaustive and effective investigation intoreports of excessive use of force by law enforcement agents on October 1 inorder to rebuild confidence. We urge Spanish and Catalan authorities toguarantee all fundamental rights.
