plik

Title

Freedom in the World 2009 - Spain

Publisher

Freedom House

Country

Western Sahara Territory

Publication Date

16 July 2009

Cite as

Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2009 - Spain, 16 July 2009, available at:
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a6452803c.html [accessed 3 September 2010]

Freedom in the World 2009 - Spain

Capital: Madrid
Population: 46,500,000

Political Rights Score: 1
Civil Liberties Score: 1
Status: Free

Overview

Parliamentary elections held in March 2008 returned the ruling Socialists to power with a clear
victory but just short of a majority. In May and November, French and Spanish police captured two
key leaders of the Basque terrorist group, ETA. Despite these arrests, there were a number of
violent attacks carried out by the Basque terrorist group during the year. In June, tens of thousands
of truck drivers went on strike to protest the price of diesel.

Peninsular  Spain's  current  borders  were  largely  established  by  the  16th  century,  and  after  a  period  of
great colonial expansion and wealth, the country declined in relation to its European rivals. Most of its
overseas possessions had been lost in wars or revolts by the end of the 19th century. The Spanish Civil
War of 1936-39 led to the deaths of more than 350,000 people and ended in victory for General Francisco
Franco's right-wing Nationalists, who executed, jailed, and exiled the leftist Republicans. During Franco's
long rule, many countries cut off diplomatic ties, and his regime was ostracized by the United Nations
from  1946  to  1955.  The  militant  Basque  separatist  group  Euskadi  Ta  Askatasuna  (ETA),  or  Basque
Fatherland and Freedom, was formed in 1959 with the aim of creating an independent Basque homeland
and went on to carry out a campaign of terrorist bombings and other illegal activity. After a transitional
period  following  Franco's  death  in  1975,  Spain  emerged  as  a  parliamentary  democracy,  joining  the
European Economic Community, the precursor to the European Union (EU), in 1986.

During the March 2004 parliamentary elections, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) won more
than 43 percent of the vote, capturing 164 seats in the Congress of Deputies, the parliament's lower
house. The conservative Popular Party (PP), which had been in power for 11 years, was reduced to 148
seats. Lacking an outright majority, the PSOE relied on the regionalist parties to support its legislation.
In the Senate, the PP led by winning 102 directly elected seats, while the PSOE took 81.

The elections came only three days after multiple terrorist bombings of commuter trains in Madrid that
killed  close  to  200  people.  Shortly  after  the  bombings,  the  conservative  government  blamed  ETA,  a
factor that angered voters when it was discovered that the perpetrators were instead linked to Islamic
fundamentalists.  The  attacks  allegedly  came  in  response  to  the  conservative  government's  staunch
support  of  the  U.S.-led  war  in  Iraq.  Shortly  after  becoming  prime  minister,  the  PSOE's  Jose  Luis
Rodriguez  Zapatero  pulled  Spain's  contingent  of  1,300  troops  out  of  Iraq.  In  October  2007,  a  Spanish
court  handed  down  long  prison  sentences  for  21  of  the  28  defendants  charged  in  connection  with  the
2004 Madrid train bombings; seven of the accused were acquitted. In January 2008, a key suspect in the
2004  Madrid  terrorist  bombings  was  arrested  in  Morocco  and  was  sentenced  to  20  years  in  prison  in
December that year. In March 2006, the parliament passed an autonomy plan for the northeastern region
of  Catalonia  despite  resistance  from  the  opposition  PP.  Catalonian  voters  in  June  approved  the  plan,

which gave the region national status within Spain and greater control over taxation, judicial matters,
and immigration.

Peace talks between the Spanish government and ETA broke down in January 2007, after the separatist
group claimed responsibility for a December 2006 bombing in a parking garage at the Barajas Airport.
Negotiations had begun in July 2006, after ETA announced its first permanent ceasefire in March of that
year. The Supreme Court banned hundreds of candidates from participating in May 2007 local elections in
the Basque region, accusing them of links to ETA. In October, the authorities arrested 17 members of
Batasuna, ETA's political wing, for holding an illegal meeting and having links to a terrorist organization.
Batasuna, which had previously garnered between 5 and 10 percent of the regional vote, was banned in
2003.

In February 2008, 14 members of Batasuna were arrested in Spain. In May, French police captured Javier
Lopez Pena, a senior ETA commander, and in November, Mikel Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina – one of the
organizations most senior leaders – was arrested in France. Despite these arrests, ETA carried out over

20 violent attacks during the year, killing at least 2 people, including a police officer. Meanwhile, a
referendum associated with the call for Basque independence was scheduled in October, but was
overturned by the Spanish Constitutional court the month prior.

Parliamentary elections held in March 2008 returned the PSOE to power. The PSOE, which had focused on
liberal reforms, such as gender equality and same-sex marriage, won 43.5 percent of the vote in the
lower house, followed by the PP, which captured 40.1 percent. The Convergence and Union (CiU) won
3.1 percent; the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), 1.2 percent; the Republican Left of Catalonia, (ERC) 1.2
percent; and other parties, 10.8 percent.

Despite surveillance efforts by European and African governments, African migrants continued to land on
the  Canary  Islands  in  overcrowded  boats.  In  August  2008,at  least  25  African  migrants  died  off  Spain's
southern coast, and in September, the bodies of 13 migrants were found on the Canary Islands. However,
the number of migrants reaching the country by boat has significantly dropped since 2006, due partly to
a  new  EU  surveillance  system,  with  aircraft  and  ships  posted  off  the  coast  of  Africa.  The  EU  has  also
been  active  in  establishing  job  centers  in  Africa  to  regularize  migration.  In  2006,  Spain  and  Senegal
signed a cooperation agreement that would discourage illegal migration while organizing the recruitment
of legal workers.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Spain is an electoral democracy. The Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the National Assembly,
has 350 members elected from party lists in provincial constituencies. The Senate has 259 members, with
208 elected directly and 51 chosen by regional legislatures. Members of both the Senate and Congress
serve four-year terms. Following legislative elections, the prime minister, known as the president of the
government, is selected by the monarch and is usually the leader of the majority party or coalition. The
candidate must also be elected by the National Assembly. The country's 50 provinces are divided into 17
autonomous regions with varying degrees of power, in addition to the two North African enclaves of
Ceuta and Melilla.

People generally have the right to organize in political parties and other competitive groups of their
choice. The Basque separatist Batasuna party was permanently banned in 2003 for its alleged ties to the
armed group ETA.

The U.S. State Department's Report on Human Rights in 2008 cited several instances of official corruption
during the year, including police fraud and the defrauding of a municipality. Several mayors in the past
three years have been arrested for corruption-related offences. Spain was ranked 28 out of 180 countries
surveyed in Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index.

The country has a free and lively press, with more than 100 newspapers covering a wide range of
perspectives and actively investigating high-level corruption. Daily newspaper ownership, however, is
concentrated within large media groups like Prisa and Zeta. Journalists who oppose the political views of
ETA are often targeted by the group. In 2008, ETA carried out three bomb attacks against the media in
Bilbao and its environs. In June, a Spanish judge re-opened the case of Spanish journalist Ricardo Ortega,

who was shot in Haiti in 2004 covering the ouster of President Jean Bertrand Aristide. An investigation by
Antena 3, the television station where the journalist worked, found that the shot could have come from
the U.S. military, which was in the country at the time as part of an international force brought in to
maintain order. Internet access is not restricted.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed through constitutional and legal protections. Roman Catholicism is the
dominant  religion  and  enjoys  privileges  that  other  religions  do  not,  such  as  financing  through  the  tax
system. Jews, Muslims, and Protestants have official status through bilateral agreements with the state,
while  other  groups  (including  Jehovah's  Witnesses  and  the  Mormons)  have  no  such  agreements.  The
government  does  not  restrict  academic  freedom.  However,  ETA  has  sought  to  silence  academics  who
criticize its political goals.

The constitution provides for freedom of assembly, and the government respects this right in practice.
People are free to demonstrate and speak publicly. Domestic and international nongovernmental
organizations operate without government restrictions. With the exception of members of the military,
workers are free to organize and join unions of their choice and also have the right to strike. About 15
percent of the workforce is unionized. In June 2008, tens of thousands of Spanish truck drivers went on
strike to protest the then rising price of diesel, which had increased by 20 percent; they were demanding
that the government set a minimum price for their services.

The constitution provides for an  independent judiciary. However, there have been concerns about  the
functioning  of  the  judicial  system,  including  the  impact  of  media  pressure  on  sensitive  issues  such  as
immigration  and  Basque  terrorism.  There  have  been  reports  of  police  abuse  of  prisoners,  especially
immigrants.  Police  can  also  hold  suspects  of  certain  terrorism-related  crimes  for  up  to  five  days  with
access only to a public lawyer. Prison conditions generally meet international standards.

Spanish law allows judges to try suspects for crimes committed abroad if they are not facing prosecution
in  their  home  country.  In  July  2007,  the  Supreme  Court  ruled  that  former  Argentine  general  Ricardo
Cavallo  would  stand  trial  in  Spain  for  crimes  against  humanity  that  he  allegedly  committed  during
Argentina's  so-called  Dirty  War  of  the  1970s  and  1980s,  in  which  the  military  government  targeted
suspected dissidents. In May, a Spanish court threw out murder charges against three U.S. servicemen in
connection with an April 2003 shooting in Iraq.

The parliament in 2005 enacted legislation that legalized same-sex marriage and allowed gay couples to
adopt children. Women enjoy legal protections against rape, domestic abuse, and sexual harassment in
the workplace. However, violence against women, particularly within the home, remains a serious
problem. The current prime minister has made the protection of women's rights and gender equality a
centerpiece of his administration.

In March 2007, the Spanish parliament passed a law requiring that political parties run women candidates
in at least 40 percent of the seats that they contest. The law also orders larger companies to institute
"equality plans" that promote women and grants 15 days of paternity leave to new fathers. Women won
36 percent of the seats in the lower house in the 2004 elections, a 7 percent increase from the previous
elections in 2000.

Trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation remains a problem in Spain. However, in its
2008  Trafficking  in  Persons  Report,  the  U.S.  State  Department  found  that  the  country  made  a  strong
effort to combat trafficking through law enforcement. New legislation in 2007 increased the penalty for
those  convicted  of  trafficking  if  they  are  part  of  a  criminal  organization,  and  it  allows  the  courts  to
prosecute cases that happen outside of Spain's boarders. The country also continued to offer assistance
to trafficking victims and made efforts to reduce the demand for prostitution. In October 2008, police
arrested  over  120  people  suspected  of  involvement  in  a  child  pornography  ring  that  reached  over  75
countries.  Over  the  last  five  years,  over  1,200  people  have  been  arrested  in  connection  with  child
pornography in Spain.