Coinciding with the International Day of Support for Victims of Torture, Rights International Spain has presented a report enumerating existing challenges in the prevention and elimination of torture in Spain.

The Committee will take this report into account as it prepares the list of questions the Spanish state will have to address during its upcoming review by the Committee. Some of these challenges are listed below.

Inadequate definition

The definition of "torture" in the Spanish Criminal Code does not coincide with the definition of torture given by the Convention Against Torture.

Moreover, it distinguishes between serious offenses and offenses not considered serious, which is a violation of International Law: all acts of torture should be considered serious offenses.

Some of these crimes are subject to a statute of limitations, but according to International law, they should not expire.

Incommunicado Detention

Spain continues to use incommunicado arrest and detention in the investigation of crimes considered to be terrorism, even when the suspects are minors between 16 and 18 years of age.

While being held incommunicado, the person under investigation does not have access to a lawyer of their choice but rather one provided to them, and a trusted physician cannot attend to them.

This form of arrest leaves the person arrested at risk of being subjected to torture and other abuse. For this reason, the Committee Against Torture and the European Court of Human Rights have called on Spain to abolish it.

Detention of Migrants

Mass deportations of migrants from Ceuta and Melilla continue to take place, without taking into account the individual circumstances of each case or the risk migrants run of suffering abuses and tortures in Morocco or in their countries of origin.

Spanish law protects this practice despite the fact that it violates human rights.

Violence against Women

The laws addressing gender violence are very restrictive, leaving unprotected those women who are victims of crime due to their condition as women (forced sterilizations, forced marriages, sexual aggressions, etc.).

Police abuse

In Spain, there is no independent entity equipped to supervise police actions, receive cases and investigate faulty practices. The training available to police officers and judges in human rights and combatting torture is also severely deficient.