On November 4, from 16:00 to 20:00, in the Ernest Lluch Hall of the Spanish Congress in Madrid, we will hold the event “The Future of Universal Jurisdiction”, where we will examine the progress, challenges, and opportunities of this fundamental principle of international law. This initiative is part of the campaign “Democracy is not inherited. It...
The recent sessions of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) and the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, held in Geneva on September 16 and 29, sent a clear message: while enforced disappearances continue to rise in the context of conflict, migration, and repression, international mechanisms are facing unprecedented obstacles that threaten their...
In May 2024, the French justice system marked a milestone in the fight against international impunity by sentencing three senior Syrian regime officials to life imprisonment in absentia for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The case, centred on the disappearance and murder of French-Syrian citizens Patrick and Mazen Dabbagh, represents one of the most...
At FIBGAR, we are launching the campaign “Democracy isn’t inherited. It must be built. Raise your voice.”, a call to citizens and the legal community to protect human rights, defend democracy, and fight impunity. Twenty-three years ago, Spain mobilized against the Iraq war, showing that civil society can influence political decisions and demand respect for international law and...
The right to freedom of expression is presented as a cornerstone for the protection and consolidation of democracies, since through it, other human rights can be protected, guaranteed, and enforced. Through its various manifestations –such as the right to freedom of the press, access to information, and the right to protest, among others– it constitutes...
On Thursday, 2 October, at the María de Maeztu Equality Space in Madrid, the Women's Network for Memory and Democracy (REDMEM) convened a meeting entitled ‘Progress and challenges of the 30 years of the Beijing Platform’. Three prominent voices in feminism—Cristina Almeida Castro, Laura Selena Báez Benítez, and María Garzón Molina—reflected on the achievements, current...
This past Thursday, September 18, the Attorney General of the State, Álvaro García Ortiz, authorized the opening of preliminary proceedings to investigate the actions of the Israeli Army in Gaza, at the request of the Supreme Court Prosecutor for Democratic Memory, Dolores Delgado. The signed decree empowers the Public Prosecutor’s Office to cooperate with the investigations...
In a significant step toward accountability for international crimes, the Lisbon Court of Appeal in Portugal issued a historic conviction against two brothers, former members of the Islamic State (ISIS), Ammar Ameen and Yaser Ameen, for their involvement in terrorist activities and crimes committed in Iraq after ISIS’s 2014 offensive and the takeover of Mosul...
The 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly comes at a decisive moment for the international system. Under the motto “Together we are better: more than 80 years in the service of peace, development, and human rights”, the international community prepares to reflect on past achievements and, above all, to renew its commitment to...
The Danish Parliament approved a legislative reform on December 17, 2024; this historic action introduced a new chapter on international crimes into the country’s Penal Code. This amendment, which came into effect on January 1, 2025, explicitly criminalizes war crimes, torture, and crimes against humanity, consolidating Denmark’s commitment to the principle of universal jurisdiction. The reform...
