Every November 6, the world commemorates the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001 through Resolution A/RES/56/4. This date seeks to remind us that ecosystems, natural resources, and biodiversity are also victims of human conflicts, and that their protection...
Ending impunity for crimes against journalists remains one of the greatest and most urgent challenges of our time. Every November 2, the world commemorates the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013 through Resolution A/RES/68/163, in memory of two French journalists killed in Mali...
It is difficult to talk about the Day of Remembrance and Tribute to all the victims of the military coup, war and dictatorship without thinking about how limited the reparation they have received throughout these decades of democracy has been. Despite the efforts made by various institutions to offer recognition and moral reparation to the thousands...
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...
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...
