Intersectoral Fora for Social Transition
Advocacy / Human rights
In 2013, FIBGAR promoted the creation of a Platform for the Truth Commission on the crimes of Francoism, which brings together victims’ associations, legal experts and human rights defenders, to demand the Spanish State to create a Truth Commission to guarantee the rights of the victims of Francoist crimes.
During the Civil War and Francoism, war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, extrajudicial executions and forced disappearances were committed. So far, the facts, the number of victims of such crimes and the perpetrators and those responsible for them have not been established.
As a result of the investigation opened by the Central Court of Instruction number 5 of the Audiencia Nacional, under the jurisdiction of Baltasar Garzón, the existence of more than 100,000 victims of forced disappearance and more than 30,000 stolen children was established. There is evidence of at least 2,232 documented graves, of which only 390 have been opened. This figure makes Spain the second country in the world in number of mass graves after Cambodia. The facts referred to have never been criminally investigated by the Spanish justice system, so that, until today, impunity has been the rule in the face of events that may constitute a crime against humanity.
The Truth Commission Project therefore aims to integrate national and international organizations working for the historical and collective memory of Spain and for the end of impunity for crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
To this end, among other things, FIBGAR participated in the V Session of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and held meetings with representatives of European institutions, as well as bilateral and multilateral meetings with representatives of States in different regions. It was also received by the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, which visited Spain from 23 to 30 September 2013.
FIBGAR, as a member of the Platform for the Truth Commission, accompanied a delegation of victims of Francoism on their trip to Brussels on August 5, 2014, to demand before the European Parliament that Spain fulfill its obligations to guarantee the right to truth, justice and reparation.
