Civil liberties - new material (54)
01 March 2004
Informe 2003, Movemento polos dereitos civiles, pp.45 (in Galician). This report by the Galician-based Movemento polos dereitos civiles (MPDC, Movement for civil rights), is an annual round-up of the organisation's activities. The MPDC was set up in 2002 "to monitor the respect of citizens' rights" through an active defence of legality, and by using available legal tools to control any "faults or irregularities" committed by public authorities "in the exercise of their duties and obligations". This includes filing complaints or reporting irregularities to prosecutors and ombudsmen, "so that these may investigate, inform and make recommendations" to public bodies concerning possible solutions to be adopted. At the local level, the MPDC focuses on Santiago de Compostela, highlighting problems such as video surveillance, violence or repressive actions by the police, the prohibition of musical events organised against the war in Iraq, and proposals to expel migrants who are caught begging. At a regional level, the most prominent issue was the Galician government's "negligence in response to the catastrophe of the Prestige" oil tanker. The MPDC filed complaints to the ombudsman on the censorship of information in relation to the disaster, the "unjustified attacks by members of the regional administration against members of the Nunca Mais citizens' platform", which saw them described as "radical" and tried to criminalise them through misguided references to the Basque Country. At a national level, the MPDC focused on the disaster of the Prestige, and on the war against Iraq. Available from: Rua do Campo do Forno, 1 baixo, 15703 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
EsCULcA, Observatório para a defensa dos dereitos e liberdades, n.4, pp16, March 2004 (in Galician); Apdo. Correos 2112, 36208 Vigo, Galicia, Spain. A bulletin by the one-year old Galician-based observatory on civil rights and liberties, EsCULcA, which includes sections on the protection of personal data, the rights of third country migrants, freedom of expression and the right of citizens to receive truthful information, as well as a news round-up on developments in civil liberties and fundamental rights. The website of EsCULcA, which seeks to "promote a return of interest for public affairs and collective responsibility [in Galician society], from the awareness that our indifference and absence are the most fertile ground for new forms of totalitarianism and social control to arise", can be found at www.esculca.org
Libertad de expresión y derecho de asociación en Euskal Herria, Behatokia (Basque Observatory on Human Rights), Eskubideak (Basque Lawyers' Association), October 2002. This publication focuses on freedom of expression and the right of association in the Basque Country, by focusing on the judicial initiatives and charges brought by judge Baltasar Garzón involving Basque social and political organisations, and through a report and legal analysis of the reform of the Ley de partidos, which subsequently led to the criminalisation of Batasuna.