The Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Catalan Secession Process

The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council fulfil their mandates by performing certain tasks as independent experts, with the responsibility to investigate human rights situations wherever they occur. They are required to take measures to monitor and respond quickly to allegations of human rights violations on behalf of the international community. Catalonia’s pro-sovereignty process and the referendum held there on 1 October 2017 – despite having been declared illegal and suspended by Spain’s Constitutional Court – had several judicial consequences, including trials, arrests and detentions. As a result, several sources submitted information to certain Special Procedures for them to communicate to the government of Spain their allegations of violations of the human rights of persons subject to judicial persecution. The Spanish government responded to each of these communications, consistently noting that the allegations referred to judicial actions ordered within the framework of the Spanish Constitution and laws, in accordance with Spain’s status as a democratic state governed by the rule of law.