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	Working with the survivors of cruelty and torture by The Helen Bamber Foundation United Kingdom   Exploitation, violence and atrocity are sadly words familiar to us all. We are a group of human rights specialists who seek to work with compassion to address the legacy of cruelty the darkest aspects of humanity creates.   We work with survivors of genocide, torture, human trafficking and rape who seek safety and refuge. We provide these people with practical support and treatment to deal with their pasts and seek to help them build new futures.   Our clients are courageous but vulnerable people. The mental scars are expressed through nightmares, horrifying flashbacks and self-loathing. We help to mend what was broken in a safe and supportive environment, where restorative relationships enable survivors to begin to feel whole again.   We advocate on behalf of people whose voices are ignored, and on issues critical to their wellbeing. Many of our clients have paid a high price for speaking out in the past. Whether threatened with removal to places where they risk imprisonment and torture, we help them to understand their rights and make informed choices.   We are defined by how we respond to our most vulnerable citizens. Advocacy provides a safety net to those in need, and ensures that the society in which they live meets its obligations.   Our work with thousands of survivors has taught us to appreciate the differences as well as recognize the similarities in human responses to experiences of catastrophic violence and loss.   * Visit the link below for more details. Visit the related web page
	People rally to support Justice Garzón by UN News / ICJ / Human Rights Watch Spain   25 May 2010   United Nations human rights experts have expressed concern about the suspension of a internationally famous Spanish judge who had been investigating allegations regarding tens of thousands of enforced disappearances during the country’s civil war and subsequent years.   Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary suspended Baltasar Garzón, an investigative judge, earlier this month as part of a politically motivated investigation by the Spanish Supreme Court into his actions. His case will now go to trial.   the inspirational Judge Garzón could be sanctioned for “knowingly exceeding his jurisdiction” by investigating a series of complaints relating to more than 100,000 cases of enforced disappearances that are alleged to have occurred during the Spanish civil war and the regime of General Francisco Franco.   These cases are allegedly inadmissible because of a Spanish amnesty law introduced after General Franco’s death and the expiration of the statute of limitations.   The five-member UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances issued a statement in which they reminded States that they should refrain from introducing amnesty laws that would exempt the perpetrators of enforced disappearances from criminal proceedings and sanctions.   “An amnesty law goes against the provision of the Declaration [on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance] when the State ends its obligations to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for disappearances, even where endorsed by a referendum or similar consultation procedure,” stated the international experts.   They also stressed the right to truth which should be enjoyed by the families of the victims of enforced disappearances in Spain. Reconciliation between the State and the victims cannot happen without the clarification of each individual case, they added.   April 29, 2010 (Human Rights Watch)   On Saturday, 60,000 people marched through the streets of Madrid - as many others did in cities across Spain and the world -to call for justice for Franco-era atrocities and for a halt to criminal proceedings against Judge Baltasar Garzón, who had been trying to investigate those abuses.   The march, and the movement behind it, was triggered by a criminal investigation against Judge Garzón for looking into alleged cases of illegal detention and enforced disappearances of more than 100,000 victims between 1936 and 1952.   Spanish courts had routinely closed investigations into those abuses by invoking a 1977 amnesty law. The case against Garzón is based in part on the argument that he refused to apply the amnesty law to crimes against humanity.   Garzon"s work, beginning with the indictment of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for human rights violations is considered instrumental in bringing justice to countries around the world, particularly in Latin America, where amnesties were overturned.   It is hypocritical, that Spain refused to apply at home the same principles its judiciary had so successfully promoted internationally. "Why should Franco"s victims have fewer rights than Pinochet"s?".   Apr 2010 (TerraViva)   Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon, who sits on the Audiencia Nacional, Spain"s highest criminal court, is accused of overreaching his judicial powers for his 2008 decision to investigate human rights crimes committed during Spain"s 1936-1939 civil war and the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Francisco Franco, which were covered by an amnesty issued by parliament in 1977, two years after the dictator"s death.   The high court magistrate began investigating the forced disappearance of some of the more than 100,000 victims of that crime, arguing that under international law no amnesty can apply to crimes against humanity.   In response to legal action brought by "associations for the recovery of the historical memory" which group the families of victims of forced disappearance in different regions of the country, he ordered the exhumation of 19 unmarked mass graves around the country.   One of the graves is said to hold the body of poet Federico García Lorca, who was killed by pro-Franco forces in 1936 in the southern city of Granada.   The charges against Garzon were filed by the far-right organisations Manos Limpias, Libertad e Identidad (Freedom and Identity), and Falange, Spain"s fascist party.   On Mar. 25, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Garzón, who argued that he did not overstep the bounds of his jurisdiction, and that his investigation was legitimate. The Court thus ruled that the case against him could proceed.   The case will be put in the hands of ultraconservative Judge Adolfo Prego, a member of the Honorary Board of the extreme-right "Foundation for Defense of the Spanish nation" (Denaes).   The charges against Garzon have triggered an outcry across Spain. Many international organisations have also expressed their concern. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) presented an open letter to Spanish judicial authorities requesting that the charges against Garzón be dropped.   Justice Garzon said the investigation of civil war crimes must go ahead because there is no proof that tens of thousands of missing detainees were ever released, and because no statute of limitations applies to the crime of forced disappearance.   He said he would continue to defend the legality of his actions and his "absolute innocence," and added that he had merely been doing his duty.   In the appeal requesting that the case against him be dropped, Garzón"s lawyer, Gonzalo Martínez-Fresneda, asked that international legal experts who have taken part in prosecutions for crimes against humanity be called upon to testify.   He suggested, for example, that statements be taken from Carla del Ponte, former chief prosecutor for two United Nations international criminal law tribunals; Chilean Judge Juan Guzman, who indicted the late dictator Pinochet (1973-1990); and Argentine Supreme Court magistrate Eugenio Zaffaroni.   In 2005, Argentina"s Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the two 1980s amnesty laws that had let the perpetrators of human rights crimes committed during the 1976-1983 dictatorship off the hook. The legal decision paved the way for the reopening of hundreds of human rights cases in that country.   The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) also spoke out against the charges faced by Garzon. "International legal standards of judicial independence prohibit the criminal liability of judges for controversial or even unjust or incorrect decisions, which should be dealt with through disciplinary procedures," Roisin Pillay, ICJ Senior Legal Advisor for the Europe Programme, said when the case was brought last year.   "Prosecutions of judges for professional acts constitute an inappropriate and unwarranted interference with the independence of the judicial process," she added at the time.   * The Universal Rights Network joins many other organisations in expressing strong support for Baltasar Garzon.
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