WEDNESDAY, May 30th 2012
04 n National News
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US rights report More sabotage on targets Spanish police Madrid metro The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices compiled by the US State Department and released last week lists police torture and abuse, racial discrimination and xenophobia, illegal arrests of migrants, and gender violence as the major human rights problems in Spain. The report placed special emphasis on the mistreatment and excessive force used by police authorities during demonstrations held across the country during the past year to protest against social, education and health cuts. As regards torture or mistreatment, the report quoted 2010 statistics from the Coordinator for the Prevention of Torture, which claims that 552 complaints were filed that year – 222 against the National Police force, 79 against the Guardia Civil, and 52 against the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police force. The report also included public
Just a day after the metro authorities announced a possible cut in service, the group Paremos el tarifazo (Let’s stop the price rise) staged a new protest on morning by Tuesday pulling the hand brakes when the trains were standing in the stations.
corruption as a violation of citizens’ rights. It said that the Spanish Attorney General’s Office had 730 open investigations last year – 264 involving the Socialist Party and 200 involving the Partido Popular (PP). The report also stated that serious problems still affect the African and Gypsy communities, which have been harder hit by the economic situation than the rest of the community. The report also noted that of the 4,000 racist incidents recorded last year, about 400 were anti-Semitic and there were more than 200 Spanish websites
promoting hate online in 2011. As regards domestic violence, the report said that 61 women – 21 of them foreign-born – were killed by their partners or expartners during 2011. The most vulnerable groups were migrants and women over the age of 56. It quoted a 2011 survey by the Ministry of Equality which found that 600,000 women had reported being assaulted by their partners, although the authorities registered only 130,000 domestic violence complaints during the year.
Doctor to pay maintenance after botched abortion A Palma de Mallorca judge has ordered the unnamed gynaecologist to pay a mother €150,000 in "moral damages" for botching an abortion which resulted in the birth of a boy seven months later. The judge ordered the doctor to pay a monthly maintenance of €978 until the child turns 26. The woman had sought the abortion at a clinic in April 2010 and, unaware that the procedure had failed, she returned three months later seeking another abortion, believing she was pregnant again. An ultrasound revealed she was five months pregnant and she was refused a termination because it was over the legal time limit of 14 weeks.
When the group announced the protest in a communiqué, it said passengers would not be in danger because the trains would be standing still. The protest, which took place around 8.30 am, caused a delay of around 10 minutes, affecting some 90,000 commuters. At press time, no arrests had been made. The Madrid regional
have authorities announced they are studying the security measures necessary to stop the group from carrying out future protests. The group’s first protest took place on April 25th,
affecting nine metro lines and some 8,000 commuters. Three people were detained and released to await trial. The judge banned them from travelling on the metro in the meantime.
Children at greater risk than seniors For the first time, children living in situations of deprivation outnumber the over-65s, the worstaffected age group until this year at 21.7 per cent. Now some 26 per cent or 2.2 million Spaniards under the age of 18 live in homes that fall below the 2010 poverty threshold, according to National Statistics Institute figures compiled for the Unesco report “The impact of the crisis on children”,
presented to the public on Monday. In addition, the report noted that the number of children on the poverty line has risen by 10 per cent since 2008. Those living on the poverty line are families of two adults and two children with income of less than €16,400. Of the 205,000 children in this bracket, 13.7 per cent live on a total income of less than €11,000, which is considered extreme
poverty. In the EU, only Bulgaria and Romania exceed this figure. Unemployment has also taken its toll: 714,000 families in Spain have no working members, a 120 per cent increase over 2007, according to Eurostat figures. Government spending cuts have also reduced social security subsidies for families with two children and an income of less than € 13,000 from €500 to € 291.
ey seek him everywhere Apparently unperturbed by a court order to testify over contracts signed with the Valencia regional government to act as its representative in the Americas, Julio Iglesias is to perform in the Palau de les Arts in Valencia on July 7th, just 300 metres from the court that considers him “untraceable”. She was refunded the money she paid for the initial procedure. Her son is now 18 months old. The woman, whose identity has been kept secret, said through her lawyer that she was happy with the sentence and had
no regrets about having had the child. She said she hoped that when she explained what had happened, her son would understand. The sentence was a legal first in Spain, and the doctor is expected to appeal.
The court wants to question him about concerts he gave in Orlando and Mexico in 1998 and 1999, part of a small tour for which the Valencia regional government paid him almost €6 million, through the Valencia Institute of
Exportation (Ivex). Just over half the money paid to Iglesias was for a “letter of intention” about which the Valencia regional government was not informed until 2001, when the matter came to light. José María Tarbes, the
former director of Ivex and sole suspect in the case, faces charges of embezzlement, financial crimes and falsification of documents. Perhaps someone should tell the court where Iglesias will be on July 7th.