Source: (2014) Connecticut Journal of International Law. 29:227-254.
This paper analyzes the current legal and political controversies raised by the tens of
thousands of unsolved cases of enforced disappearance that occurred in Spain during
the Civil War in light of the international standards of reparation for serious human
rights violations. The authors focus on the legal aspects relating to the international
regulation of enforced disappearance as a continuing crime, the state’s obligations to
investigate, criminally prosecute and punish such crimes or extradite the possible
culprits, and the dubious application of regulations by the Spanish Supreme Court and
the Audiencia Nacional. In the opinion of the writers, this domestic interpretation
implies the denial of adequate reparation to victims under the applicable international
legal regimes and a breach of Spain’s international obligations. The paper
subsequently examines the refitsal of the European Court ofHuman Rights to recognize
the victims’ rights to a legal remedy and access to a court through a strikingly
restrictive interpretation of the temporal limits of its own jurisdiction with regard to
human rights violations of a continuing nature. In a final appraisal of the current
situation, the authors argue for the implementation of a truth commission in Spain and
the enhancement of the competencies of the international bodies dealing with this issue.
227 (author’s abstract)
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