Pitfalls and Pipelines - Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links

Chapter 2.7: International Processes and Complaints Mechanisms
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As has already been expressed, Spanish domestic law, through the
Judiciary Act in Article 23.4, establishes, abstractly, a connection
between offences which are recognized within Spanish criminal law and
international human rights law, among whose regulatory body, with a
binding character for the Spanish state, the Convention would have to be
included. Article 23.4 states:
“Equally, Spanish jurisdiction would be competent to know the acts
committed by Spaniards or foreigners outside of national territory
who are susceptible to categorization, according to Spanish criminal
law, as one of the following offences: a) Genocide; b) Terrorism;
c) Piracy or the illicit seizure of airliners; d) Counterfeiting foreign
currency; f) Offences related to prostitution and the corruption of
minors or disabled people; g) Illegal trafficking of psychotropic, toxic
and narcotic drugs; h) Illegal trafficking or smuggling of people,
workers or otherwise; i) Those involved in Female Genital Mutilation,
where those responsible are found in Spain; j) and other which,
according to international treaties and agreements, should be
persecuted in Spain”
This connection, which locates the Convention at the core of the law, is
made, specifically in Article 23.4, sections a) and j). In those sections
genocide is referred to, directly implicating the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, an offence, which
has structurally and materially affected indigenous peoples, a practice,
which has occurred cruelly and widely along the length and breadth of
Latin America.
Article 23.4 j) also refers, as a residual and closing clause, to any other
offences, which according to international treaties and agreement,
should be prosecuted in Spain. This implicates all the standards offered
by the international human rights law, in terms of complementing and
strengthening Spanish domestic law, especially in terms of the protection
and guarantee of human rights.
This is facilitated by the final wording of this clause, when it states
“should be persecuted in Spain.” It is here that an evolutionary and open
interpretation of rights should be situated at the center of the argument. It
is precisely as a result of this, the progressive character assumed in texts
of human rights in domestic state legislation, that the Spanish state has
also ratified the Convention. Its ratification is related to the necessity to
give fundamental strength to its contents, which responds perfectly with
the maxim of the article when it states “should be persecuted by Spain.” In