The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the II National Human Rights Plan 2023-2027, which continues the work begun with the I Human Rights Plan 2008-2012 “and fulfills the international commitment adopted by Spain before the United Nations in 1993 and ratified in 2020 on the occasion of the last Universal Periodic Review (UPR),” according to the Government.
The plan, according to the Executive, establishes the principles and commitments of Spain and its institutions to protect and continue advancing in the configuration of human rights, “within our borders and also abroad”.
Likewise, it continued, “it guarantees the recognition of the dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all people by promoting social progress and raising the standard of living for all, on the basis of the Spanish Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international covenants and all the specific treaties ratified by Spain”. The new Plan has four main lines of action: Spain’s international and cooperation obligations, the protection and promotion of human rights, equality between women and men and equal treatment, non-discrimination and the protection of specific groups.
In addition to 17 Ministries, an Advisory Commission composed of prestigious experts, the Congress of Deputies and the Senate, the Autonomous Communities, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), the Ombudsman, social agents, several university institutes and more than 50 organizations, including the UN Human Rights Committee, Amnesty International, Save the Children or the LGTBI Participation Council, participated in the elaboration.
During the press conference after the Council of Ministers, the Minister of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, assured that the plan gathers the “public commitments of a whole country to protect and continue promoting and deepening the rights that, in short, are the basis of our coexistence in peace and freedom”. He also pointed out that its approval coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and precedes in a few days the start of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
