David Bondia: “Authorities and social movements must collaborate to construct coherent policies on human rights”
The University of Barcelona (UB), by means of the UB Solidarity Foundation, and NOVACT - International Institute for Nonviolent Action, together with other organizations from Andalucía, Madrid and the Basque Country, have set up the project Defensar a qui defensa (To defend those who defend). For the first time, it joins universities, NGOs and social movements to create the first national observatory against human right violations in poverty contexts. Defensar a qui Defensa was presented last October at the UB on a seminar addressed to journalists, jurists and activists that took place at the Faculty of Philology. Then, presentations happened in Cádiz, Bilbao and Madrid.
We interview David Bondia, professor of Public International Law at the UB and academic coordinator of Defensar a qui Defensa. He describes us the main functions of the observatory.
The University of Barcelona (UB), by means of the UB Solidarity Foundation, and NOVACT - International Institute for Nonviolent Action, together with other organizations from Andalucía, Madrid and the Basque Country, have set up the project Defensar a qui defensa (To defend those who defend). For the first time, it joins universities, NGOs and social movements to create the first national observatory against human right violations in poverty contexts. Defensar a qui Defensa was presented last October at the UB on a seminar addressed to journalists, jurists and activists that took place at the Faculty of Philology. Then, presentations happened in Cádiz, Bilbao and Madrid.
We interview David Bondia, professor of Public International Law at the UB and academic coordinator of Defensar a qui Defensa. He describes us the main functions of the observatory.
What is the project Defensar a qui Defensa?
The main objective of the project is to create a coalition of national public universities, law firms, journalists and communicators, social movements and activists that will collaborate in an observatory against human right violation in poverty contexts. The crisis —economic, political, social and moral— has led the civil society to an urgent need of proposals and alternatives to achieve making policies of human rights, not making policies with human rights. In this sense, the project aims at providing a space where campaigns and social movements can develop their crucial task of social transformation.
Therefore, Defensar a qui Defensa is a national and multidisciplinary project that will systematize the cases of human right violations in the context of social protest and identify the patterns of social movement criminalization. Then, the project will activate a triple incidence strategy composed by communicative alerts, the defence of cases which can set precedents, and studies that make clear proposals. The fundamental objective is to create regulating frameworks and public policies that guarantee citizensʼ security and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. In other words, the aim is to strengthen the right to security and to ensure security when exercising every human right.
Why is the project being developed now and here, in Spain?
The project is born as an answer against the process of criminalization of social movements in Spain that is translated into violent repression, in some cases, and the elaboration of a ---- (court fees law, private security act, penal code reform and the draft law on public safety), which aims at disrupting peaceful protests in defence of rights and freedoms.
However, the project also includes the creation of a new regulating framework of public security concerning human rights. There are many reports and statements made by national and international organizations that warn about the attack to democracy and the rule of law.
Why does the UB participate in the project? What role does it play?
It is a project that does not go against anyone. On the contrary, it aims at promoting the dialogue among all the agents that must participate in the development of active policies in terms of human rights and fundamental freedoms: authorities, law enforcement services, political parties, social movements and people in general. We understand that the University of Barcelona, by means of the UB Solidarity Foundation, can play a major role in the (re)construction of this dialogue, by offering its experience in reflecting, analysing and presenting proposals to overcome the hostility generated lately; in addition, it can be the tool to direct the transformation demanded by civil society. We cannot be silent against repression, privatization and the regression in human rights in the hands of authorities; we must speak for the new ways of fight and constructive protest generated by civil society.
In this sense, the UB is highly involved in two of the main areas of the project Defensar a qui Defensa: education and research. The UB Solidarity Foundation has designed a training programme and it is organising seminars addressed to jurists, activists and journalists that have already taken place in Barcelona, Cádiz, Madrid and Bilbao. Moreover, the Foundation is in charge of coordinating research, in which several research teams from Spanish public universities and professionals involved in social movements collaborate.
What specific actions will the University carry out in terms of education and research?
As I have already said, the UB coordinates education and research areas of the project. Seminars are being favourably received. Training is structured in several modules: general, for activists, for jurists, for social communicators, and a module focused on how to work cooperatively. Seminars are providing contents and sparking debate within participating organizations, but they are also encouraging interaction among them and realization of the need to work together to achieve the same objective: not to be silent and do not be afraid of protesting when authorities are trying to empty of content such as fundamental rights as freedom of expression and the right to organize and join meetings and demonstrations.
Regarding research —theoretical and practical— on the present attempt to oppose security and freedom to justify certain actions, the tasks of the UB, besides general coordination, is to reflect on the lack of appropriateness of actions, laws and draft laws. Although reports will not be supported by authorities and law enforcement services, they will be an essential tool to denounce certain actions to international bodies when violations are not punished or rectified by national bodies.
What is the final aim of these actions?
Final aims are to improve police protocols, particularly when dealing with situations of social protests; to define and implement public policies that ensure citizen security and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to coordinate the collaboration among different agents and sectors to achieve a common goal: to stop the process of criminalization of social movements and to lose fear of claiming human rights. Moreover, the project wants to create a coherent, articulated and reflective debate on security issues, and to avoid the introduction of laws (for instance, the draft law on public safety) that modify the presumption of innocence of arrested people in behalf of the presumption of veracity of law enforcement officers with the final aim of establishing a model of administrative control that penalize the enemy, that is protest.
In short, the final objective is to understand that we are all the State —authorities and social movements—, and we must all collaborate to construct coherent policies on human rights.