Spanish Supreme Court declares individual UN Treaty Body decisions are legally binding

The Supreme Court in Spain has ruled that decisions and views issued by UN Treaty Bodies in relation to cases of individual complaints are legally binding within the State, following the findings of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that a woman’s human rights had been violated by the Spanish government and judicial system.

Ángela Gonzalez was a mother who was a victim of consistent domestic abuse, both physical and psychological. She reported her husband to the police service over 30 times although little action was taken against him, save for a minor conviction and a fine for harassment.

The couple were judicially separated in 2001, although no decisions were made which considered the couple’s violent past. An access order for unsupervised visits between the father and daughter was permitted despite an appeal from Ángela. During such a visit in 2003, the father murdered their 7 year old daughter and then committed suicide.

Ángela sought compensation from the State for its failure to protect her daughter, citing such inaction as a miscarriage of justice. Her claim were dismissed by the Ministry of Justice, as were subsequent appeals to the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court.

A complaint was lodged to the UN’s CEDAW Committee, which in 2014 expressed the opinion that the Spanish justice system had acted in a discriminatory manner, failing to act with due diligence and properly address the case of male-on-female violence presented before them, amounting to a breach of Ángela’s human rights.

The Committee stated that “the decision to allow unsupervised visits was taken without the necessary safeguards and without taking into account (…) the pattern of domestic violence that had characterized family relations for years” and that Ángela “suffered harm of the utmost seriousness and an irreparable injury as a result of the loss of her daughter and the violations described.”

Following the issuing of this opinion, Ángela lodged further appeals against the previous decisions of the domestic courts. In this instance, the Supreme Court overturned its original position and took into account the views held by the CEDAW Committee, but the Spanish government attested that there was no legal mechanism in place which facilitated the implementation of Treaty Body decisions.

However, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the Spanish Constitution gives legal effect to international treaties, and the Court declared that the “inexistence of a specific procedure to execute the views of the CEDAW Committee (…) constitutes a breach of a legal and constitutional mandate by Spain”.

The Supreme Court subsequently awarded Ángela €600,000 in compensation on foot of the CEDAW decision, declaring that injustice suffered at the hands of the Spanish state ‘‘was caused by the lack of protection that she endured for years, a clear situation of discrimination, both before and after the death of her daughter.”

Click here for the decision of the CEDAW Committee.

Click here for the full judgement in Spanish.

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