Council of Europe urges Spain to conduct judicial proceedings in Catalan

The evaluation report by the Council of EuropeCommittee of Experts  is a clear textshowing Spain is not doing its duty. Catalan language is being harassed in the judicialproceedings. As the report itself says:

“On the basis of the observations made bythe Committee of Experts in its second evaluation report, the Committee ofMinisters recommended that the Spanish authorities “take the necessary legal and practical measures to ensure that anadequate proportion of the judicial staff posted in the autonomous communitiesconcerned by the application of Article 9 of the Charter have a working knowledgeof the relevant Language (...)According to the association of jurists,there has been a downward trend in the use of Catalan in terms of numbers ofproceedings, documents and sentencing in the last few years. According to thethird periodical report (pages 272 – 285), a substantial Survey on Language Usein the Department of Justice was carried out among almost all judicial officesin 2008 in Catalonia. The survey revealed that about 25% of the courtprocedures were held in Catalan. According to a judge whom the Committee ofExperts met during the on-the-spot visit, this number has dropped to 16%.Almost 50% of the oral communication with the public was in Catalan. 43.5% ofthe internal meetings were held in Catalan. 75% of the court buildings usedsignage in Catalan. (...)According to the General Council of the Judiciary,1029 of the 5023 judges and magistrates in Spain have a certified knowledge ofCatalan. According to the data from the 2008 Survey, it seems that a largemajority (over 75%) of the judicial staff have sufficient knowledge of Catalanto use it as a working language both orally and in writing.

The Committee of Expertsstrongly urges the authorities:

- to amend the legalframework with a view to making it clear that the criminal, civil andadministrative judicial authorities in Catalonia will conduct the proceedingsin Catalan at the request of one party;

- to take the necessarymeasures to ensure, as appropriate, that the parties to a proceeding arespecifically informed of the obligation of the judicial authorities inCatalonia to conduct the proceedings in Catalan if one of the parties sorequests, in conformity with the undertakings entered into by Spain underArticle 9 para. 1.a.i, 1.b.i and 1.c.i of the Charter;

- to take the necessarymeasures to increase the proportion of judicial staff in Catalonia at alllevels and particularly among judges and prosecutors, who are able to useCatalan as a working language in courts.