The Catalan Agriculture minister fired by the Spanish government, Meritxell Serret, and Jordi Cuixart's partner, Txell Bonet, will take part in a debate to be held in Geneva next Tuesday as part of the 37th Ordinary Session of the UN Human Rights Council. Serret and Bonet will be participating in an event entitled "Violations of Fundamental Rights in the EU: The Catalan case" as "victims of the repression", Catalan party ERC has announced in a statement. Also to take part in another round table are the lawyer Rachel Lindon, part of the team taking the Catalan political prisoners' case to the UN, and MEP Lynn Boylan, a member of the EU-Catalonia Dialogue platform.
The same day, also during the Council, there will be a debate on "The right to self-determination in the 21st century", organised and moderated by MEP Jordi Solé (ERC). The debate will feature Nicolas Levrat, professor at the University of Geneva; Jaume López, professor at Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University; and Alfred de Zayas, independent expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order to the UN. For Solé, "all the international megaphones possible" must be used to denounce "the political repression, the legal persecution and the violation of fundamental rights taking place in Catalonia".
According to ERC, Solé has organised the events after the NGOs Tamil Uzhagam and l'Association Bharathi Centre Culturel Franco-Tamoul, both holding advisory status to the UN Economic and Social Council, offered him their facilities. "In the face of the political repression and the legal persecution present in Catalonia, the two Tamil entities have decided to show support for the situation to bring the Catalan debate to the heart of the UN," they say.
Also to be in Geneva next week is president Carles Puigdemont, who will take part in various events. On Sunday he will attend the International film festival on human rights (FIFDH) then on Wednesday he will headline an event organised by the city's Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies under the title "Does independence still matter in 21st century Europe?".