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The Catalan pro-independence association Amnistia i Llibertat ("Amnesty and Freedom", ALL) has defended Spain's proposed amnesty law before the UN Forum on Minority Issues, held this Thursday and Friday in Geneva, while the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) has denounced the "criminalization of the Catalan people" at the same gathering. In the sixteenth edition of this meeting, with the participation of member states, NGOs, United Nations agencies and experts in the defence of human rights, ALL warned of "threats from the Spanish right and extremism" to the bill for an amnesty on Catalan independence-related prosecutions that is currently being considered by Spain's Congress of Deputies. For this reason, the associations called on the international community to support the measure.

Marc Barbacil, representing Amnistia i Llibertat, argued that the amnesty law is "the best path to resolve the political conflict" and to make possible the "normalization of relations between Catalonia and Spain" and especially to "remove the conflict from the courts" and return it to Parliament. With regard to this, he asserted that the device of an amnesty is compatible with the Spanish Constitution, and that it is an instrument recognized in international and European Union law, with the only limit of excluding human rights violations. "The European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU have recognized an amnesty as an effective democratic mechanism to resolve conflicts," he said, calling for international support for the new law because "it will contribute to social peace and stability in Spain and Europe".

On behalf of the pro-independence ANC, the international advocacy committee coordinator Bárbara Roviró denounced that, since Catalonia held its independence referendum on October 1st, 2017, "the persecution against the Catalan people has been accompanied by smear campaigns and public debates that stigmatize Catalans". In this respect, Roviró claimed self-determination as "the only valid and effective instrument to overcome structural and historical discrimination". Thus, she called on the competent UN authorities to "take measures to ensure that the Spanish authorities comply with international norms and obligations to protect the rights of the Catalan minority from hatred and Catalanophobia".