MIKEL URKOLA ELEIZEGI.
Abstract:
In this article, Basque university professor and author of a number of books Mikel Urkola, accuses the Spanish State of neither complying with nor respecting some international treaties it has signed. In particular, in 1977 it ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of the UN (1966) and in 1978, introduced through Articles 10 and 96 said International Covenant into its Constitution (that fundamental legal document it so often invokes to limit the national aspirations of Basques and Catalans),.
Well, the aforementioned International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights proclaims the right of all Peoples to self-determination. And it does not proclaim it in a confusing or ambiguous way, but clearly in Article 1:
“All Peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development”.
And Article 3 emphasises it further:
“The States Parties to the present Covenant, including those having responsibility for the administration of Non-Self-Governing and Trust Territories, shall promote the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall respect that right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations”
The Spanish Constitution, through articles 10 and 96, introduces into its internal ordinance those articles of the Pact that Spain signed in 1976 and ratified in 1977. Therefore, when Spanish politicians accuse Catalan politicians of disobedience for exercising the right of self-determination, we must remind them that the main ones being disobedient are they themselves, the Spanish politicians, who do not comply with or respect the international treaties signed and introduced into their legal regime.
