Sánchez accepts that Cuba, Iran and Venezuela can lecture Spain on human rights

The government of Pedro Sánchez has allowed dictatorships that violate human rights to lecture Spain on their protection in the UN Human Rights Council.

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Sánchez accepts that a dictatorship will design his government's relationship with Catalonia

Last Thursday, the United Nations (UN) website published a news article with the headline: "Spain commits to implementing 91% of recommendations to improve human rights. The article stated that the Spanish government accepted a recommendation from Canada to conduct "a review of the crimes of insulting the Crown and crimes against religious sentiments included in the Penal Code". The UN itself also pointed out that the Sánchez administration accepted a recommendation from the Nicolás Maduro regime to create a "space for encounter and dialogue" with Catalonia. In other words, the socialist-communist government is following the advice of a dictatorship in its dealings with a part of Spain.

The dictatorships from which Sánchez takes lessons on human rights

The UN news report links in its first paragraph to a document with Spain's responses to the aforementioned Council (see PDF). The document is revealing and, at the same time, shameful for a democracy like Spain. The fact is that the Sánchez government has accepted the following recommendations from these dictatorships:

• China: The Spanish Government has accepted its recommendations on discrimination against minorities (p. 18) and promotion of vulnerable groups (p. 123), and this while that communist dictatorship is subjecting the Uyghur ethnic group to persecution and discriminates against Christians by treating them as a "foreign infiltration", in addition to systematically violating rights such as freedom of expression and information, religious freedom and freedom of education.
• Cuba: The Spanish government has accepted its recommendations on the integration of the Roma people (p. 32), combating violence against women (p. 45), and promoting gender equality (p. 57). And this while that communist dictatorship holds 127 political prisoners in its jails, in addition to systematically violating rights such as freedom of expression and information, and freedom of education.
• Iran: The Spanish Government has accepted its recommendations on eradicating hate speech, racism and intolerance (p. 21), promoting women's rights (p. 34), protecting children (p. 70) and guaranteeing freedom of expression and the right of assembly (p. 99). And this while that Islamic dictatorship imprisons women for not wearing a veil, sponsors terrorism in several countries, persecutes Christians, punishes homosexuality with the death penalty, condones child marriages (thus legalizing pedophilia) and a long etcetera of human rights violations.
• Qatar: The Spanish Government has accepted its recommendations on the implementation of a human rights plan (p. 7) and the rights of disabled children (p. 76). And this while that absolutist monarchy persecutes Christians, punishes homosexuality with 5 years in prison, and legally discriminates against women. href="https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/laws-against-blasphemy-defamation-religion-and-apostasy-are-incompatible-universal-human" target="_blank" rel="noopener">punishes blasphemy with the death penalty.
• Sudan: The Spanish Government has accepted its recommendations on integration with people with disabilities (p. 73) and the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers (p. 88). And this while that Islamic dictatorshippersecutes Christians and punishes homosexuality with the death penalty, among other human rights violations.
• Turkmenistan: The Spanish Government has accepted its recommendations on human rights (p. 7) and children's rights (p. 71). And this while that Islamic dictatorship persecutes Christians, punishes homosexuality with two years in prison, and prevents the presence of human rights organizations and violates freedom of expression and religion, among other rights.
• Venezuela: The Spanish Government has accepted its recommendations on dialogue with the Catalan people (p. 5), equality for the Roma people (p. 31), violence against women (pp. 48 and 49), promotion of justice and social equality (p. 123), promotion of social housing (p. 141), and access to health and education in less populated areas (p. 153). And this while the Maduro dictatorship keeps more than 400 political prisoners in Venezuelan jails, systematically violates human rights, and plunges its people into misery.

A humiliation for Spain for which the Government should give explanations

In total, the government of Pedro Sánchez has accepted 6 human rights recommendations from Venezuela, 4 from Iran, 3 from Cuba, 2 from China, 2 from Qatar, 2 from Sudan, and 2 from Turkmenistan. Furthermore, the aforementioned document also includes recommendations from countries with questionable human rights records such as Russia (3 accepted), Libya (2 accepted), Morocco (2 accepted), Afghanistan (2 accepted and 1 partially accepted), Iraq (3 accepted), Somalia (2 accepted), Turkey (1 accepted), and Mauritania (1 accepted), among others.

Seeing the Spanish government accepting human rights recommendations at the UN from dictatorships like those mentioned is humiliating for Spain: it's as if Sánchez were to admit that the Ku Klux Klan could lecture us on fighting racism, with the difference that this white supremacist organization, with all its attacks against human rights and human dignity, doesn't even come close to the number of crimes perpetrated by those dictatorships over the years. Certainly, what has happened is very serious, and the socialist-communist government should answer for it before Congress.

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Photo: La Moncloa Meeting between the President of the Spanish Government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, and the dictator of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani at the UN headquarters in New York on September 24, 2019.