SPAIN WATCH: More on a dwindling State of Law

By the looks of it, the newly implemented Court fees scheme (see http://escritodesdelastripas.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/message-in-a-bottle-spain-watch-more-on-a-dwindling-state-of-law/) is already doing serious harm in Spain.

According to the law, those who have been formally granted the right to legal aid “in forma pauperis” are exempt from paying the fee, but the problem is the administrative proceeding in view of such granting can take from some weeks up to one year sometimes. However, in some cases taking legal actions may be extremely urgent, which can turn the situation into a drama if the concerned person cannot afford the amount of the fees. To add an extra layer of complexity, the new system means that the fee has to be determined in accordance with a scale and paid in an official bank account before someone is allowed to file their claim with the relevant Court. But, mind you, the official forms can only be filled out online and the future suitor needs to be the holder of a valid ID card and state its reference number.

As a result of the foregoing, the new Court fees are heavily cracking down on immigrants, especially on those facing a deportation order. In this respect, the NGO “SOS RACISMO” – SOS RACISM –, through the January issue of their magazine “ALTER” http://www.sosracismomadrid.es/web/blog/2013/01/30/alter-numero-12-enero-de-2013/ has reported the case of an immigrant subject to a deportation order who requested the assistance of a public defender and applied for the right to legal aid. The lawyer was immediately appointed and she managed to get a stay from the immigration authorities on his client’s deportation order until the Court decided in interim measures. But, on filing the relevant claim with the Administrative Court, its Secretary said the proceedings wouldn’t be started until the fee – somewhere in the range of 400€ - was paid, as the immigrant’s right to legal aid hadn’t been granted yet. Needless to say, the latter had no money at all, not to mention an ID card nor can NGO’s front that kind of money for each one immigrant in distress who comes to them. Hence, the deportation order followed its course. So, provided it was finally granted, what use would the right to legal aid be if the immigrant was no longer in Spain?

From what is said it flows easily that the new Court fees system in place in Spain constitutes an extravagant hurdle to the right of access to the Courts of Justice, which clearly violates, at least articles 7, 8 and 10 0f the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/043/88/IMG/NR004388.pdf?OpenElement – and, as we have seen, in some situations can even take on the character of a humanitarian conflict. I insist that human rights organizations across the World should turn their eyes to Spain and get involved in the fight to have this hideous scheme abrogated. I wonder why they haven’t done so yet.