rights and the authorities did not ensure the In September, the Constitutional Court timely registration and processing of asylum rejected an appeal by a victim of torture claims. By September, around 1,000 during the late Franco period, stating that unaccompanied children were awaiting Spain had no obligation under international assessment of their cases and law to investigate and prosecute the case documentation. because the prohibition of crimes against In May 8,000 people, including 2,000 humanity could not be applied retroactively. unaccompanied children, entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco 1. “Spain: The other pandemic. Between abandonment and irregularly, while Moroccan guards waved dismantling: right to health and primary care in Spain”, 26 February them in past their checkpoints. Shortly (Spanish only) afterwards, the Spanish authorities illegally 2. “Spain: NGOs demand that vulnerable populations have guaranteed and collectively returned 2,700 people to access to Covid-19 vaccines in Spain”, 29 April (Spanish only) Morocco. There were reports of excessive use of force. In August, the authorities illegally returned SRI LANKA 55 unaccompanied children to Morocco. Spanish courts deemed the returns unlawful Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and suspended them. Soon afterwards, Head of state and government: Gotabaya Rajapaksa however, the Prime Minister reiterated the government’s intention to continue expelling The government continued its crackdown on unaccompanied children to Morocco. dissent, targeting multiple groups. Impunity In October, the government reduced the continued in a number of emblematic time needed for unaccompanied children to cases. Excessive use of force and brutality obtain a residence permit and relaxed the by law enforcement officers were widely requirements for renewing work and reported, and there were deaths in custody. residence permits after the age of 18 to The UN Human Rights Council set up a prevent them losing their regularized status. mechanism to consolidate evidence of IMPUNITY serious human rights violations for future prosecutions after the Sri Lankan In September, the government presented in government withdrew its support for parliament a bill to ensure the rights to truth, transitional justice. Existing transitional justice and reparations of the victims of the justice mechanisms did not progress. The Civil War and Francoism. The UN Special Prevention of Terrorism Act continued to be Rapporteur on the Promotion of the Right to used to target critics from minority Truth, Justice and Reparation and the UN communities through arbitrary arrests and Committee on Enforced Disappearances prolonged detention without judicial called on parliament to strengthen some oversight. New regulations issued under the areas before its adoption. Act would effectively deny suspects a In February, the Supreme Court delivered its judicial hearing and force them to attend second judgment on the crimes of the Civil mandatory “rehabilitation”. Discrimination War and Francoism, following its 2012 and marginalization of the Muslim landmark ruling. It reiterated that the Spanish community increased because of judiciary could not investigate these past government policies specifically targeting human rights violations, due to the expiry of them. The government failed to prioritize the deadline within which the investigations health workers, older populations, people should have been initiated and because they with comorbidities or marginalized groups would breach the principle of legality and the during its Covid-19 response. 1977 Law on Amnesty. Amnesty International Report 2021/22 344