The 2024 report focuses on critical issues such as the protection of minors, the rights of migrants and refugees, and the care received by those at risk of social exclusion.
The report has been prepared with the invaluable help of Pedro Cruz Villalón, professor of Constitutional Law and former president of the Spanish Constitutional Court, alongside over 40 volunteer lawyers from Uría Menéndez. This rigorous analysis examines topics such as deficiencies in free legal aid for foreigners undergoing return or deportation proceedings, barriers to the registration of people without housing and the lack of adequate measures to prevent violence against minors in shelters. It also analyses the situation of stateless or unregistered minors (known as “invisible children”), the shortcomings in healthcare in detention centres for foreigners (centros de internamiento de extranjeros – CIEs) and the legal framework governing applications for international protection based on gender.
In the words of José María Segovia Cañadas, chair of the Professor Uría Foundation, this report “is a crucial tool for increasing visibility of issues that often go unnoticed, advancing human rights protection and reinforcing the guarantees needed to build a fairer society.” Mr Segovia also underscored the dedication and contribution of Mr Cruz, whose experience was key to the project, along with the commitment of the Uría Menéndez lawyers who made it possible.
The Human Rights Observatory was created in 2023 and analyses emerging or underexplored areas of the law, focusing especially on those that affect vulnerable groups. This first report is divided into seven chapters and represents a milestone in the work of identifying and proposing solutions to the legal and social obstacles that these groups face.
This project reaffirms the Professor Uría Foundation and Uría Menéndez’s commitment to social justice and human rights, combining rigorous legal analysis with a firm ethical commitment. Both organisations hope that this report will bring about real changes and consider it the beginning of a series of initiatives aimed at improving the living conditions of society’s most disadvantaged groups through the law.
Learn more about the Human Rights Observatory and the 2024 report here.
