Basque Minister for Justice and Human Rights: “we cannot show solidarity if we don’t understand that the same injustices committed in other countries were committed here”

• María Jesús San José appeared today in Vitoria-Gasteiz at the United Nations International Conference on Victims of Terrorism
• She reiterated the need to “support victims and safeguard the right to fair reparations for the suffering experienced”

The Basque Minister for Justice and Human Rights, María Jesús San José, announced today that “Basque citizens and institutions cannot show solidarity if they do not understand that the same injustices committed in other countries were committed here,” while reiterating her Department’s intention to “support victims and safeguard the right to fair reparations for the suffering experienced”.

San José was speaking at the United Nations International Conference on Victims of Terrorism being held today and tomorrow in Vitoria-Gasteiz, under the theme “Education as a Tool for Prevention, Peacebuilding and Empowerment of Victims of Terrorism”, welcoming experts and victims’ associations from all over the world. Specifically, she was addressing the plenary session of the panel on “Institutional Action to Ensure Victims and Survivors are Granted their Rights and Supported in their Needs”, moderated by the Director General of Victims of Terrorism of the Ministry of the Interior, Montserrat Torija.

During her intervention, the Basque Minister for Justice and Human Rights noted her appreciation of the decision to hold this conference in the Basque Country and that it is “unfortunately we are all too aware of the tragedy of terrorism. There have been many attacks on our co-existence, we have seen different terrorist organisations and the scourge of abuse and torture committed premeditatedly in conflict.” That's why, she added, “we know that the use of terror to impose a political project brings with it social fracture, pain and a trail of victims, all of them deserving of memory, reparation and justice.”

Integrating victims into policies

In this regard, she recognised that Basque society “is beginning to manage the scars left by five decades of terrorism, of pain and tears, half a century marked by fear, threats and murders, years that have left a scar that will take generations to heal”. However, she assured those present that “there is a lot institutional action can do on this path”. It is her department’s intention, she insisted, to “support victims and safeguard their right to fair reparations for the suffering experienced, and not limit their role to that of a passive recipient, but to listen to them and integrate them into all policies that concern them.”

She also spoke of “embracing their experience as a positive contribution to education for peacebuilding, because Basque citizens and institutions can never show solidarity with others if we are not capable of understanding that the same injustices committed in other countries were also committed here.”

The Basque Minister for Justice and Human Rights remarked that all this must be done from “the firm commitment to a memory that delegitimises and criticises the victimisers, a memory that rejects sectarianism and denial, that offers citizens tools to recompose their experiences of terrorism assuming a basic principle: killing was wrong and it was unfair to victims”.

Memory, truth and reparation

San José expressed her wish that silence form no part of the legacy we leave to new generations. “It is this memory, truth and reparation that victims and future generations deserve so that that it never happens again,” she stated. “Today, when hate speech is once again spreading across Europe, we must send a message loud and clear to citizens: we know that this path is a sterile one and only brings pain, fear and death”.

The Minister concluded her intervention, ensuring those present that the Basque Country “is committed to co-existence and looking to the future with hope.” We have a society, she said, that “constructs its memory on the foundations of respect for human rights and democratic values for co-existence based on recognition of the wrong that was murder, extortion and torture.”