A/HRC/13/31 General allegation Yes Government response Yes Prompt intervention letter N/A Government response N/A Working Group request for a visit N/A Government response N/A Standard procedures 479. The Working Group transmitted to the Government one newly-reported case concerning Abel Ballart Sans, last seen in March 1946 in the military barracks of Portant (Vall de Aran). Information from the Government 480. The Government of Spain transmitted three communications dated 5 and 26 February and 18 June 2009. In the first communication, the Government requested more information on three of the outstanding cases. The second communication included a reply to the general allegation sent on 16 January 2009, and the third a reply to the general allegation sent on 15 May 2009. General allegations Summary of the general allegations 481. Information was submitted by sources concerning obstacles reportedly encountered in the implementation of the Declaration. This information was transmitted to the Government in two separate allegations after the Working Group’s eighty-sixth and eightyseventh sessions. 482. In the first allegation, it was reported that there have been no investigations into disappearances that took place during the Spanish Civil War and General Francisco Franco’s regime even though, under the continuous crimes doctrine for disappearances that remain unresolved, they continue to be committed. Allegedly, the Amnesty Law, adopted in 1977, applied statutory limitations for all crimes committed during the above-mentioned periods, including enforced disappearances. This law reportedly prevents any investigations from taking place. In addition, information was provided about the Historical Memory Law, adopted in 2007, alleging that it fails to address the crime of enforced disappearance, and does not provide victims with an effective remedy, undermining their rights to truth, justice and reparation. 483. It was also reported that thousands of children disappeared in Spain between 1940 and 1954. Some of these children were allegedly placed in orphanages and given up for adoption, and in many cases had their names changed in the National Registry. 484. There is also concern that family members of the disappeared face recurring obstacles and harassment by the authorities when trying to exhume corpses found in clandestine graves that have been uncovered. 485. In a separate allegation, it was reported that the Government of Spain was involved in 2003 in a practice of renditions and secret detention. The role of the Government in this practice allegedly consisted of allowing the use of the airports of Spain by planes to transport victims of rendition. Those planes stopped over in those airports during the process of transferring, taking, delivering, or returning detainees from the rendition. It is believed that the use of these planes, without the control and scrutiny of the Government, was essential to facilitate and implement the rendition programme. In some cases, these planes were used to detain individuals in Europe, while in other cases victims of enforced disappearances were transported in and out of Europe. The Government allegedly allowed 102 GE.09-17704