A/HRC/13/31 National Registry, the Government replied that it is a too general statement. It is true that during the civil war, children were given up for adoption and changes of name were recorded in the Civil Registry in cases where these children were declared orphans. However, it is also true that the particular circumstances, procedures, and especially the reasons, varied enormously from case to case. 492. Regarding the allegation that family members of the disappeared face harassment when trying to exhume corpses in clandestine graves that have been uncovered, the Government states that the statement is false given that, as explained above, the authorities took a number of legislative and administrative measures to facilitate the process. 493. Regarding the conduct of specific investigations the Government stated that a number of specific investigations have been conducted by the judiciary and the Government has also implemented a number of measures for the purpose of carrying out such investigations. 494. Regarding compensations and reparations for the victims of enforced disappearances, the Government stated that there exist a series of instruments for that. 495. Regarding the specific measures to assist the family members of victims in locating disappeared persons and to compensate them with the due reparations, the Government stated that the legislation includes various provisions for measures and instruments for public administrations to make it easier for interested parties to locate and identify disappeared persons, as a final mark of respect for them. It includes a protocol on exhumations and a mapping of the respective territories where the remains of disappeared persons may be located, provides for the possibility of public authorities to authorize searches for victims and establishes procedures for the direct descendants of the victims to recuperate the remains buried in the communal graves in order to identify them and, where appropriate, transfer them to another location. 496. The Government replied to the second general allegation on 18 June 2009 stating that it has conducted a thorough investigation into allegations that, since 2002, some Spanish airports have been used for the transfer of prisoners. According to all available information, there is nothing to indicate that flights used by Spanish military bases involve acts contrary to Spanish legislation or to Spain’s international obligations. 497. The Government of Spain has also requested assurances regarding the use of Spanish civilian airports for stopovers of covert flights for the purpose of transferring prisoners of the “extraordinary rendition” programme. 498. In addition, the Government has requested all possible information concerning stopovers of alleged covert flights and transmitted it to the competent judicial authority: the National High Court (Audiencia Nacional) and has complied with all requests made by that authority. 499. The Government of Spain has made public the results of its investigations and conclusions in this area. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain appeared before the Congress of Deputies in 2005 and 2008 and before the European Parliament in 2006 in order to testify on this matter. 500. The Government is unequivocal in its condemnation of the use of such methods and in its commitment to investigate and clarify the alleged events. Likewise, Spain takes a clear and firm position on the need for scrupulously applying national and international law and respecting human rights in all actions taken by the Government and its agents, and especially with regard to efforts to combat terrorism. 104 GE.09-17704