El evento ha contado con la presencia de la presidenta del Tribunal Supremo y del Consejo General del Poder Judicial, Isabel Perelló; el consejero de Educación, Ciencia y Universidades de la Comunidad de Madrid (CM), Emilio Viciana; el presidente del Consejo Social UC3M, Francisco Marhuenda; la viceconsejera de Universidades, Investigación y Ciencia de la CM, Ana Ramírez de Molina; el director del MUDUE, Carlos Moreiro; y la presidenta del Consejo Académico del MUDUE, Rosario Silva. 

El Máster Universitario en Derecho de la Unión Europea de l天美传媒 es un posgrado jurídico especializado, que focaliza la enseñanza bilingüe (inglés-español) y potencia la práctica procesal (moot courts) y la adquisición de cualificaciones competitivas de la abogacía transnacional (trabajo en equipos internacionales, entorno jurídico digital y liderazgo). Cuenta con un período obligatorio de prácticas curriculares, supervisadas por profesionales, que garantiza la adquisición de las técnicas más actualizadas en esta materia. Ha recibido diversas distinciones institucionales, como las becas de la Fundación Rafael del Pino, las becas y la cátedra de Excelencia de la Fundación Mutualidad de la Abogacía, o el Premio Jones Day.

Spain is obliged to urgently address the transition from a care model based on institutionalised settings to a community-based support model, the study argues. To this end, it highlights some key elements, such as considering people in need of care as subjects of rights, considering that the need for support is a consequence of the social structure, access to affordable and accessible housing, developing a network of inclusive community and family-based support, care, foster care and services (ACAIS), and recognising the rights to independent living and inclusion in the community, among others.

“Deinstitutionalisation is a political, social and cultural process, which provides for the transition from care in environments of isolation and segregation, generically identified as institutions, towards modalities of care and support, in line with a rights-based approach, which are person-centred and promote social participation and inclusion in the community,” explain the authors of the study.

This research is part of the EDI project, which aims to help ensure the transition from an institutionalised care model to one based on a human rights framework. To this end, five studies have been carried out, focusing on people with disabilities, the elderly, homeless people, children and adolescents and another with a transversalapproach.

These four population groups “share a situation of vulnerability that manifests itself in terms of structural discrimination based on an ableist, ageist, adult-centred and individualist cultural model”, says the project's lead researcher, Rafael de Asís Roig, a professor in UC3M's International Public Law, Ecclesiastical Law and Philosophy of Law Department.

In carrying out the studies, in which fifty researchers have participated in five working groups, various methodological techniques were applied, such as: analysis of databases, bibliography, cases, regulations and jurisprudence, surveys, in-depth interviews and discussion groups, etc.

The EDI project will continue to work on ensuring that all people in need of care can lead a life of choice in the community. Specifically, throughout 2024, seminars and conferences will be organised to debate and expand on the conclusions reached in the studies and scientific and other outreach publications will be produced.

More information:

BRAVIOO, funded by the European Union (GA 101129180), is coordinated by UC3M's University Ombudsman Office and involves collaboration with the University Ombudsman Office for Students at the Universidade da Beira Interior (Portugal) and the Spanish consulting firm OpenODS as European partners. Eight Latin American universities are participating in the project: two in Argentina (the National University of Cordoba and the National University of the Northeast); two in Bolivia (the Private Technological University of Santa Cruz and the Private University of Valle); two in Chile (the Adolfo Ibáñez University and the University of La Frontera); and two in Honduras (the National Autonomous University of Honduras and the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University).

Project activities focus on providing training tools for participating entities through MOOC courses, which can be easily revised and updated. Additionally, rules and regulations will be developed to facilitate the establishment and reinforcement of University Ombudsman Offices. “The aim is to foster idea exchange, share experiences, and strengthen ties between European and Latin American cultures to establish and standardize Ombudsman Offices across all participating universities,” adds María del Mar Sánchez Pinilla, UC3M's Deputy University Ombudsman.

BRAVIOO (Building Reinforced and Advanced Capacities in Human Rights between Latin American and European HEIs increasing the Visibility and Institutionalization of Ombudspersons Offices) falls under the Capacity Building High Education within the Erasmus+ program, promoting transnational cooperation projects among higher education institutions. Objectives include modernizing and internationalizing higher education, increasing cooperation with the EU, and fostering intercultural awareness.

The UC3M International Relations Service collaborates in administrative and financial activities throughout the project phases, providing support from proposal to project management and justification. “We also assist all consortium partners in meeting legal and administrative requirements mandated by the European Commission,” notes the Erasmus+ International Projects Manager Raquel Navalpotro Gil from UC3M's International Relations Service.

“The project has been highly regarded by the European Commission, securing maximum funding (approximately 800,000 euros) and being one of the few projects to involve four non-European countries,” states Emilio Olías. “This presents a significant challenge, but also a deeply gratifying opportunity,” he concludes.

More information:

UC3M University Ombudsman Office (in Spanish):
/defensoria-universitaria/inicio 

"The study examines the main parameters that condition environments such as Iraq's, which are devastated by climate change, environmental degradation and overlapping layers of violence, along with other political, economic and social problems, in order to examine how the law (particularly international law) can have a positive catalytic effect," says the researcher. In this regard, it explores the bodies that could be responsible for investigating crimes against the environment committed by Daesh. "The terrorist group practised a scorched earth policy in the territories from which it was withdrawing as a result of its defeat," says Abad.

It also analyses the main obstacles and legal channels that can be used to obtain justice for this type of crime, highlighting how this whole issue lies in an area of convergence between multiple legal sectors: human rights, environmental law, laws of armed conflict, international criminal law, international responsibility and transitional justice, among others. "This intersection of legal areas offers complexity, but also new possibilities. In particular, the relationship between nature and transitional justice deserves to be explored further, in order to promote the right to truth in a comprehensive way and to ensure that a pro-nature perspective begins to become transversal," says the author.

The main outcome of this research is that there is an official body, called UNITAD, created by the United Nations Security Council in 2017 to investigate mass atrocity crimes in Iraq, which would still have time to conduct research on the environmental consequences of the latest armed conflict in the country. "Given that this body was created with the aim of gathering and preserving evidence of crimes committed by Daesh in order to promote accountability, it should play a crucial role in researching crimes against nature, some of which would be linked to the commission of genocide against the Yazidis. This research work by UNITAD would perform several essential functions: it would promote awareness, while helping to prevent impunity and ensure adequate reparations. In short, UNITAD's actions could generate a chain reaction, which would help to define and prosecute the crime of ecocide at the international level", highlights Montserrat Abad.

The study appeals to the need for a holistic approach to crimes against nature (which includes humans) through the Iraqi case. The findings of this research can be applied to other post-conflict scenarios in order to prevent another cycle of armed conflict or terrorism. "It is crucial to take a comprehensive view and to take into account that nature is a common good for future generations. Only when official bodies take up this challenge and carry out their work accordingly will qualitative progress be made," the author concludes.

Bibliographic reference: Abad Castelos, M. (2023) “Towards a Holistic Consideration of Crimes Against Nature Committed in Times of Armed Conflict: A Critical Approach to the Case of Iraq”, International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 12(3), pp. 77-92. doi: 10.5204/ijcjsd.2707.

These systems increase companies' capacity to analyse and exploit employees' personal data. "Above all, I am concerned about whether, through this technology, companies could learn about the health data of their workers for non-preventive purposes," says the researcher. The European Union is currently working on the Artificial Intelligence Act that will introduce limits and guarantees against the use of this technology, which is expected to come into force at the end of 2026. At the same time, other technical standards are being prepared. "However, the approval process is slow and, meanwhile, the current regulations do not offer real protection to employees," concludes Ana Belén Muñoz Ruiz. These systems can affect a wide range of fundamental rights: the right to personal data protection, privacy, non-discrimination and, above all, the mental health of employees.

Her book analyses some of the first judicial decisions on this issue in Europe. For example, the Hungarian Data Protection Agency's ruling of 8th February 2022. This specific case involved software that used AI and analysed and evaluated the emotional states of customers and employees of a bank in order to manage complaints, monitor call quality and increase employee efficiency. "This example is just a precedent for new realities in which we will experience new problems arising from the work-related use of algorithms and AI in companies," says the expert. In the United States and other countries such as China, there have been warnings that some companies are using these practices in the workplace. In the European Union, since July 2022, it has been mandatory to include a fatigue and drowsiness detector in newly registered cars.

Even in the case of emotion recognition systems that do not use biometric data, as in the case of chatbots and RPA (robotic process automation) robots, the use of this technology may even pulverise the fundamental right to privacy when the monitoring takes place in the workplace, according to the expert, as the traditional limits and guarantees linked to the fundamental rights to privacy and personal data protection do not seem to be sufficient.

Are companies entitled to use it? The book analyses this question at two points. Firstly, regarding the biometric data of the employee in line with compliance with the daily obligations of companies, such as time logging (in fact, time logging via fingerprint or other biometric data has been questioned in countries such as Austria, France, Italy or Norway). Secondly, on the legitimisation of companies for the use of automated emotion recognition systems. "After my studies, I conclude that improving customer satisfaction and employee performance or integrating people with disabilities do not seem to be sufficient reasons. While safety at work is a duty that the company must fulfil and can justify the processing of employee data, its extension to automated emotion recognition systems is highly questionable," concludes Ana Belén Muñoz Ruiz.

More information: 

Muñoz Ruiz, Ana Belén (2023). Biometría y sistemas automatizados de reconocimiento de emociones: Implicaciones Jurídicos-Laborales. Ed. Tirant lo Blanch. ISBN: 9788411693066.
 

On the morning of  Friday 29th, an activity will be held for secondary schools. At 11:15 am in the UC3M Auditorium there will be a theatrical show with talks by researchers on various aspects related to the challenges of a green Europe, such as concentrated solar power, the impact of aircraft contrails on climate change, wireless communications with lower energy consumption or the use of lasers in livestock farming to monitor gases that are harmful to climate change.

During this event there will also be two guided tours to UC3M scientific facilities. On Friday 29th at 6 pm at the UC3M Leganés Campus, visitors will be able to visit an aerospace research laboratory where various techniques are being tested to better understand fluid dynamics and achieve more sustainable aircraft. On Saturday 30th at 10 am there will be another guided tour to a laboratory in the UC3M Science Park to see how tests on technological developments are being carried out to communicate with our cells.

These UC3M activities are part of the European Researchers' Night in Madrid, an event which includes numerous free scientific outreach activities and is being held simultaneously in more than 350 European cities. In Madrid, this project to support the careers of research staff, called MADRIDNIGHT, is promoted by the Vice-Presidency, Ministry of Education and Universities and coordinated by the madri+d Foundation, and is funded by the European Union within the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement number 101,061,343.

More information: 

European Researchers' Night at UC3M website

This goal is at the origin of the proposal which involved lecturers from the Social Sciences Department (the aforementioned, as well as Ilke Toygür, I??k Özel and Stefano Battilossi), María Luengo (Communication), Natalia Fabra (Economics), Antonio Estella (Public Law), Ángel Cuevas (Telematics Engineering) and Maria José Álvarez (Business Economics). "Thanks to this interdisciplinary dialogue, the goal is to strengthen the role of citizens, politics and civil society in the European policy-making process in order to be able to address the challenges facing Europe more effectively and inclusively," says Juan Antonio Mayoral.

The centre to be set up within the framework of this €100,000 euro three-year grant has three general objectives. Firstly, to strengthen and promote excellence in teaching and interdisciplinary research in EU studies. Secondly, to promote, expand and consolidate a community of academics and relevant social, political and economic actors for the search for inclusive solutions to current EU challenges. And thirdly, to bring the EU closer to society and to Spanish and European students and young people to promote their participation in the Centre's activities.

Specifically, the following actions are planned, among others: the creation of a European degree and minors in collaboration with the YUFE Alliance; updating the contents of existing bachelor's and master's degree courses in an interdisciplinary way; and the organisation of conferences, workshops and research seminars based on a common agenda on the Europeanisation of Spanish law, economics, politics, media and society.

Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence, proposed and hosted by a higher education institution, are sources of reference and knowledge on EU-related topics. They bring together the experience and skills of high-level experts with the aim of developing synergies between the various disciplines and resources of EU studies. They also play a key role in reaching out to students from faculties that do not normally address EU-related issues, as well as policy makers, civil servants, civil society and the general public.

More information:  

This European R+D+i consortium reacts to these challenges in two ways. On the one hand, the political risks associated with these technologies will be analysed to prevent possible negative implications for EU democracies. As a result, regulatory innovations will be established to detect and mitigate the risks of deepfakes. On the other hand, the opportunities offered by GANs to revitalise the democratic commitment of citizens will be assessed.

To do so, three case studies will be developed within the framework of SOLARIS. The first aims to understand the psychological aspects of the perceived trustworthiness of GANs through a controlled experiment in laboratory conditions. The second simulates the circulation of threatening GANs content on social networks to detect risks and design mitigation strategies. The third co-creates value-based GAN content to raise awareness of key global democratic topics (for example, climate change, gender dimension or human migration). 

“GANs are also an opportunity to improve democratic awareness and expand active and inclusive citizenship”, says Antonio Estella de Noriega, who also holds an ad personam Jean Monnet Chair in European Economic Governance Law at UC3M. In this sense, GANs “can be used to do good and have positive uses in the journalistic, historic or legal fields, for example”, adds the lecturer.

UC3M is developing the regulatory part of this project, which consists of making a proposal for legal rules in this area. "The biggest challenge is precisely how quickly changes are taking place. By its very nature, what law does is work on a certain frozen image of reality and, in general terms, reality does not advance as quickly as AI is advancing," he explains. "What we may be regulating today might not work for us in six or nine months' time because it could become obsolete," he adds.

The SOLARIS (Strengthening demOcratic engagement through vaLue-bAsed geneRative adversarIal networkS) project is funded with almost three million euros by the European Union (EU)’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme (GA 101094665). Coordinated by the University of Amsterdam, it will take place between 2023 and 2026 with the participation of a dozen institutions and private companies from Albania, Germany, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

More information: 

On the other hand, UC3M is the best Spanish public university in the ranking of universities where the junior lawyers who are joining the large law firms this year completed their undergraduate degrees. It is behind ICADE and ahead of universities such as Pompeu Fabra and the Autonomous University of Madrid.

The “Universities and Law Firms 2023” report published by El Confidencial, which includes 60 universities and business schools, aims to become a tool to connect law firms, training centres and future lawyers. This report is “the best picture of the elite firms’ centres of choice to attract their future lawyers, as well as the essential features of the profile of these young professionals”, say the authors of the report.

To prepare the report, 18 of the main law firms in Spain provided data of the universities where the professionals who, this year, are starting (or have started) their internships prior to entering the job market, studied their Bachelor's and Master's degrees for Access to the Legal Profession.

More information:

Four main milestones have been reached during the project’s three-year duration. The first of these was the creation of the Fair School methodology, prepared manually for teaching teams and translated into six languages. It includes a conceptual framework based on the construction of narratives, social-emotional learning and restorative practices. It also has a set of activities to be carried out in the classroom with students and their families.

The second consisted of the preparation of four activities called Serious Games, which refers to recreational, short-term activities based on the values of democratic coexistence. These are: “The Message of the Trees”, created in Turkey; “Learn about my culture”, created in Portugal; “Globetrotters”, created in Spain; and “My Perspective”, created in Poland. Each of these games is translated into six languages and addresses topics related to diversity, respect, tolerance and self-care. Their effectiveness has already been tested with over 400 teachers and students in secondary schools in Spain, Turkey, Poland and Portugal.

The third was the creation of five digital modules aimed at teaching staff, with the aim of making them aware of and teaching them the methodology for its subsequent application. The modules are called “The role of teachers as facilitators”; “Restorative Justice”; “Social-emotional Learning”; and “Methodology to be used in secondary schools”. Each one is translated into five languages and lasts 10 hours, including theoretical and practical activities. At the end of each module there is a test for self-assessment of knowledge. This material has been tested with 105 teachers from the four countries belonging to the Fair School consortium.

The last milestone was a pilot test of the methodology in the consortium countries. It lasted six months, with two quarterly implementation cycles. 414 people participated in it, including 396 students and 18 teachers.

In addition, during the three-year duration, other types of relevant activities have been carried out for the proper implementation of the methodology, such as the international meeting of teaching teams from the four consortium schools or the five transnational conferences for coordination and joint work.

The project “Fostering a fair and inclusive environment for secondary school students in intercultural school environments through a new pedagogical method based on restorative practices and social and emotional learning” (Fair School” (reference 2020-1-ES01-KA201-083026) has been funded by the Erasmus+ Programme under the supervision of the Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education. The research was coordinated by UC3M, in collaboration with partners from different European countries: the Ignacio Aldecoa Secondary School in Getafe (Spain); the SPEL school network (Portugal); the non-profit organisation SOS Malta; the University of Bialystok and the Princess Anna Sapieha Jab?onowska School (Poland); the Maltepe secondary school and the IAAD research and technological innovation organisation (Turkey); and the private consultancy firm In Dialogue (The Netherlands).

The University Master’s Degree in Industrial Design Engineering offers multidisciplinary training for engineering professionals interested in innovation-oriented design throughout the entire product life cycle, complying with sustainable development objectives. This master’s degree is suitable for people who want to communicate about industrial products; design, develop and improve products under aesthetic, technical and regulatory criteria; learn about the industrial reality and concepts of sustainable design and production; plan and lead projects adopting sustainability criteria, respect for the environment, digitalisation and creativity; and establish manufacturing processes based on sustainable technologies, with a high level of digitalisation.

The University Master’s Degree in Quantum Technologies and Engineering, taught in collaboration with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, in its Spanish acronym), aims to train scientists in one of the most promising fields of engineering, whose technological applications could have a major social impact. To do this, it will address issues from basic science to the development of industrial applications. In addition, the master’s degree will have the participation of public entities and leading companies that will help to explore the broad agenda at the frontier of knowledge in this field, focusing on the areas of Computing and Simulation (IBM, Banco Santander, etc.), Cryptography and Communications (Telefónica, INTA, etc.) and Sensing and Metrology (Spanish Centre of Metrology, Arquimea Research Centre, etc.).

Another new UC3M postgraduate course is the Lifelong Learning Master’s Degree in Fundamentals of Law and Disruptive Technologies. It is taught online and responds to a growing demand for specialised training on the meaning and functioning of Law in the face of disruptive technologies. It is aimed at both people who want to improve their skills and professionals in the legal sector, as well as at those who want to start research in this field. The interest and quality of the programme are backed by the academic resources and experience in the field at UC3M by the Gregorio Peces-Barba Human Rights Institute and the interdisciplinary academic unit Dertecnia. 

A wide range of postgraduate courses

UC3M offers a wide range of postgraduate programmes. 70 university master’s degrees are taught in the fields of Law, Economics and Political Science; Business; Humanities and Communication; and Engineering and Basic Sciences, along with 50 lifelong learning master’s degrees, specialist and expert diplomas. Around 10 percent of the programmes are bilingual and around 20 percent are taught in English.

UC3M is a Spanish public university that excels in research, teaching and innovation. It is among the top 35 universities in the world in the QS Top 50 Under 50 ranking and is among the best Spanish universities for the employability of its graduates, according to the latest edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) Global University Employability Ranking and the QS Graduate Employability Ranking. UC3M has numerous accreditations and quality awards, such as the EUR-ACE seal in the field of engineering or the AACSB accreditation in business and finance programmes, among others. 

In addition, UC3M ranks highest among Spanish public universities in the list of universities where future lawyers have taken their bachelor's degree course. It ranks behind ICADE and ahead of universities such as the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Deusto.

The "Universities and Law Firms 2022" report published by El Confidencial, which includes 59 universities and business schools, aims to become a tool for connecting firms, universities and future lawyers. According to its authors, the report "aims to identify the institutions which are proving to be most effective as regards training students in accordance with the needs of law firms".

To compile the report, 17 of the main law firms in Spain provided data on the universities where the lawyers who are starting (UC3M once again tops the list of universities where graduates who are doing internships ator have started) their internships prior to entering the labour market this year obtained their qualification to enter the legal profession (bachelor's and master's degrees).

UC3M once again tops the list of universities where graduates who are doing internships at the 17 largest law firms in Spain have taken their master’s degree in Law.

In addition, UC3M ranks highest among Spanish public universities in the list of universities where future lawyers have taken their bachelor's degree course. It ranks behind ICADE and ahead of universities such as the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Deusto.

The "Universities and Law Firms 2022" report published by El Confidencial, which includes 59 universities and business schools, aims to become a tool for connecting firms, universities and future lawyers. According to its authors, the report "aims to identify the institutions which are proving to be most effective as regards training students in accordance with the needs of law firms".

To compile the report, 17 of the main law firms in Spain provided data on the universities where the lawyers who are starting (UC3M once again tops the list of universities where graduates who are doing internships ator have started) their internships prior to entering the labour market this year obtained their qualification to enter the legal profession (bachelor's and master's degrees).

More information:

The project will provide schools with a publication containing information on restorative, narrative and socio-emotional theories, case studies, practical tools and strategies for implementation in schools, with specific guidance for the educational community (teaching and counselling staff, students, management, families and inspectors...).

A web platform will also be made available to these staff in order to facilitate the learning of these methods and strategies.

On the other hand, a set of four Serious Games (simulation) will be developed for students to participate in the transformation of schools into more inclusive and safe spaces. “This initiative aims to explore new inclusive methodologies based on the collaboration between schools and civil society organisations, where the University has a fundamental role”, says Helena Soleto

The first phase of the project started at the end of 2020 and was carried out electronically due to the pandemic. Since the end of 2021, various face-to-face activities have taken place. The most recent took place in mid-June 2022 through a meeting of school teachers in Espinho (Portugal). An exchange of experiences on the Fair School methodology took place at this event.

The aim for the coming months is to implement the Fair School methodology in the four schools that are part of the consortium, to evaluate its real usefulness in school communities and plan its subsequent application in other European Union countries.

In developing Fair School, UC3M is working with partners from six countries: the Ignacio Aldecoa Secondary School in Getafe (Spain); the SPEL school network (Portugal); the non-profit organisation SOS Malta; the University of Bialystok and the Princess Anna Sapieha Jab?onowska School (Poland); the Maltepe secondary school and the IAAD research and technological innovation organisation (Turkey); and the private consultancy firm In Dialogue (The Netherlands).

This project is funded by ERASMUS+ and its full name is "Fostering inclusive and fair environment for secondary students at intercultural school settings through a novel pedagogical method based on restorative practices and social & emotional learning" (reference 2020-1-ES01-KA201-083026).

The heads of the chair, Marta García Mandaloniz, Senior Lecturer of Commercial Law at UC3M and Rafael Mínguez Prieto, partner and head of the financial practice at the Cuatrecasas Madrid office, agree that this chair will help to create and strengthen collaborative links with networks of experts and transversal research groups, providing both a theoretical and practical approach and promoting the training of law and economics students.

More information:

Cuatrecasas UC3M Chair

Judicialisation, Respect for institutions and Courts in Spain (JuRisT, in its Spanish acronym)
The project, led by Juan Antonio Mayoral Díaz-Asensio, from the UC3M Social Sciences Department, aims to guide judicial and political personnel on specific actions to protect the social legitimacy of the judiciary.

Responsible Algorithms – Development of a European regulatory framework for the responsible automation of decision-making and contractual relationships
The research team, coordinated by Teresa Rodríguez de las Heras Ballell, from the UC3M Private Law Department, will analyse whether the European system is suitable for the use of automation in the contractual cycle, creating a Practical Guide to improve the system of algorithms and artificial intelligence.

The positive effects of making disagreements on social media visible
The main goal of the project, led by Antonio Gaitán Torres from the UC3M Department of Humanities – Philosophy, Language and Literature, is to understand the effects of making moral disagreements visible in digital contexts, in relation to the phenomena of polarisation, segregation, extremism and radicalisation.

The projects selected in this programme have received funding of more than 130,000 euros in total.

The BBVA Foundation received a total of 620 applications for this contest, from which 35 projects have been selected.

For the first time, the competition was held at the Peace Palace in The Hague (The Netherlands), headquarters of the International Court of Justice. UC3M was the only Spanish representative in the competition along with eight other European universities.

Over the course of 24 hours, the student teams faced a series of international crises, where they had to deal with a variety of legal issues, provide an opinion, advise, draft documents, negotiate or develop diplomatic strategies.

This competition tests university students' knowledge of public international law and a variety of skills, such as teamwork, drafting legal documents and negotiating with other parties involved in the crisis.

The jury for the competition was made up of six experts in international law: Hillary Charlesworth, Judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ); Philippe Gautier, Registrar at the ICJ; Bernard Bot, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands; Mario Oyarzábal, Ambassador of Argentina to the Netherlands; Marisol Flavia Aguero, Ambassador of Peru to the Netherlands; and Philippe Cavalieros, partner at Simmons & Simmons Paris.

This study, carried out by Florabel Quispe Remón, a researcher in the UC3M Department of Public International Law, analyses the origin and evolution of transitional justice, determining its characteristics, the historical and political context in which it developed and the role of this legal concept in the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Human Rights System. "Many of these crimes have not been investigated by the governments that succeeded others that had committed human rights violations. In many cases, amnesty laws have been adopted, leaving the direct and indirect victims unprotected," explains the researcher.

The research describes how the Inter-American Court (an autonomous judicial institution whose purpose is to apply and interpret the American Convention on Human Rights), must apply measures to enforce the basic principles of transitional justice.

These principles include the recognition of the dignity of victims, the right to historical memory and to know the truth about what happened, the State's obligation to assume responsibility and repair damages, and the end of impunity for those responsible for the facts. "This involves the adoption of mechanisms that facilitate access to justice for vulnerable groups, taking their needs into account, as well as the appointment of Truth Commissions and the establishment of specific bodies responsible for gathering information on the victims and the facts, leaving a record of what happened," says Quispe.

The ultimate goal of transitional justice is the reconciliation of society, since impunity for these crimes creates deep-rooted resentment which prevents peaceful coexistence. States being held liable for the actions of governments is the first step in regaining public confidence in their institutions and in their countries.

More information:

Quispe Remón, F. (2021). Transitional Justice, Victims and Human Rights in the Light of International Law and the Inter-American System of Human Rights. The Age of Human Rights Journal, (17), 300–327.

Version fran?aise (French version)

中文翻譯 (Chinese translation)

Although 80.6% of workers on these platforms benefit in terms of flexibility and easy access to employment, the problems arising from misclassification of their employment status result in substantial monetary costs for EU Member States, as the low level of taxes imposed on  self-employed workers means that countries lose revenue intended for their general budgets. 

Thus, the report finds that general legal uncertainty prevents compliance with labour and tax regulations, as well as social protection regulations relating to lack of professional development, unpaid working time, or potential occupational health and safety risks, among others.

"The initiative has been designed to address three key issues: the legal classification of workers; the algorithm used by platforms and their composition; and implementation and transparency issues in the regulations, at a European cross-border level", says Ana Belén Muñoz, from the Labour Law, Economic Changes and New Society research group.

The report sets out a series of guidelines to determine the employment status of platform workers through a set of criteria intended primarily to encourage their conversion from self-employed to salaried workers. The study also addresses the Directive proposal concerning information and consultation on issues relating to the algorithms of these platforms. Finally, it recommends that the platforms declare their activity in the country in which they operate and make certain information about the people working through them available to national authorities.

To obtain these results, the methodology used consisted of a triangulation that combined, in addition to the review of previous regulations, the analysis of four digital work platforms: Upwork, Freelancer.com, PeoplePerHour and Guru.com; an online survey for workers on these platforms and other salaried workers in nine of the twenty-seven Member States; and interviews with interest groups.

Interviews with platform managers show that if they are forced to change their business model to make the people who provide services through them salaried workers, they would only be able to hire some of their current workers. In addition, one of the platforms interviewed, located in the delivery sector, stated that shipping costs would increase by 30-40%. However, the report insists that the objective of the proposals is to improve working conditions in digital platform work while supporting the opportunities, innovation and flexibility offered by the platform economy: "Although the current situation has certain benefits (...) the consequences of the absence of an employment relationship are far greater."

The study has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020).

More information:

Version fran?aise (French version)

On the other hand, the UC3M is the best Spanish public university in the university ranking in which trainee lawyers from the 15 largest firms studied their degrees. It ranks behind the ICADE and ahead of universities such as the Autonomous University of Madrid and the University of Deusto.

The Universidades y Despachos 2021 report published by El Confidencial, which includes 55 universities and business schools, aims to become a tool for connecting firms, universities, and future lawyers. “This study analyses, for the first time in Spain, which universities large firms are looking at for their future lawyers,” the report’s authors highlight.

In order to create this report, the top 15 law firms according to their turnover provided data about the universities where bachelor’s and master’s degrees for access to the legal profession were completed by professionals who are starting (or started) their internships prior to entering the labour market this year. “Many of the young people who successfully complete this stage will finally be hired and start their professional career to become the future stars of Spanish law,” El Confidencial indicates.

Searching for and attracting the best talent is one of the biggest concerns for large law firms. “Selection processes are being carefully designed and executed by HR departments to find the profiles that best fit the company’s culture and work spirit. This recruitment is beginning at an earlier age. ‘Scouts’ from the main firms in the country are surveying the top universities in order to find students with the highest grades before these future lawyers have even finished their bachelor's degrees,” the paper notes.

More information:

“It is a collation of the standards protecting freedom of expression tailored to the needs of legal practitioners working in the area of criminal law, and especially aimed at criminal investigations; organised by type of crime and by legal concept,” explains the project coordinator, Jacobo Dopico, Professor of Criminal Law at the UC3M. He adds that the tool may also be useful for journalists looking for context for potential news items of this type.

To handle decisions such as the admissibility or inadmissibility of a complaint or suit, the dismissal or continuation of a criminal process, and even the acquittal or conviction for this type of offence, LibEx provides an analysis of the principal material and procedural aspects of each of these offences, as well as a comprehensive presentation of the specific cases dealt with by Spanish and European courts.

The work carried out by the LibEx expert group focuses on issues related to freedom of expression in the context of an open and pluralistic society: "We share a commitment to freedom of expression," says Dopico. LibEx is a project that came about as the result of a small group of academics (the Working Group on Freedom of Expression), which has been extended to researchers from different universities (Barcelona, Carlos III, Complutense, Jaume I in Castellón, Murcia, Oviedo, Basque Country, Rey Juan Carlos, Valladolid) and attorneys and former lawyers of the Constitutional Court. Currently, the project is being run within the Criminal Policy Studies Group in partnership with the UC3M, through a partnership agreement led by Professor Jacobo Dopico.

More information:

King Philip VI of Spain, who presided over the event and closed the award with a speech, congratulated Tomás de la Quadra-Salcedo for receiving the award and highlighted his commitment to public and social service, and the Constitution. He also noted the commendable work of jurists in our society by emphasising the importance of the Rule of Law.

José Boada, President of the Pelayo Group, dedicated a few words to the awardwinnerwho “belongs to a generation of politicians, with different ideologies, who, with wisdom, generosity and foresight, were able to fix the progress of our society as a common objective”.  Joaquín Tornos, a member of the awards’ jury gave a speech about Tomás de la Quadra-Salcedo, in which he defined him as “a socially committed person, a public servant, a brilliant academic, and without a doubt, a great jurist, different perspectives which, when united in the same person, form an exceptional being".

Tomás de la Quadra-Salcedo also dedicated a few words to the victims of the pandemic and shared a special thought for Landelino Lavilla, who was President of the Pelayo Prize Jury for many years, because of his human quality and his dedication to serving the country. In his speech, he highlighted the importance of the openness and generosity of all political forces to the constitutional pact in view of the common objective of achieving a representative democracy, by highlighting the Magna Carta as a guarantee of a future open to hope. De la Quadra-Salcedo warned of the risks of society being lost in populist and demagogue discourses and referred to the Spanish Constitution as an agreement to build “our regime of coexistence - the best in our history - with extraordinary support from the Spanish people. It is, therefore, essential to continue to maintain this regime of coexistence and strive for the full respect and realisation of our Magna Carta as a way to guarantee that the future is always open to hope”.

The Pelayo Prize for Prestigious Jurists, which is now in its twenty-sixth year, is awarded with 30,000 Euros and a commemorative statuette. There is a significant representation from the legal world among its previous winners, such as: Eduardo Torres-Dulce, the former State Attorney General and current member of the Garrigues Counsel; Fernando Ledesma, former Minister of Justice and Permanent State Counsellor; Gregorio Pérez-Barba, one of the writers of the Spanish Constitution; or Joaquín Ruiz-Giménez, the First Spanish Ombudsman. The last two editions of the award were awarded to  Encarnación Roca Trías, Vice-President of the Constitutional Court and Professor of Civil Law, and Antonio Garrigues Walker, honorary Chairman of Garrigues.

In Arts and Humanities, the UC3M is ranked amongst the 400 best universities on an international level, according to WSR 2021 Arts and Humanities of the THE, while it ranks in the top 500 for Computer Science, according to the WSR 2021 Computer Science.

The University also holds notable positions in Social Sciences (WSR 2021 Social Sciences) and Engineering (WSR 2021 Engineering), being placed within the top 600 worldwide. In addition, the UC3M also holds an outstanding position worldwide (in the Top 800) in Physical Sciences, according to WSR 2021 Physical Sciences.

This classification by subject uses the same methodology as the THE’s World University Rankings. To do this, they analyse thirteen performance indicators in five important fields: teaching, research, scientific reunions, international impact, and the university’s relationship with industry.  The methodology has been recalibrated to adapt to the different academic fields analysed.

More information:

This new edition,which over thirty university teams have entered, will hold its oral phase from April 20 to April 24, involving a total of 49 virtual audiences,where teams will compete against one another, with over 160 arbitrators participating. The final will be held on April 24 at 17:00 in the virtual room “Corte de Arbitraje de Madrid” and will be broadcast live through streaming by a YouTube link that can be found on the Moot Madrid webpage (see below). 

The participants have been working since November on the case they’ll be taking on during the competition. Based on this case, prepared by UC3M commercial law professors and event collaborators from outside entities, the future lawyers have written a statement of claim and a statement of defense.After this written phase, the participants’ oral capabilities and skills are evaluated during the general rounds. Each team will compete up to four times with different opponents, alternating between being the claimant and respondent The university teams with the best scores in the general rounds will go on to the eliminatory rounds, with only two meeting up in the grand finale.

This event is sponsored by the Club Español de Arbitraje(Spanish Arbitration Club), the Corte de Arbitraje de Madrid (Madrid Arbitration Court)and the Madrid Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services.It likewise is supported by the following law firms: Allen&Overy, Andersen Tax & Legal, DLA Piper, Ramón y Cajal Abogados, Roca Junyent, Baker & McKenzie, Broseta, Clifford Chance, CMS, Albiñana&Suárez de Lezo, Cuatrecasas, Deloitte Legal, Garrigues, Gómez Acebo y Pombo, Pérez-Llorca, Sagardoy B&L School andUría Menéndez.

More information:

YouTube channel for broadcast live streaming:

In addition to official university Master’s degrees, the UC3M offers many of its own degrees through its School of Continuing Education. This offer of studies is fundamentally composed of the university’s own Master’s and expert and specialist degrees, in addition to other courses, diplomas and seminars.

As updates for the new academic year, the UC3M announces three new own degrees: Master’s in Fashion Image: Styling and Audiovisual Media VOGUE-UC3M; UC3M-Diagonal TV Master’s in Creation of Fictional Series for Television; and Specialist in Art Market Law.

Enrolment periods

The second admission period is currently open (until the 31st of March) for enrolment on the official university Master’s courses for the academic year 2020/21, as well as the request period for any of the 174 grants awarded for the payment of Master’s registration. Afterwards, there will be a third registration period, from the 1st of April, for degrees with available places.

The UC3M offers a wide variety of higher training programmes. Overall, more than 60 official Master’s courses are taught in the branches of Law, Economics and Political Science, Business, Humanities and Communication and Engineering and Basic Sciences and more than 50 of its own programmes. Around 10 per cent of the programmes are bilingual and around 20 per cent are taught in English.

The UC3M is a Spanish public university that stands out in teaching, research and innovation. It ranks 34th on a global level in the QS Top 50 Under 50 Ranking and is included in the Times Higher Education (THE) 150 Under 50. It is the top university in Spain and third in Europe for the number of students undertaking the Erasmus Programme and holds more than 870 agreements with universities from 56 countries, among which some of the best universities in the world, according to ShanghaiRankings’ Academic Ranking of World Universities, can be found. 35% of postgraduate students at the UC3M are international students. The UC3M has numerous accreditations and quality distinctions, such as the EUR-ACE label in the field of Engineering, AMBA accreditation in its MBA and the prestigious AACSB international accreditation in the Business and Finance programmes, among others.

For more information:

UC3M School of Postgraduate Studies website

“We have observed that the State compensation system for victims is an absolute disaster and that victims of sexual crimes rarely receive compensation”, points out Helena Soleto, leader of the study and professor of Procedural Law at the UC3M. These grants are usually used to pay for therapy to overcome the victims’ trauma and it has been proven that they do not normally cost more than 800 Euros per victim, who are minors in many cases.

Victims of sexual violence are usually women (in 80 per cent of cases). The rest are men, in this case mostly children. The worst crimes in this context are abuse, sexual aggression (rape) and human trafficking for the purposes of prostitution.

“The State, in theory, provides some compensation to victims of sexual crimes that are regulated in a law from 1995. In practice we have seen that nearly half of these requests come from children and the State refuses to give them compensation which, moreover, could only be used for therapy”, explains Helena Soleto.

Studying the compensation system in Europe

This study carried out in Spain is part of FAIRCOM (Towards a fair and effective compensation scheme for victims of sexual violence; GA 847360), a research project funded by The European Union Justice Programme (2014 - 2020) which bring six partners together from five countries (Spain, Greece, Italy, Latvia and the Netherlands). The project is led by the UC3M under the management of Helena Soleto, with the participation of researchers from various fields such as Statistics and IT, as well as Law.

The main aim of this project is to design and promote an efficient and effective model for a fair and adequate compensation for victims of sexual crimes. The committee proposes to modify the current deficient compensation model for victims of sexual violence in each country through the identification of legal and organisational obstacles that prevent victims from claiming and accessing their right to effective compensation. In addition, they intend to identify and develop good practices to overcome these barriers and allow the victims to exercise their rights in an efficient manner. “A rule that theoretically protects is not enough; it also needs to put this into practice. Ultimately, we want a fair compensation system to exist for victims of sexual crimes”, concludes Soleto.

Bibliographical reference:

Soleto Muñoz, Helena (2020). La ineficacia del sistema de justicia español para reparar económicamente a las víctimas: un espacio para la justicia restaurativa. Teoría y Derecho, Revista de Pensamiento Jurídico. Editorial Tirant. ISSN: 1888-3443.

中文翻譯 (Chinese translation)

This agreement is made with the objective of becoming a project whose results are to be reflected in the legal sector, at an academic and corporate level. With this aim, as well as the study and analysis of the national, European and international rule framework, the Chair will especially highlight the divulgation of the conclusions. To do so, it will allocate some of its resources to the publication of books and reports, the organisation of conferences and lectures and, ultimately, the spread of knowledge resulting from their research.

The act of signing the agreement took place on the UC3M’s Getafe Campus, in the presence of the president, Juan Romo, and the managing partner responsible for Tax and Legal Practice at Deloitte, Luis Fernando Guerra. Juan Romo has expressed “his satisfaction by the signature of the chair, which allows a close agreement between the University and Deloitte Legal with the objective of creating a research environment for carrying out academic activities and legal dissemination in a discipline as important in the lives of companies as Commercial Law. In addition, it is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the training of jurists in any field related to business law”.

On the other hand, Luis Fernando Guerra has highlighted the suitability of the moment in which the chair starts “for the need to set up a space of theoretical reflection and practical development. The increasingly complex regulatory framework that companies face justifies the dedication of human and material resources to their analysis and study. Carrying out this task with the academic support of the UC3M allows us to get involved in the students’ work, as it will be them that will act as consultants to businesses in the future”.

This Chair, co-directed by lecturer Pilar Perales Viscasillas from the UC3M’s Department of Private Law, and responsible partner in the field of Corporate M&A Legal at Deloitte Legal, Sharon Izaguirre Gómez, relies on the Academic Council with representatives in the legal field from different companies, such as: Santander Group; the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of Madrid; the Colegio de Abogados de Madrid (Lawyer College of Madrid); Iberdrola; Mapfre and Telefónica. 

Deloitte Legal Chair of Business Law Website

Regarding the reasons for which this fourth peace process in Colombia has been achieved, Juan Manuel Santos explained that he didn’t have just one answer: “It was well planned, we did a series of precise exercises to learn from other processes that had failed. There was a lot of difference and distrust with FARC, but we had to create exactly that, trust. It was beautiful to see that, after two years of negotiations, we successfully established the six points of the agenda that we made public in Oslo”. According to Enrique Santiago, “it was a shock method to create a work commission isolating the parties and, without a doubt, a very elaborate strategy with a favourable result for both parties that knew they were not going to win the war militarily. They had more to gain than lose”.

Being asked about the current transition period the Colombian society is living through, with one part of the population being unhappy with the agreement, the ex-president said: “We had to achieve the maximum amount of justice that would permit us peace. This says everything and nothing at the same time, but those were the instructions. It does not matter where you draw the line between peace and justice because there will always be people who are unhappy with it. I emphasise that we should conduct a pedagogical exercise to carry out this justice because there is a very important element of reparation and the victims played a very important role. Now the objective is reparation”.

In this respect, the ex-advisor of negotiations added that “the process has lacked support from key sectors that instead of doing so, committed to making a demagogy. The problem of the Colombian conflict, also highlighted by political scientists and experts, is the ownership of the land and that causes problems of misappropriation of farmers’ land; now it is halted, it is what worries me most and it has stopped”.

Juan Manuel Santos highlighted the positives of this process: “The most powerful feeling is love therefore, if we return to our origins, we understand that we should treat the FARC as humans and Colombians, thereby respecting the human rights of the adversaries, not enemies. Thinking this way, something has been done that appeared impossible 10 years ago... the agreement has been made possible thanks to discussions, empathy and never ceasing with the will to solve problems”.

For his part, Enrique Santiago emphasised that there is another view of country, another reorganisation of the political scene which guarantees that Colombia will improve from all points of view. “I was the only foreigner on the negotiation team and there is nothing more satisfying than stopping a war. There is always common ground, empathy and synergy”. On the other hand, Juan Carlos Henao explained how the negotiation process arose: “We began some very difficult negotiations from scratch and the work of Santos and Enrique was vital. But this is nothing of names or protagonists. It was an enormous collective effort that allowed for the devising of the text and of a new reality for Colombia.

The aim of this project is to analyse the situation and improve the fulfilment “of a right (access to justice) that is the entrance door to the protection of all other rights”, comments Rafael de Asís. In order to carry it out, the researchers will conduct a study on the regulations and barriers that exist in this area, in dialogue with people who have disabilities themselves, and they will start up courses and workshops aimed at the legal community. In this regard, on the 11th April a seminar was held on the UC3M Madrid-Puerta de Toledo campus during which topics such as the barriers for people with disabilities during legal proceedings and the consequences of legal decisions relating to their freedom were addressed.

“Although access to justice is one of the fundamental rights recognised by the Spanish Constitution and which forms part of the International Agreements in relation to rights ratified by Spain, there are still a number of barriers in the way of this right being met in the area of disability. Physical barriers are the most visible, but along with those there are also cognitive barriers, which affect many people (and not only people considered to have a disability)”, confirms De Asís. And this situation, he adds, is very similar to what happens in the other European countries.

In order to achieve the proposed objectives, different actions will be carried out. On the one hand, an analysis of the state of universal access to justice for people with disabilities will be carried out. On the other hand, a massive open online course (MOOC) will be designed on this topic. What’s more, a database on regulations, case law and good practice in access to justice will be created.

Just4All is a project funded by the European Union Justice Programme (number 807006), coordinated by the ONCE Foundation, which will be carried out between 2018 and 2021 and in which the UC3M is taking part alongside other organisations and companies: European Association of Service Providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), European Disability Forum (EDF) and Thomson Reuters Aranzadi. What’s more, it has international support from the General Council of Spanish Law (in the Spanish acronym: CGAE), General Council of Legal Authorities (in the Spanish acronym: CGPJ), the European Foundation Center (EFC) and the International Union of Notaries.  

For more information:

“The whole system is based on trying to give credibility to the structure of economic governance set up in the EU for that purpose. The law tries, at least theoretically, to support the system’s credibility. The logic that prevails is this: the law’s job is to give credibility to the whole construction of European economic governance”, explains lecturer Estella, who has recently published these research results in the book “Legal Foundations of EU Economic Governance” (Cambridge University Press).

Among the possible measures to be taken, the following have been proposed: an extension of the European Central Bank mandate, according to the Federal Reserve’s model, the creation of a fiscal union in Europe, or the integration of automatic stabilisers in the European budget, among other proposals.  

The research also points out the problems posed by the regulatory framework that was adopted during the 2008 economic crisis, as it is a set of measures that were “implemented late and did not provide effective solutions in the medium and long term”.

Furthermore, the study also suggests incorporating more quantitative-type analysis in the legal field: “Research should be carried out paying more attention to data and figures”, comments the lecturer, who stresses the need to educate new law researchers in this kind of methodology, in order for law to earn more scientific and social significance as a science.

This research has been conducted as part of the 2016 call from the Ministry of Economy and Competitivity for R+D projects from the National Programme for Fostering Excellence in Scientific and Technical Research, under the title “The European Union in the context of the new generation treaties: from institutional reform to social protection”. The main researcher on this project is lecturer Julio González García, from the Law Faculty of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Bibliographic reference: Estella, A. (2018). Legal Foundations of EU Economic Governance (Law in Context). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:

Versión en chino (Chinese version)

“For example, to market a new mobile phone it is necessary to consider an enormous number of patents and inventors, and it is possible that this fragmentation occurs”, explains one of the researchers who has participated in this project, Ester Martínez Ros, from the Business department at UC3M.

This situation, which has created a “patent war” and an increase in the number of lawsuits, hinders and slows down the process for obtaining this type of title, according to the researchers. In fact, there are some organisations known as “patent trolls”, who provoke an elevated number of lawsuits by aggressively and opportunistically imposing patents without intending to manufacture or market the patented product.

In accordance with the results of the project, several measures can be adopted to overcome this issue. On the one hand, by unifying the process of the different patent infraction claims in the same courts, so that nullity claims as well as infraction claims reach the courts. “In addition, it would be advisable that these claims are not dealt with in general courts but before the specialised legal proceedings in these matters”, adds Ester Martínez Ros. On the other hand, the precautionary measures could limit the patent infraction lawsuits to very firm cases which do not threaten the general interest with regards to reinvigorating and not blocking certain advances in this market. Experts also recommend continuing contributing to some processes which guarantee the exclusive concession of high quality patents, which fulfil high levels of demand.

They have identified the need to improve training and communication about property rights and, in particular, patents, given that it has been confirmed that certain entities have a limited knowledge of relevant aspects, especially in the case of small and medium-sized companies. “In a lot of countries that we have studied, such as Spain, the bigger companies use patents much more than the smaller companies, therefore it would be better to give more visibility to certain elements of the patent system to be able to improve this situation”, concludes professor Ester Martínez Ros.

The CIFRA project (Challenging the ICT Patent Framework for Responsible Innovation) has received funding from the framework program of the European Union Horizon 2020, under the agreement number 731940.

Further information:

Proyecto CIFRA

Versión en chino (Chinese version)

The Moot consists of 55 hearings, which will take place in 13 different locations, including in the offices of the collaborators, and more than 160 judges will take part. The aim is to develop knowledge of the uniform law texts, increase the use of commercial arbitration and encourage the use of Spanish in international transactions among future lawyers.

Claim and Response

The Moot Madrid participants have been working on the case they will put forward at the competition since November. Based on this text, prepared by the Commercial Law professors at UC3M and external collaborators, the future lawyers have drawn up a statement of claim and response.

After this written phase, the oral phase begins on the 16th April. In this phase the participants test their oral skills and qualities in the preliminary rounds. Each team will compete up to four times against different opponents, alternating between complainant and defender. The university teams with the best scores in the preliminary rounds will pass to the knockout rounds and only two will face each other in the final.

The winner of this tenth edition will be decided by three internationally prestigious judges: Deva Villanúa, member of the Commission on Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Guido Carducci, member of the International Chamber of Commerce Commission in Paris (ICC), and Martín Doe Rodríguez, senior legal advisor in the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

This event is sponsored by the Court of Arbitration of Madrid, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and KPMG, and is in collaboration with the Association of Mooting Culture (ACMEY, in Spanish) and the Spanish Club of Arbitration (CEA, in Spanish). It is also supported by the following law firms: Baker & McKenzie, B. Cremades y Asociados, Clifford Chance LLP, CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo, Cuatrecasas, Gonçalvez Pereira, DLA Piper, Garrigues, Gómez Acebo & Pombo, Pérez-Llorca, Ramón y Cajal Abogados, Roca Junyent and Uría Menéndez.

Further information:  

The forum brings together representatives of the European Council’s GRECO – Group of States Against Corruption, and the OCDE (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), as well as civil servants, representatives of public ministries, judicial system institutions and federal attorney’s offices of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain and Portugal. Representing civil society will be experts from the chapters of Transparency International of Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela. Representing academia, professors from the universities of Buenos Aires, Complutense (Madrid) and Carlos III de Madrid will be speaking. These professors are participating in the R+D project “La responsabilidad penal de empresas transnacionales por violaciones a los Derechos Humanos y al Medio Ambiente” (“The legal responsibility of transnational firms in cases of Human Rights and Environmental violations”) and in the “Programa Interuniversitario Cultura de la Legalidad” (“Interuniversity Culture of Legality Program”).

The ultimate goal is to present an accurate diagnosis of the situation, identify best practices and generate strategic recommendations that can have an impact at forums such as the VIII Cumbre de las Américas de 2018 en Lima (Perú) (Americas Summit), el G-20 and this year’s C-20 in Argentina, as well as at the Summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American States of the Caribbean.

The inauguration of this meeting includes representatives of UC3M, FIIAPP (International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies) and the Regional Council for the Americas of the Secretariat of Transparency International in Berlin.

International cooperation is an indispensable tool for effectively combating cases of corruption, since the search for evidence and proof requires collaboration among different jurisdictions. This occurs, for example, when assets are located in foreign countries, or in requests for legal reciprocity or extradition. In addition, the experts point out that cases of transnational corruption are usually complex and politically sensitive. Therefore, dealing with them requires numerous resources, political will, and excellent planning.

Despite the fact that considerable progress has been made at the bilateral, regional and international levels with regard to investigations and trials for serious crimes, there are still serious challenges impeding the investigations of cases of corruption. According to a 2015 OCDE study, 70% of the civil servants working in anti-corruption believe that there are numerous obstacles in the area of reciprocal legal assistance and that these obstacles have a negative impact on their work. Some of these are associated with linguistic differences, dual criminality, immunity, fiscal issues or bank secrecy issues, among others.

My CONEX project addresses the limits that reason can place on authority. The traditional concept of legal authority suggests that state laws by themselves bind citizens to obedience but problems arise when subjects of authority reasonably consider a state law to be unjust or morally wrong or simply ineffectual or incoherent.  In these cases, there may be challenges to the authority of a law or set of laws. Civil obedience is the norm but challenges to authority are common. I am interested in what makes some but not other challenges legitimate, and what this tells us not only about authority but also about power, coercion, and obligation.

When is civil disobedience legitimate?

There is no fixed or easy answer to this question because situations involving civil disobedience must be approached on a case-by-case basis. What can be said generally is that each situation will include both legal and moral considerations. A law obviously imposes a legal obligation and to disobey it is legally illegitimate. But moral obligation is different, it comes only from one’s personal value judgement. A moral obligation may oblige an individual to disobey a law, and this would again be legally illegitimate but, for the individual concerned at least, it would be morally legitimate.

Could we consider the Catalan sovereignty challenge as a good example of this dichotomy between reason and authority?

It is a good example because a central issue is the Spanish state’s claim to both legal and moral or political authority regarding Catalan sovereignty. Spain has de facto legal authority over Catalonia and it also claims this authority is morally and politically justified. Generally, the current legal authority of the Spanish state in Catalonia is accepted by both sides to the dispute. Obviously, there are exceptions—anyone who argues in favour of secession without consultation, for example, would seem to dispute the basic Spanish claim to legal authority. But those who advocate that the matter be decided by referendum, whether in Catalonia or in Spain, these advocates accept the de facto legal situation. They do not like it but they accept it as part of Spanish constitutional reality. The deep conflict is in the moral and political domains, where there are reason-based arguments on both sides. Many in Catalonia and elsewhere argue that it is morally and politically wrong for Spain to have legal authority—in other words, they want their moral and political perspective to be acknowledged and established legally.

In your project, you place authority and reason as the main ideas of research. What do you understand by authority?

I think there are two basic modalities of authority. First, the authority that comes automatically with positions of power or status, and second, the authority that comes from the ability and willingness to be reasonable and just. Often you have the first but not the second.  Imagine a military coup d’etat, for example, after which an accepted, functioning constitution is replaced with a new constitution that allows a military junta to rule by decree and, if necessary, to violate basic human rights and other norms. Let us suppose that the junta do in fact issue several decrees violating human rights. In this example, the junta do have legal authority—the new constitution gives them this—but it does not have moral or political authority if its regular violation of basic norms is perceived as unreasonable and unjust. The two can of course exist simultaneously—this is authentic authority. Let us suppose that a resistance movement take power from the junta with huge popular support. Let us imagine that this new government introduces a new constitution that limits its own power and that the government seeks to rule reasonably and justly. This is authentic authority. But even when authority is authentic its reach is limited because, whatever legal obligations may exist, one is obliged morally only by one’s personal judgement of value. So, in the example of a popular movement taking power, even such a government cannot claim to impose a moral or political obligation to obey on everyone—it is simply not within any government’s power to do this.

And what do you understand generally by reason?

Reason is an epistemology, a way of knowing. It is also a way of investigating situations, of trying to understand them.  If we wish to make responsible judgements of value, to try to be just and to understand our own obligations, we need to think and act reasonably, and this applies whether we are in a position of authority or the subject of authority.

What motivations have led you to develop a project on this subject?

The nature of law’s authority has always been a central question in legal philosophy but recently the discourse has become very technical and this has undermined its relevance to contemporary developments. I became engaged with questions around legal authority when I lived and worked in Southeast Asia for some years before taking up my CONEX fellowship. That’s a part of the world where there is a prevalence of what is called “soft” authoritarianism. My philosophy of law opposes any forms of social organisation characterised by submission to authority, and with the appearance of greater drift worldwide to soft or “populist” versions of authoritarianism, I felt the authority-reason nexus was an appropriate subject for a research project since then the world has witnessed the further global spread of forms of populist authoritarianism, so the project, although it is theoretical, is quite relevant to contemporary events.

What methodology do you apply in your research?

I adopt a conceptually integrated approach that examines authority in relation to a range of other concepts, particularly morality, power, coercion, obligation, justice, and the common good. Because these concepts also constitute central concerns of disciplines other than philosophy of law, including ethics, political philosophy, political science, social anthropology and sociology, I also adopt an interdisciplinary approach in my research.

Where do you usually investigate? What is your "laboratory"?

My research is principally conceptual so the main part of my practical work involves a lot of reading and a lot of writing. Access to reading materials is particularly important and traditional libraries and university databases are crucial sources of these materials. I also attend and present working papers at conferences and workshops on the philosophy of law and related subjects. In facilitating this the CONEX project has allowed me to present and receive feedback on my ongoing work and I am very grateful for that.

What results do you expect to achieve?

To date I have been presenting papers and publishing articles that focus on the conceptual relationships between authority and coercion and between authority, justice, and the common good. For the remainder of my fellowship I will continue to present and publish my research and I hope to contribute to making the legal-philosophical discourse around authority less technical and more relevant to contemporary developments.

Do you think that these results could have an application in the current political or regulatory context?

Questions of legal and moral obligation and the relationship between the two are central issues in political life. Why do people obey the law? Why do people disobey the law? In what types of situation is civil disobedience justified? I think these questions are always important and they all come within the purview of my research project. Obviously, they have strong contemporary relevance because we live in a time when forms of populist authoritarianism are on the rise.

What are the advantages of investigating this issue within the framework of CONEX?

The advantages include the 3-year time-scale of the program and the research fund that allows for participation in conferences and workshops internationally. UC3M provides a stimulating intellectual environment and the CONEX program is managed excellently by Raquel Navalpotro Gil and Sara Cervilla Ferreiro at the OTRI office. It is also supported very professionally, in my experience, throughout all offices of the university. I am very fortunate to be working with the Research Group on Law and Justice (Grupo de Investigación sobre el Derecho y la Justicia – GIDyJ) at the Department of International Law, Ecclesiastical Law and Philosophy of Law (Departamento de Derecho Internacional, Eclesiástico y Filosofía del Derecho). I am very grateful to the group’s director, José María Sauca Cano, and the department’s director, Oscar Celador Angon, for their support of my CONEX research. Thanks are due also to María Victoria Cortés Bustos, whose administrative support at the department has been invaluable.

The Program is supported by the European Union (Marie Curie FP7 Actions, grant agreement no. 600371), from the  Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness)  (COFUND2013-51509) and  Banco Santander, through Santander Universidades.

My work intends to delve into the process of European transition towards “sustainability” through the regulatory and conceptual analysis that underlies this model.

Are you thinking of focusing on any aspect in particular?

Through this study, I am analyzing how this model has influenced energy policies in Spain and Italy. Understanding the effective commitment of the EU in this process is important. In Spain and Italy, in particular, more than in many other European countries, EU policy has determined the construction of a substantial regulatory policy on environmental law and even an “environmentalization” of energy policies. It has also promoted and reinforced the effective fulfillment of many of the objectives and political commitments of this European Union environmental policy.

What traits have defined this European environmental policy?

EU environmental policy has been ambitious since its start and has infused an ecological ethic into two legal systems where it did not exist, and Spain (in the Spain – Italy pairing) bears the brunt of this. Today, the policy of European sustainability is represented by a successful system of fighting climate change and of energy policy that has caught the attention of other world powers. However, we have a long way to go to be able to achieve a true transition, which must involve more than energy policy. Society as a whole must confront the biggest challenges. Although law is fundamental in all of this process, education is a big challenge. This is why, from the legal point of view, I also want to tackle educational policy.

What does sustainability mean within the context of your project?

Sustainability was born as an inclusive, flexible and at the same time elusive concept. This might be a strong point for a concept that is multidimensional and constantly evolving. Sustainability, as it is presented by the United Nations in the Millenium Development Goals and in the marvelous Agenda 21 initiative, with great environmental ambitions, is not the “sustainability” that the United Nations presented in 2015, encapsulated in the “Transforming the World” agenda and in the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). Today, without having lost its essential ecological component, sustainability is oriented towards aspects that integrate a greater struggle for social equity, economic justice, the difficult situation of urban realities, and an awareness of the need to increase the legitimacy of other kinds of governance and the defense of the interests of states, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, companies, indigenous communities, establishments and civil society in general.

What motivated you to carry out research on this issue?

From the beginning of my academic life, I have been interested mainly in three things: the environment, education and culture, and social policies. In sustainability, lacking specific prescriptive content, I have found a sector that, despite its flexibility and trivialization, which threaten to change it into rhetoric, is very stimulating for a jurist precisely because it is difficult to define it in regulations. Also, dealing with a notion that is not exclusively legal allows me to address subjects that stimulate a multidisciplinary dialogue I consider essential for practicing science in any field today.

You were educated at universities in Spain, Scotland and Italy. Are the legal realities of these countries very different on this subject?

Yes. The United States and the Netherlands have also been important in my academic education. Obviously, each of these countries has its own way of treating this subject from the legal point of view. The Scottish legal system has the virtue of being a mixed system of common and civil law (like Quebec, South Africa and Louisiana). Spain and Italy are two continental systems of Western legal culture that are rooted in Roman law. This is also true of the Netherlands. Of course, thanks to the process of European integration, all these countries have had the chance to harmonize and become part of the process of building a common European project that has accepted the model of sustainability to a smaller or greater degree despite all its shortcomings and current challenges. There are countries like Germany and France which have more advanced regulations. The German model, with its laws about energy transition, is gradually renouncing nuclear energy and makes it possible for renewable energy to have a favorable legal framework, thus bettering countries like Spain and Italy. The U.S.A., meanwhile, represents a model of legal culture which has always influenced science in general and environmental issues in particular, given that environmental justice was born there.

What are the main challenges, from the legal perspective, of including sustainability and the environment in the political agenda in a period when leaders of powers like the U.S.A. call into question the Paris Agreement and the impact of mankind on the environment?

Some states like California have very advanced laws with regard to the environment and the climate. But now, with the arrival of Trump and internal economic interests, we don’t know what will happen with the transatlantic treaty on trade and investment between the United States and the European Union, a treaty that, to date, Trump has shown no interest in. I think the main legal challenges are focused on responding to social changes that require regulation, a legal framework. Urban planning, for example, because of the great role that cities have in the transition towards sustainability, is a big challenge. So are the mobility and education of civil society and local governments for access to governance, information and justice. Technology is already within our reach, as is legislation, but there is a lack of specific regulations in some sectors to legitimize needed changes in education and social behavior regarding energy and citizens’ relation to sustainable mobility. Recently, I spoke about the challenges facing the European environmental political agenda at the Ministry of the Presidency’s Center for Political and Constitutional Studies. I mentioned challenges that are linked to a political agenda full of uncertainties that exist on a global scale. The increase in “populist” movements in politics, problems linked to international security and migratory flows continue to be unavoidable problems that burden the agenda.

What methodology do you apply in your research?

I am a jurist who does not lose sight of a model for practicing science on an interdisciplinary level. I allow myself to be influenced by other sciences and sectors, although sometimes it is not easy. It is inevitable in the issues I deal with.

What results do you hope to obtain with this project?

I have several articles published in Spanish and European journals, in Spanish, English and Italian. I have the (guarded) ambition to write something more committed from the scientific point of view: a study devoted to the great challenge of education and sustainability, from a predominantly legal perspective, without forgetting the interdisciplinary nature of the subject matter.

What advantages does researching this issue under the umbrella of the CONEX program have?

Freedom, I think, above all else. I have no teaching load for the three years that the project lasts, and this allows me to devote myself to my research one hundred percent. As a Spaniard who was outside of Spain for 20 years, I’ve had the opportunity to return to this country as a researcher and benefit from a university environment such as the Carlos III offers.  In particular, I’ve had the chance to improve thanks to the quality of the Department of Public State Law, which I have joined, and the members of the Pascual Madoz Institute, which is a national leader in these topics.

World Environment Day will be celebrated on June 5th. What do you think are the main environmental challenges and how can they be addressed effectively from the field of law?

Law plays a fundamental role in these issues. From the legal point of view, the most important aspect that sustainability presents with regard to the environment is the proactive nature of its existence. Environmental law has always had a defensive character. It is time for the change of model that legislation is embracing on all its levels of governance to move ahead, in order to legitimize and cause changes in social awareness. These changes are the most important for engendering a culture of transition towards sustainability that is imbued with a profound ecological ethic.

The program has the support of the European Union (FP7 Marie Curie Actions, subsidy agreement no. 600371), the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (COFUND2014-51509), the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (CEI-15-17) and Banco Santander, through Santander Universidades.

El IDHBC ha sido distinguido con este galardón en la categoría de instituciones “por  contribuir  de forma constante y efectiva con su trabajo en la lucha en favor de las personas con discapacidad”, según el jurado. En el acto de entrega de premios, celebrado en el CGPJ, el rector de l天美传媒, Juan Romo, y el director del IDHBC, Francisco Javier Ansuátegui Roig, recibieron el galardón de manos del presidente del Consejo General del Poder Judicial y del Tribunal Supremo, Carlos Lesmes Serrano.

El resto de premiados han sido: Corporación Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), por el tratamiento dado a la información sobre el colectivo de personas con discapacidad durante los Juegos Paralímpicos de Río-2016; Campofrío Food Group, por la mejor actuación empresarial. Benigno Varela, vocal y portavoz del CGPJ entre 1996 y 2001 y exmagistrado del Tribunal Supremo, recibió el premio a título personal.

El presidente del Foro de Justicia y Discapacidad, Juan Manuel Fernández, señaló que con estos galardones “se quiere reconocer conductas ejemplares en diversos actos y distinguir a los que se esfuerzan en hacer un mundo más justo”. El Foro Justicia y Discapacidad, constituido por el Consejo General del Poder Judicial en 2003, tiene como objetivo favorecer el acceso de las personas con discapacidad a la Justicia en condiciones de igualdad y garantizar su protección jurídica.

El IDHBC, desde hace más de una década, ha hecho del estudio de los derechos de las personas con discapacidad  uno de sus ámbitos prioritarios de actuación y se ha convertido en un referente tanto a nivel nacional como internacional. Ha sido pionero en la aplicación del enfoque de derechos humanos al estudio de la discapacidad y su actividad investigadora ha estado orientada a lograr la inclusión social y la igualdad de derechos desde el ámbito académico. Ha desarrollado más de 40 proyectos de investigación en los que la discapacidad y los derechos humanos han sido referentes. Además, su labor docente y de divulgación ha posibilitado la formación de investigadores, juristas y profesionales de diferentes ámbitos en torno a los derechos de las personas con discapacidad.

La Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID) financia de manera íntegra un promedio de diez becas anuales dirigidas a los líderes indígenas de América Latina y El Caribe, gracias a las cuales reciben formación durantes tres meses en l天美传媒 en temas como Derechos Humanos y Cooperación Internacional. Este año los estudiantes proceden de Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Méjico, Nicaragua, Paraguay y Perú.

El objetivo general es que los estudiantes puedan asumir responsabilidades de liderazgo en sus comunidades y organizaciones, con la capacitación y conocimientos técnicos necesarios para intervenir con garantías de éxito en los procesos de negociación sobre derechos de los pueblos indígenas que se desarrollan en diferentes ámbitos nacionales e internacionales, así como en su implementación.

Los 150 estudiantes que han pasado por l天美传媒 en la última década gracias a estas becas son miembros del Fondo Indígena. Esto ha permitido la formación de un importante número de líderes indígenas que contribuyen a generar cambios en el ámbito comunitario y que se reflejan a nivel nacional e internacional. Además, gracias a su participación en este curso pueden aprovechar las sinergias de trabajo que tienen lugar con el resto de alumnos de este título, como abogados, cooperantes, investigadores, etc.

Más información:

“It is a project open to society at large, which aims to integrate all shareholders and to form new specialists in disability, universal accessibility, reasonable adjustments and support,” they explained from the IDHBC. For that purpose, a subscription system is provided so the shareholders can sign up on the web and obtain information regarding project progress or receive invitations to collaborate. Another methodology that the project employs is the so-called “legal clinic”, which enables notifications to be received in cases of registered complaints or in situations where there is possible discrimination so that they can be dealt with.  Accordingly, the project is based on these study cases in order construct a sound theoretical basis for rights in this area.  .

The research team is already working in the project’s first phase, during which they will analyze the success of the III Plan of Action for Persons with Disabilities in the Madrid Autonomous Region 2012-2015 to develop a new framework for the design of a new plan.  In addition, they are studying Community regulations on the rights of persons with disabilities to draw up alternative proposals.  This analysis is being undertaken within five thematic areas: health and social benefits; employment; education; participation; accessibility and conflict; and sport, culture and leisure.

Discrimination problems

The project includes all types of disability, intellectual and as well as physical, psycho-social or sensory“. These people face problems of discrimination occurring at different levels, although the most important ones have to do with the way in which society understands the disability,” Rafael de Asís remarked. “What is needed most, in addition to changing some laws, is to sensitize people and raise their conscience so that they understand the diversity of these people and so that they can interact in our society in the same way as persons without disabilities,” he added.

At present, society accepts physical disability much more than intellectual diversity, according to these researchers. “Or put another way: the focus of rights, which have a limited reach in physical diversity, are practically non-existent in intellectual diversity”, noted Rafael de Asís. “The person with intellectual disability is accepted, but as if he or she were a charity case.  It is necessary to take a step forward and accept that persons with an intellectual disability can have the same rights as any other person and that they can be recognized as equally capacitated as can the rest of people, with support that we consider  reasonable,” he concluded

Some of the results obtained up to now were presented in the first international conference of the Barrier-free Madrid projects, held at the end of a May at UC3M and which focuses on the axis on which all of the system of the rights of persons with disabilities is carried out: universal design, accessibility and reasonable adjustments.   “We can’t forget that accessibility is a condition for the exercise of rights and criteria to evaluate discrimination against persons with disabilities,” Rafael de Asís pointed out.

Further information:  www.madridsinbarreras.org