• ES - español
  • EN - English
Parliamentary question - E-002757/2019Parliamentary question
E-002757/2019

Infringement of the fundamental rights of children in Catalonia

Question for written answer E-002757-19
to the Commission
Rule 138
Jordi Cañas (Renew) , Maite Pagazaurtundúa (Renew) , Susana Solís Pérez (Renew) , José Ramón Bauzá Díaz (Renew) , Javier Nart (Renew) , María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Renew)

The Department of Education of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia allowed the association ‘Plataforma per la Llengua’ to carry out a deceitful study to determine the ‘sociolinguistic behaviour’ of schoolchildren and their teachers during recreation in schools in Barcelona.

To this end and after bringing it to the attention of the Autonomous Government, the association sent volunteers to 50 schools to observe ‘incognito’, by means of an invented game, if the teachers were speaking to the children in Catalan or Spanish, and which language the children used between them and their teachers.

This study, in which 750 pupils were spied on, was carried out in collusion with the competent administration and without the authorisation of the teachers, the pupils’ parents, or the children themselves, thereby infringing the fundamental rights of those concerned and breaching the ethical guidelines which must be followed in all investigations, which require both ‘respect for human dignity’ and ‘informed consent in writing of the persons concerned or their legal guardians’.

In light of this very serious incident, which amounts to a clear infringement of the fundamental rights of the children concerned, and regard being had to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

What action does the Commission, in its capacity as Guardian of the Treaties and of the rule of law, intend to take to prevent such situations from recurring?

Last updated: 25 September 2019
Legal notice - Privacy policy