News from Celtic League On September 27th 2014 the Catalan President, Artur Mas, signed the decree that had been approved by the Catalan parliament calling for a referendum on independence on 9th November 2014. The Celtic League supports the right of the Catalan people to hold a referendum and for the process to be respected by the Spanish Government. The Catalan people are a colonised people within the political States of Spain and France and have upheld their own traditions, language, identity, territory and nation for hundreds of years and are recognised as a distinct people internationally. The Spanish government?s insistence that the Catalan referendum would be unconstitutional and the recent ruling by the Spanish Constitutional Court that the Catalan referendum would not be legally-binding, runs contrary to the right of nations to self-determination, which is a well known cardinal principle in modern international law. The Spanish Constitutional Court?s decision to suspend this right is not in keeping with the spirit of the United Nations Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in 1960; a milestone in the process of decolonisation. With the experience of the campaign for a Yes vote on independence in Scotland not long behind us, it is essential that the international community helps to ensure that the kind of media bias and political interference that occurred in Scotland does not happen again. Important lessons need to be learned by the international community from the Scottish referendum campaign experience, so that attempted manipulation and interference by the political and media establishment to influence the referendum result does not occur in the future. The Celtic League is currently pursuing a complaint to the United Nations in the belief that the UK breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) during the Scottish referendum campaign. For further information about this complaint, then please click on the link below. 10/10/14 Link: (voir le site) (voir le site) For comment or clarification on this news item in the first instance contact: Rhisiart Tal-e-bot General Secretary, Celtic League gensec@celticleague.net M: 07787318666 The General Secretary will determine the appropriate branch or General Council Officer to respond to your query. ISSUED BY THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE??The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on socio-economic issues. Internet site Sign up for news
■