On May, 19 2009 the Spanish National Congress approved restriction of the principle of universal jurisdiction enshrined in Spanish law. The vote, 339 in favor with only 8 opposed, was the consequence of an agreement between the two majority parties, PSOE-PP. The context for this approval is the bill that would implement procedural reform to install a new judicial office.This is a decision with serious repercussions due to the importance of the law it aims to amend, and the complete lack of debate regarding the issue.

Article 23.4 of the Judicial Branch Structural Law establishes the principle of universal jurisdiction, namely, the competence of Spanish courts to consider international crimes committed by Spaniards or foreigners outside Spanish borders. The reform proposal would restrict the possibility to seek justice in Spanish courts only to crimes that affect victims of Spanish nationality, Spanish interests, or committed by perpetrators who reside or happen to be in Spain.

If this becomes law, victims of international crimes would lose one of the most promising forums for seeking reparation for such crimes. Spanish court first employed the principle of universal jurisdiction in 1998, when Judge Baltazar Garson ordered the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in London. This legal action represented hope for victims for whom justice was illusive in their own country. It was the first victory they had celebrated and it impulsed Chilean courts to accelerate cases on behalf of victims of the Pinochet dictatorship that had been languishing many years in the judicial system.

Subsequently, Spanish courts continued to investigate crimes committed in various countries, some involving Spanish victims and interests, while others did not. Thus, the accusation of crimes the Israeli government committed in Gaza, the United States in Guant‡namo, and China in Tibet were also brought before Spanish courts. Precisely these countries - Israel, the United States and China - have exerted diplomatic pressure upon the Spanish government to amend the principle of universal jurisdiction, limiting it to the so-called national clause. The ineffectiveness of this reform goes hand in hand with inteernational treaties and agreements binding upon Spain, which establish the inexcusable obligation to pursue such crimes without any kind of limiting national clause.

Crimes pursued under universal jurisdiction are considered the most serious that affect humanity. Despite the great progress in investigating these crimes and sentencing of the perpetrators on the international sphere, crimes against humanity committed in Spain between 1936 and 1975 have never the subject of a single judicial inquest, prior to 2008 when Baltasar Garzon opened the issue. No other country has failed at the very least to investigate such crimes. Spain is the only European nation in which this issue cannot even be broached, where the ultimate judges will be God and historians and where the courts maintain the door firmly closed to such crimes committed in in their own country.