Jan. 22, 2026. A formal complaint has been filed with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights against the Spanish and Catalan governments, as well as several local councils, for their continued use of Francoist place names. This legal move, led by Cabassers.org, argues that the preservation of toponymy imposed during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco constitutes a violation of international human rights standards and democratic memory. Despite various laws passed in Spain and Catalonia aimed at removing symbols of the regime, several municipalities continue to use official names that were altered by the dictatorship to suppress local identity and enforce Spanish nationalist ideology.
The submission to the UN highlights that maintaining these names serves as a persistent tribute to a regime responsible for systemic human rights abuses. The complainants argue that the refusal of administrative bodies to revert to original, historical names is not merely a bureaucratic oversight but a breach of the right to truth, justice, and reparation for victims of the dictatorship. By bringing the case to the High Commissioner, advocates seek to exert international pressure on Spanish authorities to comply with their own democratic legislation and international treaties regarding the eradication of fascist symbols from the public sphere.
In a simultaneous effort to internationalize the conflict, a detailed report has also been sent to every member of the European Parliament. This communication informs European legislators of the specific case of Cabassers and other Catalan towns where Francoist linguistic impositions remain officially sanctioned. The report warns that the survival of these names within the European Union contradicts the fundamental democratic values that the bloc represents. By targeting the European Parliament, the organizers aim to spark a debate on how member states handle the legacy of totalitarianism and to ensure that the preservation of Francoist vestiges is recognized as a contemporary democratic deficit that requires urgent European attention.
Restoring Catalonia’s Map: Correcting Francoist Toponymy as a Matter of Transitional Justice
The platform Cabassers.org is leading a legal and historical advocacy campaign to restore the normative Catalan spellings of municipal names that remain “distorted” due to Francoist-era impositions. Central to this movement is the case of Cabassers, a village whose official name is still legally recorded using the non-normative Spanish-style spelling (Cabacés), defying both linguistic standards and Transitional Justice.
Despite the 1/1998 Law on Language Policy stating that Catalan place names must follow the standards of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), four municipalities in Catalonia -Cabassers, Capmany, Lladó, and Rialp- continue to use official forms that represent a legacy of linguistic repression.
“The survival of these distorted spellings is not a matter of local preference, but a remnant of the dictatorship’s attempt to de-Catalanize our geography,” states the platform. “Restoring the genuine placenames is an essential act of Transitional Justice: it repairs a cultural harm and aligns our institutions with democratic legitimacy.”
With the new Catalan Law on Democratic Memory currently under debate, the platform urges the Parliament of Catalonia to treat toponymic correction not just as a linguistic issue, but as a mandatory reparation for the victims of cultural erasure.
FACT SHEET: The Toponymy Conflict
- The Issue: Four Catalan municipalities still hold “official” names that were forcibly misspelled as an act of repression against Catalan language and culutre by the Francoist dictatorship.
- The Third Reich did the same to the French toponymy of Alsace-Lorraine after 1940, where Strasbourg was changed to Straßburg or Mulhouse to Mülhausen; in Luxembourg, where the Nazis changed Esch-sur-Alzette for Esch-alzig; or in Poland, where dozens of placenames were changed by the Nazi campaign of Germanisation of toponymy. The Francoist regime did exactly the same in Catalonia in 1939 to Hispanicize Catalan placenames.
- Legal Framework: * Law 1/1998: Establishes that the only official form of place names in Catalonia is the Catalan one, according to Institute for Catalan Studies standards.
- Democratic Memory Law: Current initiatives aim to classify these distorted names as “francoist symbols” or “acts of aggression against Catalan culture,” requiring their removal/correction.
- The Goal: To ensure that the administrative “officiality” of a name inherited of the dictatorship cannot override its linguistic, democratic and historical legitimacy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is this considered “Transitional Justice”? Transitional justice involves judicial and non-judicial measures implemented to redress legacies of human rights abuses. The systematic alteration of Catalan place names was part of a broader strategy of cultural genocide. Correcting the name to Cabassers is a symbolic and legal reparation for that systemic abuse.
Isn’t this a matter of local autonomy? While local governments have autonomy, the law establishes that they cannot choose to ignore linguistic norms. Toponymy is a collective cultural heritage of the entire country. Using a distorted name is a violation of the Law on Language Policy.
About Cabassers.org
Cabassers.org is a civic platform and registered lobby in the Parliament of Catalonia. It specializes in the legal and historical fiscalization of official toponymy. The platform advocates for the strict application of linguistic laws and the restoration of dignity to the Catalan map through the elimination of all administrative remnants of Francoism.
This issue in the Spanish press
25/08/2025 | ABC. El único pueblo de Cataluña que mantiene su nombre en castellano: cuál es el motivo y dónde está
02/07/2025 | El Mundo. El único pueblo de Cataluña que conserva su nombre en castellano: pocos conocen su historia
19/01/2025 | As. Este es el único municipio de Cataluña que votó para conservar su nombre en castellano heredado del franquismo
21/02/2023 | La Razón. Los cuatro pueblos catalanes que se resisten a perder su nomenclatura franquista
06/11/2022 | EFE. Los últimos pueblos de España con nombres franquistas
04/10/2022 | La Sexta. Estos son los pueblos de España que aún conservan su nombre franquista
04/10/2022 | Telecinco. Los últimos pubelos con nombres franquistas que aún quedan en España
Resources
You can find a detailed report on this issue in transitional.cabassers.org
You can use public domain images offered by cabassers.org to the media to illustrate this story.
You can contact us here: info@cabassers.org
