The Council of Ministers has today approved a Royal Decree that regulates the composition and operation of the Council of Democratic Memory, and also determines the organization, operation and procedure of registration of the State Registry of Entities whose activity is carried out in the field of Democratic Memory.
This Royal Decree establishes, on the one hand, the legal regime applicable to the Council of Democratic Memory and establishes that it is the consultative and participatory collegiate body of memory entities, attached to the Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory.
It also determines the functions of the Council and its composition, which assigns the Presidency to the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres. It also states that it must respect the balanced representation of women and men, and that membership of the Council will not generate the right to remuneration.
On the other hand, the DR contemplates the constitution of the Commission referred to in article 57.5 of the Democratic Memory Law, whose purpose will be to contribute to the clarification of human rights violations during the War and the Dictatorship. This Truth Commission will be composed of a maximum of ten independent persons of recognized prestige in the academic or professional world and in the field of human rights, who will be appointed by the Council of Memory.
It is expected that this Commission will carry out its task within 18 months of its establishment, with the delivery of its conclusions and recommendations.
Finally, it is responsible for the regulation of the State Registry of Democratic Memory Entities. In this way, the DR specifies which memorialist entities may apply for registration, and establishes that those linked to exile and resistance outside Spain that carry out their activity in other countries may also be registered.
This Royal Decree will not entail an increase in expenditure due to the fact that the functioning of the Council and the Registry will be attended to with the personal, material and technical means already assigned to the Secretary of State for Democratic Memory.