A/HRC/43/47/Add.1 noted how provisions in the Law on the Security of Citizens, which imposed large fines for filming law enforcement agents and reversing the burden of proof, had had the perverse effect of people of African descent – and it should be added this is also true of minorities in general – underreporting discriminatory acts by law enforcement officials, and had also led to failure to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of crimes (ibid., para. 21). This was raised in some of the Special Rapporteur’s meetings with representatives of migrant communities as a significant factor contributing to distrust of the police and the judiciary: minorities felt that they were unable to present their allegations, since filming such incidents is illegal, and that they had to assume the burden of proof for any allegation of police misbehaviour. The Special Rapporteur was informed, however, by the Ministry of the Interior that Organic Law No. 4/2015 of 30 March 2015, on protection of public safety, was aimed at guaranteeing that the principles of proportionality and non-discrimination would be strictly respected in the identification of people for reasons of racial or ethnic or other personal characteristics. Allegations of racial profiling nevertheless persist. In relation to penalties for filming law enforcement agents, the Special Rapporteur was advised that the State Secretariat for Security had issued, in October 2018, strict instructions that filming or taking a photo of law enforcement officials was not an infraction as such. The instructions also clarify that after all physical searches, law enforcement agents must give the person searched a written statement including the reasons for the search, his or her identification information and a description of the incident. While the Special Rapporteur commends Spanish authorities for these clarifications, he notes that the legislation still in force could be seen to contradict the proposed strict interpretation, and that the practice of law enforcement agents in the field in 2019 did not seem to fully comply with the instructions. 35. The Special Rapporteur was informed that a reporting formula that had been developed would require law enforcement officers to identify potential situations of ethnic profiling in their interactions with members of the public. This has apparently been used systematically only by the Madrid municipal police, although there are proposals for its expansion. C. Human rights framework 36. Spain has, broadly speaking, a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of human rights. There are, however, some omissions in its well-developed and fairly extensive human rights architecture that may have a negative impact on minorities in particular. Article 14 of the Constitution and article 23 of Organic Act No. 4/2000, both dealing with equality and non-discrimination, contain a limited number of grounds for prohibited distinctions that do not include language – an omission that is potentially inconsistent with a number of international treaty obligations for which this characteristic is fundamental. While article 13, paragraph 1, of the Constitution does indicate that noncitizens are to enjoy the public freedoms enshrined in title I of the Constitution in accordance with the law and treaties, the use of the term “Spaniards” for those entitled to claim the right to equality without discrimination in article 14 is problematic, since it excludes non-citizens. Criticisms of the restricted list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in legislation and the Constitution have been raised previously by other United Nations special procedure mandate holders. 9 It should be noted that article 14 excludes language and other prohibited grounds of distinction commonly found in United Nations human rights treaties. This could be of concern in relation to possible discriminatory practices against linguistic minorities, including members of the deaf community who use Spanish Sign Language or Catalan Sign Language. 37. It has been suggested by Spanish officials that the above-mentioned provisions are open-ended, and that judicial and other authorities may therefore interpret them liberally in a manner consistent with the international obligations of Spain. No data were presented, however, to indicate whether that was systematically or necessarily the case. Thus, linguistic minorities can be susceptible to the vagaries of local or individual interpretation and application. 9 8 For example, the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. See A/HRC/23/56/Add.2.