All the paths that Esther Giménez-Salinas (Barcelona, ??1949) has taken have their origins in the German school where she studied in her early years. Even the Christmas video, in which, amid laughter and dancing, she bakes and decorates trays and trays of cookies at home, with some of her children, while Rockin’ around the Christmas tree plays in the background.
Speaking German already helped today’s Síndica de Greuges – Catalonia’s equivalent of the Ombudsman – in her early days as a penalty judge, in the 1970s. And everything he learned during his research stays at German universities, and in France, already from the preparation of his doctoral thesis on juvenile delinquency, has not stopped opening doors for him. Not only professionals. It was during a training stay in Munich, thanks to a grant from the Council of Europe, three decades ago, that, in addition to instructing her in the principles of restorative justice (reparation of harm to the victim), mediation and conciliation, which have guided his career, he learned to make jams, cookies and cakes with indigenous recipes. And he hasn’t stopped doing it, for the enjoyment of his family and friends. Cooking the fruit, like kneading the pasta, has a certain therapeutic effect for her.
The appointment with Giménez-Salinas is in the Born district, in Barcelona. He chooses to be photographed with his bicycle, which he now only uses occasionally around town. Traffic is complicated. In other words, he takes the opportunity to pedal up and down in front of the esplanade of the Center for Culture and Memory and on the four blocks on the way back to the Sindicatura de Greuges, his center of operations since July 2022. His appointment, which obtained the consensus of the PSC, ERC and Junts, is for a six-year term.
He had doubts when accepting, he admits. “Now I’m happy, but not much in the first year. It was not an easy decision. I had my life sorted out and I had time, which was about to happen”, he says. After more than fifty years dedicated to criminal law and teaching, she had slowed down the pace of work, although she kept classes at the university, went to prisons, gave lectures. And since the pandemic he had settled in his house in the Maresme, where he can grow apricots and go for bike rides.
But he made the move. “At six in the morning, if I wake up, I’m already looking at reports, I’m the one to mature the issues. Even on the weekend there are things to do. This is intense!” he says, smiling. The Union has a budget of 7.16 million euros this year and a team of 77 people to defend the rights of citizens against abuses by the administrations: they manage the complaints received and promote ex officio actions to try to change habits and that the solutions are not just individual. For her it is the opportunity to continue paving the way for the resolution of conflicts through the restorative way, to avoid closure measures as much as possible and to work for children and the elderly.
Member of a family of lawyers, doctor of law and degree in psychology, juvenile delinquency has been a field of work for Giménez-Salinas since its beginnings. She volunteered at the Juvenile Court, and with her doctoral scholarship she spent a year at the Vaucresson juvenile delinquency center near Paris, where she learned that the treatment of young people should, whenever possible, be in custody , not locked up in institutions.
Over the years he has seen many injustices. here and there In the reformatory for girls where she volunteered during the Franco regime and mobilized so that they could get out of it. And in the Mexican high-security prison, surrounded by sharks, where he entered for a week, in 2018, for a restorative justice program of the Human Rights Commission. “I discovered very hard stories. Even officials are afraid. When I got to the hotel I cried all night”, he explains.
Always with one foot in teaching – which she had to leave due to incompatibility with the Syndicatura – and administration, she has been, among other positions, director of the Center for Legal Studies of the Generalitat (1983-1993) and member of the Council General of the Judiciary at the proposal of the CiU and the PP (1996-2001), where he was speaker of the law on Criminal Responsibility of Minors. Also, professor of Criminal Law and rector of Ramon Llull University (2002-2012).
In parallel with work, his family grew. She was 23 when her first child was born. He has four. And seven clean Among his hobbies, he likes to sing and will set up a choir at the Union, to make a team, like at university. From there he also took another initiative: his “Rector’s jam” is now “Syndica’s”, delicately packaged in glass jars, which he gives away.