Author: Eugenia

On Friday, January 31, the Parliament of Catalonia’s auditorium hosted the III Peace Conference, an initiative led by the chamber’s board and co-organized by the Consell Català de Foment de la Pau (Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace), Lafede.cat, and ICIP.

Under the theme African Perspectives on Peace: Policies and Practices, the conference gathered over 200 participants, including representatives from peace organizations, institutions, and the African diaspora.

The event sought to highlight African-led peacebuilding efforts against the backdrop of Africa’s complex history—marked by armed conflicts and enduring colonial legacies—and contribute to the development of the Pla País de Pau (Peace Country Plan), a policy initiative set to shape Catalonia’s public peace strategy.

Centering African Voices in Public Policy

With the Pla País de Pau in focus, the conference underscored the urgency of engaging African voices—both on the continent and within the diaspora—in shaping Catalonia’s approach to peace and conflict resolution.

During the opening session, activist and ICIP Governing Board member Remei Sipi stressed the importance of inclusive peace processes, stating that “peace cannot be sustainable unless it includes all voices, especially the silenced ones.” Similarly, Arés Perceval, co-president of Lafede.cat, advocated for the active participation of the diaspora in public policy and emphasized the need for explicitly anti-racist peace policies.

Decolonization and the Fight Against Racism

A key theme of the III Peace Conference was the legacy of colonialism in Africa and the international community’s responsibility for the continent’s ongoing conflicts.

In the opening session, Florence N. Mpaayei, a member of the United Nations Ad Hoc Team of Senior Advisers on Mediation, Gender, and Inclusion, emphasized that achieving lasting peace in Africa requires collaboration between both internal and external actors. She highlighted how “the dynamics of conflict and peace in Africa are intertwined with historical colonialism and the many complex facets of imperialism in post-colonial Africa.” However, Mpaayei also underscored the resilience and agency of African societies, citing innovative peacebuilding, mediation, and reconciliation initiatives in South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, and Nigeria. She particularly emphasized the crucial role of civil society—especially women and young people—in driving transformation.

The first roundtable of the day centred on the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources and the continent’s structural dependence on international actors, highlighting the urgent need for equitable and self-sustaining development. The panel featured Sani Ladan, a geopolitical analyst specializing in international relations and migration; Bombo Ndir, a human rights activist; and Jean-Bosco Botsho, president of the African and Catalan Cooperation Association (AFRICAT).

Sani Ladan stressed the urgent need to “decolonize international relations” and sharply criticized current cooperation policies, arguing that “Africa is an actor with its own voice, but it is not being heard. International development cooperation has become an instrument of blackmail that fosters dependency.” He emphasized the necessity of “establishing equal partnerships with Africa” and truly listening to African voices.

Echoing this call for inclusivity, activist Bombo Ndir underscored that “building peace requires the representation of all voices,” emphasising the importance of ensuring that women have a seat at decision-making tables.

Both Ladan and Ndir warned about the pervasive nature of systemic racism, both social and institutional, as well as the rise of hate speech. “Racism fractures coexistence and undermines peace,” Ndir stated.

Throughout the conference, several speakers paid tribute to Bakari Diba, a young homeless Senegalese man who died in Barcelona’s Ciutadella Park, just steps from the Parliament. His case, denounced by the Black African and Afro-descendant Community in Catalonia, was cited as a stark example of the institutional violence faced by migrants.

Jean-Bosco Botsho, president of the AFRICAT association, stressed the urgent need to prioritize conflict prevention, emphasizing that sustainable peace requires addressing the root causes of injustice and inequality.

Parliamentary Group Interventions

The second panel focused on Catalonia-Africa relations and featured representatives from five political groups: Neus Comes (PSC), Ennatu Domingo (Junts), Adrià Guevara (ERC Secretary of International Relations), Viviane Ogou (Comuns), and Pat Sillah (CUP).

All speakers emphasized the importance of integrating African voices into the future Pla País de Pau, advocating for a relationship between Catalonia and Africa based on equality and mutual respect. They also stressed the need for local actors to play a central role in shaping policies and fostering meaningful cooperation.

The President of the Parliament, Josep Rull, concluded the III Peace Conference by reaffirming Catalonia’s longstanding commitment to peace and its role as a welcoming society. In a global context increasingly shaped by hate speech and misinformation, Rull emphasized that “defending peace is an act of collective strength that gives meaning to humanity.”

Photographs: Parliament of Catalonia

For over fifty years, Angela Davis has been at the forefront of feminist movements and collective movements for prison abolition, as well as the struggle against state violence and oppression.

Abolició. Polítiques, pràctiques, promeses (Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises) is the result of decades of thinking in action with the aim of contributing to the debate on security and prisons. This publication addresses the history of prison abolitionist thought and practice in the United States and around the world, the unique contributions of women to these struggles, and stories and lessons of organizing within and beyond prison walls.

The book encapsulates the career of one of the most important figures of the abolitionist movement.  It is essential reading for anyone who imagines a world without prisons.

Translated by Lola Fígols Fornell and illustrated by MilVietnams, this volume brings together the most significant texts of the activist and thinker, and offers a deep and incisive reflection on the history and future of abolitionism.

A key book to understand contemporary abolitionism

In Abolition, Angela Davis explores the history of abolitionist thought and practice, highlights the pivotal role of women in these struggles, and offers lessons on collective organizing.  Her writings address diverse issues with an intersectional vision that combines gender, class and race to analyze the repressive structures that prevent us from imagining socialist and just futures.

The call for abolitionism: Davis proposes imagining new ways of guaranteeing public health and safety.  She argues that police brutality, migrant detention and prison control require abolitionist strategies to build a more livable future.

Slavery and prison: The author analyzes the continuity between slavery and the modern prison system, focusing on the prison system in the United States and how it perpetuates racist and capitalist structures.

Racialization of crime: Davis examines how the criminalization of Black communities has historically been used to justify mass imprisonment, regardless of the guilt or innocence of the individuals involved.

The intersectional perspective: Imprisonment is not only a racial or economic issue, but also a gender issue.  Davis addresses institutionalized violence against women prisoners, from medical neglect to sexual abuse, and analyzes how Black women suffer disproportionately in this system.

The prison-industrial complex: The book explores how the US penal system acts as a profit-making industry, perpetuating structural inequalities and consolidating social control.

About the author

Angela Yvonne Davis (Birmingham, Alabama, 1944) is Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz (USA).  An activist, writer and scholar, her work focuses on prisons, policing and the intersections between race, gender and class.  With over fifty years of activism, Angela Davis has been a key figure in the movements against state violence, racism and gender oppression.  She is the author of many books, including Are Prisons Obsolete? (2020), and Women, Race and Class (2022).

Co-published by ICIP and Tigre de Paper

Abolition is the result of the collaboration between ICIP and Tigre de Paper, with the aim of disseminating the culture of peace among Catalan society.  This book expands the catalogue of ICIP’s publications, which deal with issues related to the culture of peace and nonviolence.  Specifically, the book is part of ICIP’s “Security alternatives” program from which the Institute addresses the analysis of punitivism and the culture of punishment, with the aim of exploring security models that allow for the management and transformation of violence in a more humane, just and effective way.

Barcelona will host the 2025 edition of the Build Peace Conference, a global conference series and community of practice that brings together practitioners, activists, academics, policymakers, artists and technologists worldwide. The conference is an initiative of Build Up, a global non-profit that implements programs, conducts research, develops technical solutions to engage with conflict and build societies where everyone can thrive.

ICIP will co-organize the 2025 edition, marking its role as the leading partner. The conference will be held from November 21 to 23, 2025, at La CIBA, a vibrant resource space in Santa Coloma de Gramenet dedicated to women, innovation, and the feminist economy.

The goal is to share experiences and advance knowledge on emergent challenges to peace in the digital age and peacebuilding innovations that address these challenges. Under this umbrella, Build Peace focuses on one central theme linked to the conference’s location each year.

ICIP’s involvement in the Build Peace series is well-established. It actively participated in the last three editions, held in Germany (2022), Kenya (2023), and the Philippines (2024). The successful bid to bring the conference to Catalonia in 2025 was announced at the closing session of Build Peace 2024, held on the outskirts of Manila. This underlines Catalonia’s growing role as a peace-oriented dialogue and innovation hub.

Announcement of the celebration of Build Peace 2025 in Barcelona:

ICIP participation in Build Peace 2024

Build Peace 2024 was held from 14-16 November with the theme “Pushing Frontiers, From the Ground Up.” On this occasion, Build Up was co-organized by the Council for Climate and Conflict Action, and the conference focused on experiences of dialogue and meditation, as well as on conflicts arising from climate change and local and international initiatives to address them.

ICIP actively participated in the conference with two proposals: a presentation on the experiences of mediation in the conflict in the autonomous region of Mindanao, Philippines, by ICIP director Kristian Herbolzheimer, and a working session on the experience of dialogue through the Agora Project, by Pablo Aguiar, head of ICIP’s “Social and Political Dialogue” area.

Over three days, the conference provided an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between technology and conflict, focusing, for example, on the development of artificial intelligence and the challenges it poses or on the impact of digital media, specifically social networks, on traditional peace processes and spaces for dialogue and mediation. The various working sessions highlighted that peace is built with and from local communities and that digital tools (online) complement networking and interpersonal work (offline).

ICIP actively supported the celebration of the World Congress on Enforced Disappearances, which took place in Geneva (Switzerland) from 15 to 16 January. The Convention against Enforced Disappearances Initiative (CEDI) and the United Nations organised this event. An ICIP delegation actively participated in the event, which brought together civil society organisations, including family associations, states, international agencies, and experts, to agree on a common strategy and action plan to promote the ratification and implementation of the Convention against Enforced Disappearances and facilitate intergovernmental dialogue.

The Congress received the support of ICIP and many international institutions, which promoted a vision of peace in the fight against disappearances. ICIP’s analysis is based on the institute’s “Enforced Disappearances” program, which aims to delve deeper into conceptualising the link between the struggle against enforced disappearances and peacebuilding.

Specifically, ICIP’s work in this area focuses on the accompaniment and support provided to groups of relatives of disappeared persons; this implies incorporating a gender perspective since, in most cases, these groups are headed by women who lead the research efforts.

At the Congress’s opening ceremony, ICIP director Kristian Herbolzheimer noted that “people who search for missing relatives, with their demand for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition, are also promoters and guarantors of peace and democracy.” He added that ICIP is committed to “continuing to accompany searchers, especially women, and to disseminate their recognition as peacebuilders.“

ICIP also participated in the Congress’s closing session. In this case, the head of Strategic Alliances, Sílvia Plana, highlighted the need to “build networks and connection spaces between groups of searchers” and stressed the need to “mobilise states and civil society” to strengthen the fight against enforced disappearances and adopt a gender perspective. “We have much to learn from women searchers,” she said.

The voice of women searching for missing persons was also heard at the Congress, at the roundtable “The impact of enforced disappearances on women,” organised by ICIP and moderated by technician Sabina Puig. The session featured women from Syria, Gambia, the Philippines, Mexico and Peru who, from their own different experiences, highlighted the impunity that prevails regarding the crime of enforced disappearance and the painful process of demanding justice and obtaining the truth.

Related publications

ICIP’s work in accompanying women searchers began at the International Meeting of Relatives of Disappeared Persons, which took place in Barcelona in November 2023 and brought together some twenty women who are victims or direct relatives of disappeared persons.

The experiences of that first meeting have been compiled in the ICIP Report Conversations with Women Searchers: The Struggle against Enforced Disappearances and Peacebuilding by Baketik researcher Maider Maraña (in Spanish).

ICIP’s analysis of the link between the struggle against disappearances and peacebuilding was featured in the concept note Contributions of women searchers to peacebuilding by Sílvia Plana and Sabina Puig, presented at the Geneva Congress.

The ICIP has announced the call for nominations for the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2025, which aims to publicly recognize individuals, entities or institutions that, outstandingly and extensively, have worked and contributed to promoting and building peace.

It is the fourteenth edition of the Award, corresponding to 2025, and the call will be open until April 14, 2025. The applications can be registered electronically, through this site (in Spanish), or they can be registered in person at any administrative register of the Spanish state and an embassy or consulate outside Spain.

The ICIP Peace in Progress Award consists of public recognition, a sculpture created by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, artist and activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, called Porta del Sol, and 6,000 euros. The award ceremony occurs annually in an institutional ceremony at the Parliament of Catalonia.

Any natural or legal person can submit nominations to the ICIP Peace in Progress Award, but self-nominated candidates will not be accepted.

If you submit from abroad, please check with the ICIP (convocatories@icip.cat) before registration deadlines. Nomination of candidates by e-mail will not be accepted.

Previous granted

In previous editions, the Award was granted to the activist and researcher Vicenç Fisas (2024), two associations from Bosnia and Herzegovina: Women Victims of War and Forgotten Children of War (2023), the Basque Country’s associative network in favour of peace (2022), the activist from Congo, Julienne Lusenge (2020), the Coalition of Families of the Disappeared in Algeria (2019), the Mexican organization Cauce Ciudadano (2018), the activist Arcadi Oliveres (2017), Peace Brigades International (2016), the Capuchin friar Joan Botam (2015), WILPF (2014), the ex-general Jovan Divjak (2013), Madres de Soacha (2012), and the struggle of conscientious objectors (people who refuse to do military service or any substitute social work) represented by Pepe Beúnza (2011).

In the same year, 2011, in a special edition of the Award, the Parliament of Catalonia was honoured for representing the continuity and legacy of the institutions “Pau i Treva” and “Consolat de Mar.”

The annual meeting of the Platform for Peacebuilding in Mexico took place in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca, Mexico, from 6-10 November 2024. This association brings together some thirty Mexican and international organizations working for peacebuilding in Mexico. ICIP has been a member of the Platform since its inception, and its participation is included in the thematic work area “Violence in non-war settings,” and, more specifically, in the work on Mexico initiated in 2018.

The Platform is a space for the exchange of knowledge and experiences in order to formulate a shared diagnosis of the serious and complex situation of violence in the country and to propose possible responses from a peacebuilding perspective. In fact, the analysis session was the most important point on the meeting’s agenda. Local perspectives (Chiapas, Oaxaca, Mexico City and Chihuahua) converged with national, Latin American, European and global perspectives. There was also a bilateral analysis (US-Mexico), coinciding precisely with the week in which Donald Trump won the US elections.

Based on the context analyses and a profound strategic reflection on the capacities and opportunities for peace in Mexico, the Platform has defined its internal work plan for 2025. The meeting also provided an opportunity to strengthen the links between the participating peace organizations, which often have to face – sometimes firsthand – the onslaught of criminal violence, delegitimization by local and federal authorities, and international neglect.  After all, Mexico is a democracy, is ranked twelfth among world economies, and is not formally at war.

An important feature of this year’s meeting is that it was programmed to coincide with a gathering of young activists from across the country, thus fostering an intergenerational dialogue that not only allowed the group of young people to become familiar with the solid historical track record of Mexican peace initiatives, but also enriched the Platform’s discussions with perspectives that have not been addressed in great depth until now. The concerns the young people brought to the table include issues related to domestic violence, sexual and reproductive rights, limited future prospects, and mental health.

While acknowledging the legacy of their ancestors and the valuable work of elder members in their respective communities, the group of young people also pointed to the fact that they often feel that, both in their immediate surroundings as well as in social movements, dynamics are still too adult-centered and their perspectives, concerns and methods are often not taken into account. Dialogues such as the one that took place these days in Sierra Norte have made it possible to advance towards a more comprehensive vision of peace and to build bridges between various generations of peace activists who do not always coincide in spaces of reflection and action.

During the gathering, participants demanded justice for Father Marcelo, a human rights activist and peacebuilder who was murdered on 20 October in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. They also demanded that the Ayuuk indigenous human rights defender Sandra Domínguez Martínez, from Oaxaca, and missing since 4 October after receiving numerous threats because of her activism, be found alive.

The ICIP Governing Board has renewed the institution’s Strategic Plan for the next four years. This document sets the objectives and challenges for the future of the institution’s lines of action, our vision for peace and the work method that distinguishes ICIP.

The document “ICIP, a pivotal institution: Strategic Plan 2024-2028 ” is based on the premise that ICIP is a unique entity, a pivot between the institutional and social realms, and between the local and global spheres. An institution that supports the ensemble of social, institutional, academic and cultural actors working to build more just and less violent societies in Catalonia and in the world at large; that works to ensure that Catalonia develops the capabilities needed to tackle the multiple crises of global peace and security that we face; and that strives to become a leader in public policies and initiatives to promote peace.

The Strategic Plan defines the ICIP Method, in other words, the purposes that characterize the various actions carried out by ICIP, whether in the field of Research, Outreach or Action:

The document also sets out ICIP’s strategic core areas and the objectives of each of them (Organizational culture; Institutional structure; Innovative action; Peacebuilding ecosystem; Communication and outreach), and establishes our Horizon for 2028, in other words, our key goals for the next four years. Among them, it sets the objective of contributing to making Catalonia a world hub for the promotion of peace, integrating ICIP into a House of Peace, and promoting an Observatory for the Promotion of Peace. In order to achieve these goals, ICIP intends to consolidate its team by increasing its staff and diversifying revenue streams.

On 19 September, coinciding with the World Peace Day week of celebrations, ICIP presented the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2024 to researcher, activist and analyst Vicenç Fisas i Armengol at a ceremony in the auditorium of the Parliament of Catalonia.  Fisas has been honoured “for his extensive and continuous career in research and activism for peace and human rights, as well as the mediation and analysis of conflicts.”

Fisas holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford (United Kingdom) and is the author of more than 70 books on the culture of peace, conflict analysis and disarmament.  Throughout his career he has excelled in activism in favor of peace and the defense of human rights, he has been a facilitator and analyst of violent conflicts and peace processes – for example, in Colombia, the Basque Country and the Philippines – and he has carried out numerous academic research projects.

ICIP president Xavier Masllorens opened the event, led by journalist Cèlia Cernadas.  He emphasized that the ICIP Peace in Progress Award contributes “to valuing people and groups that strengthen the culture of peace, understood as the positive peace that is based on justice” and responds to ICIP’s will to work for “the strengthening of a critical and active public opinion, which will form an unstoppable and innovative emancipatory movement in a time of uncertainty.”

Journalist Cristina Gallach described the honoree as a “pioneer”. She highlighted his “tenacity and persistence in the work for peace” and his “generosity in transmitting values and blazing a trail for others to follow.”

Vicenç Fisas received the award amid a heartfelt ovation. He defended the need to “reactivate the peace movement, with the complicity of institutions,” to tackle the “enormous challenge” we face as a society in the context of the rise of conflicts, militarism, rearmament, the climate crisis or the migration crisis. “The strategies and blueprints of twenty years ago are no longer useful.” It is necessary to “rethink everything” and “mobilize people again” to create a “more dignified and decent society,” he said.

The event featured the institutional speeches of the Minister of the European Union and External Action, Jaume Duch, and the President of the Parliament, Josep Rull.  Minister Duch thanked Vicenç Fisas for his work for peace and defended the work of “peacebuilders” at a “particularly tumultuous” moment, as well as the need to promote dialogue and the defence of human rights. The minister also referred to the Catalan Forum for Peace, a process that he defined as an “excellent opportunity to design a new Catalan plan for peace.”

Finally, at the closing of the event, the president of the Parliament, Josep Rull, advocated putting human dignity and respect for human rights at the forefront to “build a better world.” “Without human dignity, without humanity, and without fundamental rights, there is no future,” he said.

The ceremony’s opening and closing ceremonies featured musical performances by cellists Mariona Camats and Oriol Prat, who are associated with the Pau Casals Foundation.

Once again, the ICIP Award ceremony at the Parliament of Catalonia brought together many people, organizations, and institutions working in different fields to promote and disseminate the culture of peace.

The ICIP Award, a thirty-year trajectory

The ICIP Peace in Progress Award, established in 2011, aims to publicly recognize individuals, organizations, or institutions that have worked and contributed outstandingly and extensively to the promotion and construction of peace.

The award consists of public recognition, a sculpture created by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, artist and activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Porta de Sol, and an economic endowment of 6,000 euros.  Throughout its twelve-year history, the ICIP Award has honoured individuals and groups from Catalonia, Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Mexico and Algeria for their struggle for reconciliation, truth, justice and equality while focusing on women’s empowerment and the gender perspective.

Full video of the awarding ceremony of the 2024 ICIP Peace in Progress Award

More than 150 people attended the “Human rights and peace in Central America: Challenges and opportunities” conference in Barcelona on 18-19 June.  The event was organized by ICIP and the new Taula Catalana Coordinating Group for Human Rights and Peace in Central America.

The conference provided a backdrop for the launch of the new Taula, a platform consisting of 20 Catalan organizations that aim to “reinforce the bonds of solidarity between Catalonia and Central America; raise awareness of human rights violations in the region; generate proposals; and exert political influence locally, regionally and internationally in favour of peace and human rights,” according to Alícia Rodríguez, one of the platform’s spokespersons.

On Tuesday, 18 June, at the conference’s opening session, ICIP president Xavier Masllorens stressed “the need to focus public attention on Central America in the current context of extreme inequality, threats to human rights and the expansion of a false security.”  He also highlighted the work carried out by ICIP to provide knowledge and analysis of Central America’s challenges through the “Violence in non-war settings” work area.

During two days, the conference provided an opportunity to reflect and debate on the challenges to peace and human rights in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, countries affected by the rise of authoritarianism, securitization and militarization, political repression and persecution, exploitation and extractivism of natural resources, violence against women, LGBTQ+ groups and Indigenous communities.

The conference featured the participation of fifteen speakers, most of them women, from the four countries.  They are experts and activists who fight to transform everyday violence, some from exile.   This is the case, for example, of Nicaraguan lawyer and politician Ana Margarita Vijil, who was imprisoned for twenty months for her opposition to the Ortega-Murillo regime, banished from the country in 2023 and stripped of her citizenship; Amaru Ruiz, president of Fundación del Río, stripped of her Nicaraguan citizenship for her defence of Indigenous peoples’ human rights; Elvira Cuadra, Nicaraguan sociologist and current director of the Center for Transdisciplinary Studies of Central America; and Ramón Cadena, lawyer and human rights defender from Guatemala, currently exiled in Catalonia.

The ICIP Governing Board has honoured the researcher and activist Vicenç Fisas i Armengol with the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2024 “for his extensive and sustained career in the field of research and activism for peace and human rights, and conflict mediation and analysis.”  The nomination stood out from the twenty-odd applications received from around the world, from individuals or institutions dedicated to promoting peace.

Born in Barcelona in 1952, Fisas holds a doctorate in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford (United Kingdom).  Throughout his career, he has excelled in activism in favour of peace and the defence of human rights; he has been a facilitator and analyst of violent conflicts and peace processes, and he has carried out numerous academic research projects on conflicts, peace culture and disarmament.  He has also been an outstanding disseminator: he has published more than 70 books on topics related to his fields of expertise and has collaborated with numerous media outlets.

As is customary every year, ICIP will hold an award ceremony at the Parliament of Catalonia in September, coinciding with the International Day of Peace celebration.

Activism and research

Fisas began his activism for peace in the 1970s, first as a member of Equip OC. This group supported the first conscientious objectors to military service in Spain and, later, as an active member of the Casal de Pau of the International Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and of the Anti-Nuclear Movement of Catalonia.  Intending to combine activism and research, in 1974, he created the Center for Conflict Analysis, a small centre for documentation and analysis of the peace movement from which he initiated contacts with international peace organizations.  A decade later, he founded and coordinated the Peace and Conflict Program at the CIDOB (Barcelona Center for International Affairs).  The main Spanish peace research centres were created at this time, as was the Spanish Association for Peace Research (AIPAZ), of which Fisas was also the founder and president.

Additionally, in the 1990s, he became active in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and as coordinator of the disarmament campaigns promoted by Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Intermón-Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Founder of the Escola de Cultura de Pau

In 1989, Fisas joined the UNESCO Center of Catalonia as a researcher on peace and disarmament. He coordinated the UNESCO Chair on Peace and Human Rights at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).  At the same time, he was appointed UNESCO’s head of conflict prevention.  In 1999, following the success of the UNESCO Chair, Fisas created the UAB School for a Culture of Peace (ECP), of which he was the director until 2016 and coordinator of the Peace Processes program.  The ECP has become a leading peace research centre in Catalonia, conducting research, training, awareness-raising and intervention.

Experience in mediation and conflict prevention

Throughout his career, in addition to academic activism and research, Fisas has participated in peace negotiations in Colombia (2000-2016), the Basque Country (1998-2003 and 2016), the Sahara (2000-2010), Turkish Kurdistan (2006-2015) and the Philippines (2005-2017).  His most extensive experience has been in Colombia, where he has been present in peace negotiations with the FARC and ELN in different periods.  This field experience has led him to become an advisor on peace issues to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain (2004-2010) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway (2010-2020), as well as a collaborator with the Norwegian Center for Conflict Resolution (NOREF) since 2008.  Based on the monitoring of various peace processes around the world, Fisas published the Peace Processes Yearbook for ten years (2006-2016), in which he analyzed the evolution of peace negotiations.

Publications and awards

Throughout his career, he has published more than 70 books related to conflict analysis and the culture of peace, including El poder militar en España (1979), Introducció a l’estudi de la pau i dels conflictes (1987), Las armas de la democracia (1988), Ecología y seguridad en el Mediterráneo (1993), Las Naciones Unidas ante un mundo en crisis (1994), Cultura de paz y gestión de conflictos (1998), Adiós a las armas ligeras: las armas y la cultura de la violencia (2000), Procesos de paz y negociación en conflictos armados (2004), Diplomacias de paz: negociar con grupos armados (2015), La gestión de las crisis sociopolíticas: ¿prevención y/o cambio estructural? (2017) and Manual de negociación de conflictos políticos (2021).

His career has been recognized with several awards, such as the National Human Rights Award (1988), the Josep Vidal Lecha Memorial for Peace Award (1988) and the Solidarity Initiative Award of El Periódico de Catalunya (2007).  Now, he has also been granted the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2024, which he will receive during a public ceremony at the Parliament of Catalonia in September.

ICIP Peace in Progress Award

Since 2011, ICIP has called the Peace in Progress Award annually to award and publicly recognise people, entities or institutions that have worked and contributed in a unique and extended way to promote and construct peace.

The award includes public recognition, a sculpture created by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, artist and activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Porta del Sol, and a financial endowment of 6,000 euros.

The awarding occurs annually in an institutional ceremony at the Parliament of Catalonia, coinciding with September 21, International Day of Peace.

The Catalan Forum for Peace was publicly presented on Wednesday 14 February as part of the Second Conference on Peace held at the Parliament of Catalonia. This new forum is a participatory process of reflection and debate that was launched with a double objective: to create a public peace process in Catalonia and to reinforce the agendas and social and political advocacy capabilities of Catalan peace organizations.

The Catalan Forum for Peace is an initiative promoted by the Government of Catalonia, the Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace, ICIP and the associative network dedicated to the promotion of peace. Thus, it is the result of social and institutional collaboration and will be carried out throughout 2024 and 2025. The Forum will consist of a process of citizen participation based on five debate themes: Culture of Peace; Security and Justice; Armed Conflicts; Global Challenges; and Women, Peace and Security.

The website www.forumcatalapau.cat was launched in conjunction with the public presentation to encourage the participation of citizens, organizations and institutions committed to the values of the culture of peace and social justice.

“For a public peace policy”

The public presentation of the Catalan Forum for Peace took place during the celebration of the Parliament of Catalonia’s Second Conference on Peace, co-organized by the Catalan chamber, ICIP and Lafede.cat. Under the title “For a public peace policy,” the conference brought together representatives of numerous peace organizations and experts in the field of research and work for peace, as well as representatives of the Government and several city councils and institutions.

At the opening of the conference, the vice president of the Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace and director of ICIP, Kristian Herbolzheimer, called on all Catalan institutions and organizations committed to the values of the culture of peace and social justice to join the Catalan Forum for Peace: “This is the time to start reflecting on how we can contribute to peace in the world from Catalonia. It is time for all the people, groups and institutions that share the values of the culture of peace and share the commitment to a more just and caring world to meet and explain ourselves.”

For her part, the president of Lafede.cat, Arés Perceval, stressed that the Catalan Forum for Peace should enable “the design of a public peace policy endorsed by all parliamentary groups, which is a pending issue.” She added that the process should also “serve to strengthen the movement for peace and nonviolence that we lead from civil society.”

Both the director of ICIP and the president of Lafede.cat expressed their solidarity with the three Catalan activists who are on a hunger strike for Palestine, including Gabriela Serra, president of the Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace, who was unable to participate in the event.

The conference was inaugurated by the president of the Parliament of Catalonia, Anna Erra, who highlighted the tradition of promoting peace in Catalonia, a “country of peace,” which “has not hesitated to embrace the values of democracy and fundamental freedoms.” In her speech, Erra predicted that the Catalan Forum for Peace will help strengthen the culture of peace, “make us a useful tool for the international community,” and “define some answers based on the country’s collective intelligence.”

The conference included two roundtables: the first one focused on the challenges and opportunities for peace in the context of global threats, and the second one was dedicated to the five debate themes that will guide the Catalan Forum for Peace when the participatory process begins in April. Participants included Carme Colomina, researcher at CIDOB; Luca Gervasoni, director of NOVACT; Maria Josep Parés, consultant; Jesús Vinyes, president of the School Council of Catalonia; Nora Miralles, president of the Delàs Center; Albert Caramés, director of FundiPau; Jordi Armadans, journalist and political scientist; and Blanca Camps, researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona..

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Iranian activist, journalist and writer Narges Mohammadi for her struggle against the oppression of women in Iran and in favor of human rights and freedom.

The award is also a recognition of the work of the peaceful “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement sparked by the death in 2022 of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, while in police custody. This movement has spread throughout Iran and internationally to demand women’s rights and freedom of expression.

ICIP director Kristian Herbolzheimer considers the award “very timely and well-deserved” because it “places activism at the center, a necessary condition for overthrowing authoritarian regimes.” And he praises the double facet of this year’s Nobel Prize: personal recognition of a grassroots activist who has been fighting since the 1990s, and recognition of the protest movement of all the women and men who are fighting for equality in Iran and around the world. “The awarding of this prize offers moral, political and institutional support for all the people who fight for change.  A fundamental recognition for persevering in the face of very complicated situations, which allows them to continue their struggle.” At the same time, the director of ICIP believes that the award can breathe new oxygen into the “Women, Life, Freedom” protest movement.

For the third consecutive year, the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to activists who are in prison. Narges Mohammadi has been arrested thirteen times and is currently incarcerated after having been sentenced to 31 years in prison for her activism.

With this award, the Nobel Committee has sent a clear message that human rights and democracy are necessary conditions for peace.