Author: whads

As a direct result of the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the ICIP has cancelled all public activity for the forthcoming weeks and has activated the teleworking protocol. In this way, the ICIP will continue working although responses may be delayed.

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Mass social protest is one of the most visible and repeated expressions of the current unrest affecting Latin America. More and more people are taking to the streets to denounce the loss of fundamental rights and freedoms, and what is perceived as constant attacks on the principles and practice of democracy. These protesters come from all walks of life, spanning several generations and different social and economic backgrounds.

Expectations for the future have fallen to their lowest levels in decades and a sense of insecurity has been gaining ground. Nevertheless, critical voices and transformative initiatives are greatly increasing in the face of despair.
In this context, ICIP and Casa Amèrica Catalunya present “Impulses of Latin America,” a seminar series that will take place on the first Thursday of the month, from March to July. These are the sessions scheduled:

Session 1: “From the erosion of democracy to the explosion of social revolts.” Latin America is experiencing a widespread outbreak of mass social protests against political parties and institutions that have failed to improve living conditions. New social-activist impulses threaten the status quo and open up prospects that are both risky and hopeful.

Session 2: “Economic crisis and social polarization.” The neoliberal economic system has increased inequalities and resulted in precarious living conditions for a significant part of the population. Without expectations for improvement, frustration grows and the social divide increases. Is it possible to reverse this situation?

Session 3: “A region threatened by the plunder of nature.” Latin America is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. An area that should be part of the heritage of humanity is instead at the service of consumer culture and economic progress focused on growth. The people and communities opposed to this plunder face all kinds of attacks, and the rest of the planet is also protesting.

Session 4: “The power of religion.” In recent times, religion has been gaining more and more prominence in politics, and for the current leaders in countries like Brazil or Guatemala, the Bible has even become a reference as important as the Constitution. In the search for faith in a better world, which has largely been lost, what role do religions play?

Session 5: “A transformative culture to combat violence.” Latin America has become the world’s most dangerous region, with the world’s highest murder rate. In the face of many types of violence, the creativity, critical expression, and the capacity of resilience and resistance of these societies has been exceptional. They are undoubtedly a key factor in their ongoing struggle for peace.

The Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace has made public its position on security in the midst of the global health crisis caused by the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. In the press release, the Council calls for abandoning military language, symbols and metaphors and refocusing security and defense policies.
“Rethinking security”
The coronavirus crisis has forced governments and people around the world to make urgent and drastic decisions. Many of these decisions are made with a high degree of uncertainty. We are facing a public health threat for which we were not prepared.
However, the response to the crisis has revealed the ability people have to face common challenges when values such as solidarity, commitment and empathy prevail. But the crisis also reminds us that we need to make significant cultural and political changes to address increasingly obvious global threats. These threats include social inequalities and the fact that most of the world’s people lack access to basic resources, such as healthcare, and the climate emergency, which, by reducing biodiversity, makes us weaker in the presence of pandemics. In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, from a peace culture perspective, we believe it is important to:
Avoid or modify military language, symbols and metaphors. We are not at war with the virus; we are defending life, and there is nothing further from war than the protection of life. War is a human invention that we must eradicate. War needs a friend-enemy (us versus them) logic, while a pandemic does not distinguish between ideologies. War pits people against people while the pandemic calls us to unite beyond our differences and calls us to value care, which is always made invisible. We need discipline, not because we blindly obey orders, but out of responsibility to others. There are sacrifices, not for a specific cause, but for humanity. We admire heroic acts, not when a few stand out in battle, but when a lot of anonymous people put their health at risk protecting the health of everyone else. In crisis situations all assistance available is needed and therefore welcome. And that includes the assistance provided by security forces, which is happening in every country. However, some actions, such as military patrols with submachine guns or statements by senior civilian or military officials suggesting that “we are all soldiers in this war” seem inappropriate to us. We must prepare ourselves so that, in the future, the response to emergencies provided by the armed forces today can be provided by civilian organizations with sufficient resources and preparation.
Rethink and democratize security and defense policies. Global challenges need global solutions. Current tools and resources are insufficient to deal with threats that know no borders or flags. We need to move from security concepts and practices designed to protect states to policies that are more focused on defending people, recognizing the vulnerability and interdependence of all human beings. To develop these new public policies we must promote open and inclusive debates about the definition of security and reach agreement on the most appropriate responses. Faced with pressure to increase military budgets, governments need the courage and criteria to develop more appropriate defense strategies for current threats.
Threats like the coronavirus pandemic cannot have military-type responses because that would be accepting the militarization of public life for a problem that is health related.
At the Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace we are committed to continue sounding the alarm about the risks of the militarization of public life, promoting public policies of security and defense of human rights rather than in the defense of state interests, and sending this letter to the Government of Catalonia.
7 April 2020
The Catalan Council for the Promotion of Peace is a consultative and participatory body of Catalan society for the promotion of peace in the activities of the Administration of the Catalan Government and local institutions in this field. It is made up of representatives of the Administration of the Catalan Government, local institutions, parliamentary groups, NGOs and other institutions and relevant personalities, recognized for their activities in favor of peace.

On Wednesday 30 January, coinciding with the celebration of the School Day of Nonviolence and Peace (DENIP), ICIP published new Peace Capsules on the website www.capsulesdepau.com
These are reflections on what peace is from three women of very diverse backgrounds: activist Aisha Altubuly, coordinator of the Together We Build It organization in Libya; hip-hop singer Diana Avella, from Colombia; and Kate Good, researcher and professor of literature in the United States.
With these new reflections, the Peace Capsules project now has over one hundred accounts of people that talk to us about what peace is from different backgrounds and perspectives, including academics, activists, victims and artists. The videos, which are one-minute long, are supplemented with educational materials designed to work with the concept of peace in schools. Throughout 2019 the project will continue to grow with the publication of new capsules.
On another note, coinciding with the celebration of DENIP, ICIP had a special thought for Alfons Banda, an outstanding example of pacifist thought in Catalonia and a driving force behind ICIP, who passed away five years ago.

Representatives of ICIP and the Colombian Commission for the Clarification of the Truth in Europe held additional meetings in January with organizations of Colombian victims in London and Brussels to coordinate the various working groups of the Commission.
The London meeting took place in January at the headquarters of Conciliation Resources with the support of Mujer Diáspora, an organization that brings together two hundred Colombian women residing in the British capital. The following day, a similar meeting was held in Brussels, at the headquarters of Amnesty International, under the organization of OIDHACO. On behalf of ICIP both meetings were led by Maria Fanlo, coordinator of the program “Peacebuilding and development of coexistence after periods of violence.”

The different European working groups that participate in supporting the Colombian Truth Commission will be in Catalonia next April.

The fourth meeting of the groups will take place from April 7 to 10 in Barcelona. It will be the first face-to-face meeting in the last two years after the previous activities were done virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This meeting aims to set the stage for presenting the Truth Commission’s final report, which will be published on June 28.

The plan for the various contributory actions to present the report to Europe will also be coordinated and share how the process is being systematized and reflecting on the role of the groups and their legacy once the Commission has completed its mandate.

The meeting, convened by ICIP as the Technical Secretariat of the Commission in Europe, is expected to bring together representatives from Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Commissioner Carlos Martin Beristain and Commissioner Lucía González will attend the meeting.

As the Technical Secretariat of the Commission in Europe, ICIP provides technical and logistical support to the activities organized by the Commission, coordinates the working groups established in different European countries and has provided methodological support to take testimonies from victims of Colombian conflict in exile.

From this position, ICIP has facilitated the creation of 15 groups in 10 European countries, converted into participatory spaces, confluences of experiences and coexistence and dialogue between victims of the Colombian conflict living in Europe.

The International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) and the Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition of Colombia have organized the first training course for a group of people who are going to interview victims of the Colombian conflict in exile in order to document cases and contribute to the clarification of events, recognition and memory. The training took place from 28 February to 3 March at the Casa de la Sagrada Família, bringing together forty participants with experience working with victims of conflict and with the armed conflict in Colombia, and mindful of the mandate of the Truth Commission. The workshops were led by Carlos Martín Beristain and Alejandro Valencia Vila, commissioners of the Truth Commission.
The Truth Commission thus begins working with victims outside Colombia and it does so in collaboration with ICIP, which has performed the functions of the Technical Secretariat of the Commission in Europe since 2019. The aim is to facilitate the process of contact and coordination among the various organizations of victims in exile and among institutions that have the capacity to identify people who had to flee Colombia because of the armed conflict, and to document cases. Swisspeace, Ask! (Switzerland-Colombia Working Group), Réseau France Colombie Solidarités, Iglesia Sueca y la Fundación Sueca para los Derechos Humanos, Kolko (Human Rights for Colombia), OIDHACO, Taula Catalana per la Pau i els Drets Humans a Colòmbia, Foro Internacional de Víctimas, Colectivo Creando Memoria, Mujer Diáspora, Colectiva de Mujeres Migradas y Exiliadas, and Constituyente de Exiliados are among these organizations.
The taking of testimony and case documentation will begin following the training of interviewers, based on the guidelines established by the Truth Commission. Based on this first experience in Europe, the Truth Commission will assess the possibility of spreading this work to other regions of the world.
Innovative and unprecedented mandate
The Truth Commission of Colombia has an innovative mandate that is unprecedented in other truth commissions, which implies being present in at least 16 countries in order to document a 1.200 cases in Europe.
The Commission’s mandate provides for an active role for victims’ organizations, as well as for victims who are not organized, with the aim of creating a representative picture of the phenomenon of exile. At the same time, the work of the Commission implies guaranteeing accompaniment and psychosocial support for the victims, creating trust between the parties, and working on the basis of recognition of diversity and a gender focus.