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The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Bolivia and ICIP have created and published an online course on peace journalism. The course, which is free and open to everyone, is aimed at people who practice or want to practice journalism and who are interested in peacebuilding and conflict transformation.

It is a series of videos published on YouTube that have the explanations of Xavier Giró, who was professor of journalism at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) for 30 years; the Bolivian communicator and political scientist Vania Sandoval; the editor-in-chief of Projeto Comprova, Sérgio Lüdtke; and an optional module facilitated by Arturo Torrez, founder and director of the Código Vidrio research portal.

The course deals with communication for peace in contexts of polarization and social conflict, journalism in the context of harassment and digital violence, journalism in electoral processes and communication for democracy, journalism and the fight against disinformation and the generation of hate speech.

The course has been created in Bolivia. Fernando Aramayo coordinated it, and Xavier Puig Escamilla and Yerko Rodríguez, members of UNDP Bolivia, contributed.

According to Aramayo, “the course seeks to improve the capacities of journalist to promote positive peace from their work area, providing theoretical aspects and above all tools, for their journalistic actions on the ground”, he points out.

The course, which consists of seventeen videos, is aimed at professionals interested in political communication and professional coverage of conflict scenarios “on the ground” and those who want to strengthen their investigative journalism skills.

You can access all the course videos in Spanish at this link.

The teaching team

Xavier Giró (ES)
He was a professor of Political Journalism at the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) for 30 years. He was also the promoter and director of the research group Observatory of Conflict Coverage, where he specialized in analysing media coverage of conflicts worldwide. Before his academic career, he worked as a journalist for different media, gaining practical experience in the field.

Vania Sandoval (BO)
After practising journalism for years in the political area in local and national newspapers, she dedicated herself to research, working as the General Coordinator of the National Media Observatory (ONADEM-Fundació UNIR Bolivia) between 2006 and 2015. From there, she coordinated and carried out research on journalism and democracy, social conflicts, and public space. She is the co-author of a dozen books involving communication and the relationship with democracy in Bolivia, published inside and outside the country.

Sergio Lüdtke (BR)
Sergio Lüdtke (BR) is a Brazilian journalist and digital media consultant who wears many hats. He serves as the editor-in-chief of Projeto Comprova, the academic coordinator of Abrai’s training courses, and the director of the Atlas da Notícia research team in Projor.

Arturo Torrez (EC)
He is an Ecuadorian journalist with more than 30 years of experience. He is the founder and director of the Código Vidrio research portal and a contributor to the Washington Post, The New York Times, and Insight Crime. He is also the co-producer and researcher of documentaries with Vice News and ArtTV from Germany and the author of several books.

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.

ICIP has published a manual that compiles proposals and case studies to incorporate the intersectional feminist perspective into local security and prevention policies.  The book is entitled Interseccionalitat i polítiques locals de seguretat: un diàleg possible (Intersectionality and local security policies: A possible dialogue), and it was written by Gerard Coll-Planas, Marina Garcia-Castillo and Gloria García-Romeral.  It is title number 30 in the “Eines de pau, seguretat i justícia” (Tools for Peace, Security and Justice) book series and has been published in paper and PDF format in Catalan.

Intersectionality is a feminist proposal to deal with inequalities in a comprehensive manner, taking into account multiple variables such as race, gender, ethnicity and social class.  The publication is part of the project “Incorporating the feminist and intersectional perspective into local security and prevention policies” of the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies (CEIG) of the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC).  This project received an ICIP grant for research work in peace (R-ICIP).

According to the authors, the book aims to be “a practical exercise to understand how intersectional logic is applied to each of the planning and elaboration phases of public policies.”  Using case studies, interviews with key actors and personal accounts of Catalan citizens, the authors identify questions and make proposals for revising measures linked to the prevention and eradication of violence and to protection from violence.

“The objective is to offer resources and generate debate in the field of public security based on a reflection of the different strategies we have at our disposal to manage all forms of discrimination locally,” they added.

The document focuses on the local level and is aimed at people who work in mediation and coexistence services, prevention and security services, security forces, equality and non-discrimination services, social services, local governments, and third-sector agencies. The manual also aims to impact sectoral policies that complement, relate to, or have a direct impact on security, such as urban planning or mobility.

ICIP and the authors plan to organize a series of training workshops to share the reflections and cases collected in the book that can inspire the target audience.

The authors

Gerard Coll-Planas (Cardedeu, 1980) holds a PhD in Sociology from UAB and is a professor at UVic-UCC.  He has published the books Dibuixant el gènere (Edicions 96, 2013), La carne y la metáfora.  Una reflexión sobre el cuerpo en la teoría queer  (Egales, 2012) and La voluntad y el deseo.  La construcción social del género y la sexualidad (Egales, 2010).  He has been academic coordinator of Connected Equalities: Intersectionality in local public policies; and currently coordinates the project “Zoom out: Approaching children’s literature from an intersectional perspective,” co-financed by the European Commission.

Marina Garcia-Castillo (Castelldefels, 1998) is a researcher in the Sexual and Gender Diversity and Intersectionality Area of the Gender Studies Group: Translation, Literature, History and Communication (GETLIHC) at UVic-UCC and a PhD student in the program in Gender Studies: Cultures, Societies and Politics.  She holds a degree in Global Studies from UPF and a master’s degree in Gender Studies from IIEDG, and she has participated in research and knowledge transfer projects in Catalonia and Europe.  Her focus of interest is the intersection between sexual and gender diversity and cultural and religious diversity.

Gloria García-Romeral (Granada, 1981) holds a degree in Political Science and Sociology from the University of Granada, a PhD in Sociology from UAB and is a member of the Gender Studies Group: Translation, Literature, History and Communication (GETLIHC) at UVic-UCC.  Her work explores the intersection between gender, public policies, and cultural and religious diversity, combining research with applied work in intervention projects and teaching and training for professionals.  She currently works as a researcher at the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at UVic-UCC and as a professor in the Department of Pedagogy at the same university.

The book series

The book series Tools for Peace, Security and Justice aims to provide useful support for people who feel committed to working for peace at different levels of involvement. This manual is title number 30 of the series.

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.

Nineteen non-governmental development organizations (NGDOs) have joined to form the new Taula Catalana pels Drets Humans i la Pau a l’Amèrica Central (Catalana Coordinating Group for Human Rights and Peace in Central America). This platform aims to strengthen dialogue and Catalonia’s response to the violence and human rights crises in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

According to the new coordinating group, “the context of repression, persecution and political violence in the region compels us to come together to draw international attention to the situation and strengthen the many links of solidarity that already exist.”

The new platform has ICIP’s support through the “Violence in non-war settings” work area, which aims to provide tools for analysis and action in situations of direct, structural and cultural violence such as those experienced in Central America.

The Taula Catalana Coordinating Group, which is being formally constituted, will be formally launched in Barcelona on 18-19 June with the celebration of the conference “Human Rights and Peace in Central America: Challenges and Opportunities.”  This conference, jointly organized with ICIP, will take place at the Barcelona History Museum and will feature the participation of sixteen advocates for human rights and the environment from Central America with renowned academic, political, journalistic, community or social backgrounds.

Social society initiatives

Some of the topics to be addressed during the conference are the co-optation of the state by criminal networks, the unbridled exploitation of territories, social remilitarization, polarization and hate speech (LGBTIQ-phobic, sexist, racist…) as part of the infringements experienced by the population, condemned to inhuman migratory routes also as a consequence of the migratory policies of the global North.

Featured speakers who will be in Barcelona for this event include Dora María Téllez, opponent of the Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua; Morena Herrera, Simone Weil 2023 award winner for her defence of women’s reproductive rights in El Salvador; Yéssica Trinidad, coordinator of the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders of Honduras and an advocate for the rights of Afro-Indigenous communities; and the Guatemalan journalist Rolanda García, attacked and detained in 2018 when she was reporting on the illegal logging of trees on the banks of the Cahabón River (Alta Verapaz) by workers of the Oxec hydroelectric company.

This link provides all the information about the conference and the program of activities. Registration is free.

Two weeks of activities

Within the framework of the conference “Human Rights and Peace in Central America: Challenges and Opportunities,” and to dedicate a whole week to learning and reflecting on the current situation of defenders in the region, the following events will also take place:

June 20th

Conferment of the Values Award of the Lawyers Association of Barcelona to the lawyers of Nicaragua.  The award will be presented to Ana Margarita Vigil, one of the conference participants, at the Lawyers Association of Sabadell at 6 pm.

June 21st

Presentation of the IM-Defensoras Report “Data that hurts us, networks that save us” 10+ years of aggressions against human rights defenders in Mesoamerica (2012-2023).  This annual report, which records and documents attacks on human rights defenders in Central America, is the most important report published by this organization, and it presents the conclusions of more than a decade of work.  The event will take place at 12 noon at Lafede.cat.

June 27 and 28th

Celebration of a conference entitled Defending the North-South Territory: How do we challenge the political and economic model from our actions and knowledge?  This conference will bring together six defenders of human rights and territory from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua with activists for the defence of territory from Catalonia and Valencia.  We will be invited to relate to territory from our own languages and perspectives, differentiating three aspects to broaden and deepen alliances, understandings and actions: water territory, land territory and home territory.  The event will take place on 27 June, from 4-7 pm, at La Base Ateneu cooperative and on 28 June, from 10 am-7 pm, at the same venue.

Organizations that are part of the new platform

The organizations that are part of the Taula Catalana Coordinating Group for Human Rights and Peace in Central America are:

• Alternativa Intercanvi Pobles Indígenes
• Asociación de Mujeres Migrantes Diversas
• Assemblea Catalana per la Pau
• Associació Internacional d’Enginyeria Sense Fronteres
• Associació Entrepobles
• Brigades Internacionals de Pau
• Calala
• Comissió Catalana pels Drets Humans a Nicaragua
• Comitè Óscar Romero
• Cooperacció
• Desos Opció Solidària
• Farmamundi
• Grup de Suport Con Vos
• Huacal
• InteRed
• Justícia Alimentària
• Oxfam Intermón
• REDS
• Suds

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 ICIP has announced the call for nominations for the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2024, 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 thirteenth edition of the Award, corresponding to 2024, and the call will be open until April 11, 2024. 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 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.”

From November 27 to 29, ICIP gathered in Barcelona more than twenty women from all over the world involved in the fight against enforced disappearances. Most of them are victims or direct relatives of missing people. The meeting aimed to create a space for the exchange of experiences and knowledge between the participating women and to put the needs and demands of the victims at the centre of the topic. The observations and recommendations of the women that have emerged from the meeting will be considered for the World Congress on Enforced Disappearances, which is expected to be held next year.

“Enforced disappearances constitute a cluster of serious violations of human rights with an enormous impact, not only on the people directly affected but also on the community and social sphere. The impact is even replicated from generation to generation”, explains Sabina Puig, ICIP officer and one of the meeting organisers.

“Although the obligation to prevent them and to offer truth, justice and reparation relies on the States, many times the families of the missing persons themselves undertake the task of searching for them and demanding measures for the protection of the human rights, as well as guarantees of non-repetition. And this, despite the multiple obstacles and risks it poses in many contexts”, she adds.

Women from a dozen countries

The meeting was attended by women from Algeria, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, El Salvador, the Philippines, Honduras, Lebanon, Mexico, the Western Sahara and Syria, among others. There were also women from the Basque Country and Catalonia. What they all had in common was having lived through how a close family member had been forcibly disappeared and their struggle to find the relatives. The women participated in workshops and training sessions for three days with informal talks and care and self-care activities.

“The meeting has been beneficial to reflect on the relationship between peacebuilding and the search for missing persons and to value the contributions of these groups of searchers at the same time that, based on the exchange of strategies and knowledge, transfer knowledge and offer tools that can strengthen their work”, comments Sílvia Plana, another of the ICIP officers in charge of this event.

After the gathering, several participants stressed the need for more reunions like this. “These international meetings also serve as protection for us. It is necessary to place families at the centre of the decision-making processes and to give visibility to all the violence that is exercised when an enforced disappearance is committed: both towards the disappeared person and their relatives”, expressed a Latin American participant. Also, the mother of a missing young man emphasized the importance of initiatives like this to weave ties and generate networks of solidarity between women seekers.

ICIP will soon publish a study on the role of women in the fight against enforced disappearances and the links of their work with peacebuilding. This publication will collect some of the contributions made during the face-to-face meeting organized in Barcelona.

From 18-20 September, an ICIP delegation travelled to Mexico to participate in the second meeting of the Platform for Peacebuilding in Mexico, of which the institution has been a member since its inception. This platform began to take shape in 2019 after the First International Forum on Peacebuilding in Mexico, held in Barcelona and organized by ICIP, Serapaz and Taula per Mèxic. After three years of regularly working online, the Platform met in person for the first time in Chiapas in October 2022.

This second meeting took place at Casa Xitla in the southern part of Mexico City. It brought together some forty people from economic, cultural and journalistic backgrounds, as well as representatives of the organizations that make up the Platform.

Drawing on the contributions of international experts such as Jenny Pearce, Guillermo Trejo and Alberto Solís, participants in the meeting delved into the diagnosis of violence in Mexico, a country strongly affected by the presence of organized crime and its collusion with public institutions. In the last 15 years, 450,000 people have been murdered, and more than 111,000 have disappeared. In addition, thousands of people have been forcibly displaced, and levels of social exclusion are alarmingly high.

In the face of statistics more typical of a country at war than of a peaceful democracy, the Platform provides a space for analysis, the exchange of information and reflection from which proposals for peacebuilding emanate. At the same time, the Platform also intends to be a sounding board for the concerns and demands of its member organizations, as well as those of the groups, movements and communities that these member organizations support in different parts of Mexico, especially in Chiapas and Oaxaca.

This second meeting of the Platform also provided an opportunity to define its internal organization and to identify strategies and methodologies for future actions.

In addition to the internal work sessions, the Platform convened a “Discussion group of citizen peacebuilding initiatives.”  This event took place at the Centro Universitario Cultural on Monday, 18 September, and featured other proposals and projects related to peace in the country.

According to ICIP director Kristian Herbolzheimer, who attended the meeting: “Exciting initiatives are emerging in Mexico that seek to address the many forms of violence that occur in the country, which makes Mexico a real laboratory for peace. ICIP not only sees this as a valuable learning experience but also reaffirms its commitment to peace and its willingness to accompany and collaborate with local actors.”

National Dialogue for Peace in Puebla

One of these initiatives to comprehensively address the issue of violence and insecurity in Mexico is the National Dialogue for Peace, a meeting held at the Ibero-American University of Puebla from 21-23 September.

An ICIP delegation, accompanied by members of the Platform for Peacebuilding in Mexico, attended the event. This meeting was convened by the Conference of the Mexican Episcopate, the Conference of Major Superiors of Mexico, the Episcopal Lay Dimension and the Mexican Province of the Society of Jesus to generate a space for plural and inclusive dialogue on security and peacebuilding in the North American country.

More than two thousand people from all over the country attended the event, many of whom had already participated in various forums held during the last year and a half. This initiative arose following the murder of two Jesuit priests in the Tarahumara Mountains of Chihuahua in June 2022. Since then, the Church in Mexico has organized days of prayer, discussion groups, forums on justice and peace and other initiatives that have brought together 18,000 participants in the country’s 32 states. All these efforts led to the Puebla meeting, which featured representatives from every social sector.

After three days of work, a National Agenda for Peace and a National Network for Peace were presented. The former is a document of over 30 pages that features various work proposals, and the latter is a network that aims to coordinate local initiatives – or people – that wish to undertake some peacebuilding process in their territories.

In addition, as a result of the meeting, 14 actions to eradicate violence in the country were presented. They were read by Father Jorge Atilano González Candia, a social worker with the Company of Jesus in Mexico and one of the main organizers of the meeting. The list includes, for example, actions to strengthen the procedures of restorative justice and to dignify and recover municipal and community police forces. The final document of the meeting and the 14 points are available here.

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.

On Thursday, 21 September, coinciding with the commemoration of the International Day of Peace, ICIP presented the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2023 to the associations “Women Victims of the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina” and “Forgotten Children of War” in a ceremony held at the Palace of the Parliament of Catalonia.

The award-winning associations work on the documentation of rapes during the Balkan War and the legal and social recognition of children born in situations of sexual violence. The award recognises their work “denouncing rape as a weapon of war, fighting against impunity, and empowering and drawing attention to victims of sexual violence.”

The ceremony was presided over by the president of Parliament, Anna Erra, and ICIP president Xavier Masllorens. In his speech, the president of ICIP stated that the award “honours all those people and entities that work against the tide, highlighting the dignity of the victims and building bridges where mental walls abound.” He also pointed out that sexual aggressions are “crimes against humanity” and a “reminder of the brutality of war,” and he emphasised the need to work within the paradigm of the culture of peace for a “world without misery, more just and egalitarian.”

The event began with the performance of an excerpt of the play Encara hi ha algú al bosc (There is still someone in the forest), inspired by the experiences of survivors of the Bosnian War and created by the Cultura i Conflicte collective, the organisation that nominated the winning ICIP Award candidacy.

The journalist and member of Cultura i Conflicte, Teresa Turiera-Puigbò, read an overview of the award-winning organisations and defined the people receiving the award as “survivors of war and victims of peace” because, for thirty years, they have had to suffer “not only the physical and psychological consequences of the aggressions they endured but also the lack of recognition as victims by institutions and the silence and stigma of the society in which they live.” In her speech, Turiera highlighted the “discreet and silent” work of the award-winning associations and noted that sexual violence is a crime that “is still prevalent in most present-day conflicts.”

Meliha Merdzic and Amela Medjuseljac received the award for the “Women Victims of the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina” association. In their acceptance speech, they pointed out that “rape survivors still suffer society’s stigma”. They added that many war criminals have been tried and sentenced due to the testimonies the organisation has gathered since its establishment in 2003. Ajna Jusic and Alen Muhic, both born of rape, were also present at the ceremony on behalf of the “Forgotten Children of War” association. Upon receiving the award, Jusic noted that the children born of war live in a context of “social injustice” since “their fundamental rights for a dignified life have been revoked” and denounced the inactivity of the international community and the failure of Bosnia and Herzegovina to comply with the requirements for peace.

The president of the Parliament, Anna Erra, closed the ICIP Peace in Progress Award ceremony. In her speech, she highlighted the work for peace carried out by award-winning organisations and praised the work of ICIP in the promotion of peace both at home and abroad.

The ICIP Award, a twelve-year history

The ICIP Peace in Progress Award, established in 2011, aims to publicly recognise individuals, organisations or institutions that have worked for and contributed to promoting and building peace prominently and extensively.

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

Photo gallery of the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2023 ceremony (Source: Parliament of Catalonia)

Video of the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2023 ceremony (Canal Parlament)

On August 1st 2023, the report Wagner Group Unchained in Ukraine: Military, Political, and human rights impact of the Wagner Group since the large-scale invasion in 2022. The Novact Institute for Nonviolence has made the report in collaboration with Shock Monitor, the Observatory of Business and Human Rights in the Mediterranean, and the organization Suds. It has the financial support of ICIP thanks to one of the grants to entities and research work on the culture of peace that the institution convenes annually. The result has been presented in the framework of the United Nations Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries.

The investigation on the Wagner Group has been conducted by a research team coordinated by Felip Daza Sierra, along with Carlos Díaz Bodoque, with the assistance of Anhelina Hrytsei and Mathilde Machteld Romeo.

The report will be made public in September and analyzes the impact of the Wagner Group in Ukraine. The research includes testimonies from 40 experts, academic and human rights institutions, and Civil Society Organizations. Interviews have also been conducted with military personnel involved in the operations on the Ukrainian side.

The presence of the Wagner Group has dramatically increased the conflict severity in Ukraine, exacerbating deadliness, escalating confrontation, and causing fragmentation of non-state armed actors. Particularly noteworthy is the alleged implication of the Wagner Group in war crimes such as the killing of local authorities and the beheading of prisoners of war. Ongoing legal investigations by the Ukrainian Prosecution Office indicate the use of inmates as “forced human shields,” especially in the battles of Donbas. It is also highlighted that the Wagner Group designs combat operations and uses heavy weapons, artillery, and reconnaissance technology.

The group engages in predatory recruitment practices, such as incorporating inmates and marginalized youth from Russia and using foreign combatants from Syria, Serbia, and Afghanistan, among others.

According to the report, the Wagner Group plays an increasingly significant political role, combining social conservatism, patriotic claims, and cult criminal activity. The rise of their actions is also identified in the general apathy of the Russian population towards the war and a lack of understanding of the military goals, among other factors. In response, the Wagner Group has developed a business and media empire that sustains the group’s illicit activities and abusive hiring practices. Wagner is supported by far-right groups (RIM, TFRusich) and the new media elite composed of military bloggers and influencers.

The report also highlights how the Wagner Group provides critical political dividends for Putin, such as symbolic military victories, increased support for the invasion activities in Ukraine, and the ability to maintain military confrontation considering the general public apathy towards the war inside Russia. However, the possible disappearance of the Wagner Group will not prevent the use of other proxies in the war in Ukraine and the proliferation of the Russian Private Military Security Companies (PMSC) industry.

Therefore, the report makes a set of fundamental recommendations as a central message to the United Nations Working Group.

For International Organisms and National Governments:

• To strengthen national regulatory frameworks to control PMSCs, including robust licensing, supervision, and redress mechanisms.
• To create a comprehensive international legally binding instrument to regulate PMSC activity, with adequate standards to prevent human rights violations, protection of victims, and ensure effective remedies.
• To designate the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization and an armed group financed by the Russian Federation.
• To advance international criminal prosecution, including Universal jurisdiction principles.

For Civil Society Organizations:

• Enhance monitoring and reporting mechanisms on PMSC activity and its intersectional impact on human rights, with particular attention to violations of women’s rights.
• Raise awareness among the general public and communities affected by conflicts to distinguish private contractors from regular forces and understand the political and social impact of the privatization of war.
• Undertake advocacy actions to promote international and national regulations for controlling PMSCs.

After the presentation at the United Nations headquarters, the report is scheduled to be made public in September. In the same month, the work will be presented in Barcelona.