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The Col·lectiu de Periodistes Contrast presents Tanta, tanta guerra, a documentary podcast series that takes a critical look at the rearmament and militarisation currently under way in Europe. The project is supported by ICIP and has been available since October on 3Cat, the streaming platform of Catalan public media.

Over five episodes, and drawing on human stories, testimonies and expert voices, the series focuses on the defence industry, anti-personnel landmines, the militarisation of borders, attacks on international law and the role of the media in the escalation or de-escalation of conflicts.

Tanta, tanta guerra questions the narratives that present increased military force as the only possible response to the challenges of an increasingly complex world. The series also explores the contradictions of this model and poses a central question: what other ways of building security and peace are possible?

The project was funded through ICIP’s call for grants for non-profit organisations, which supports projects that promote a culture of peace.

Launch in Barcelona

The documentary series will be presented to the public at an event on Wednesday 14 October at 6pm, at the Barcelona headquarters of the Col·legi de Periodistes de Catalunya (Rambla de Catalunya, 10, Principal).

The event will take the form of a conversation on the arms build-up in Europe, its effects and possible alternatives. Speakers will include Kristian Herbolzheimer, director of ICIP; Adriana Ribas, coordinator of Amnesty International Catalonia; and Pere Ortega, from the Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau.

The speakers will reflect on the social and political consequences of European rearmament and on the alternatives that different sectors of civil society have proposed and promoted.

Listen to the five episodes (in Catalan):

• La doctrina del rearmament
• Europa torna a minar-se
• L’assalt a la justícia
• Fronteres impunes
• El periodisme en guerra

Representatives of the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance (PFPC), recipient of the 2026 ICIP Peace in Progres Award, visited Lleida on Monday 21 September, International Day of Peace, as part of their stay in Catalonia on the occasion of the presentation of the ICIP Peace in Progress Award. The following day, 22 September, the activists received the award at a ceremony held at the Parliament of Catalonia.

The day in Lleida, organised by ICIP in collaboration with the University of Lleida (UdL) and Lleida City Council, gave PFPC representatives the opportunity to visit several of the city’s institutions and spaces and, above all, to share their experience in peacebuilding with university and institutional actors and with Lleida’s Senegalese community.

The delegation consisted of Ndéye Marie Diédhiou, president of the PFPC, and Niako Seck, a member of the Platform’s Board of Directors and representative of its member organisations, accompanied by ICIP president Xavier Masllorens.

A day of meetings and visits

The day began with a visit to Lleida’s Seu Vella and continued at the University of Lleida, where the activists met with university staff involved in cooperation, peacebuilding and gender-related projects in Africa. The meeting was attended by Blanca Salinas, director of the UdL’s Cooperation and Solidarity Unit; Mariona Lladonosa, deputy director of the Equality and Diversity Unit; and Professor Albert Roca, researcher in the project Women and Peace in Casamance (Senegal): From Culture and Memory to Mediation, launched in 2023.

During the meeting, PFPC representatives highlighted the need to strengthen women’s leadership in peace processes and conflict mediation. “It is essential to promote women’s leadership as mediators and leaders in conflict resolution,” they stressed.

The activists explained that, after years of violence and economic and social crisis, which have had a particularly severe impact on women, they decided to organise and make their voices heard in order to contribute to peacebuilding. “While the men were fighting, we decided to break the silence and make our voices heard as women,” they said.

The visit continued with an institutional reception at the Paeria, where PFPC representatives were welcomed by representatives of Lleida City Council. The meeting was attended by Councillor for International Cooperation Jackson Quiñónez Vernaza; Councillor for Feminisms Carme Valls; the Mayor’s Commissioner for Feminist Policies, Verònica Martínez; as well as representatives of cooperation organisations, feminist organisations and the city’s Senegalese community.

The day concluded with a meeting with representatives of Lleida’s Senegalese community at the Paulo Freire Room. The meeting provided an opportunity to share the Platform’s experiences and discuss the links between the Senegalese community in Catalonia and the reality of Casamance.

A network of women for peace in Casamance

The Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance is a network established in 2010 and made up of 15 organisations working for peace, security and women’s rights in the context of the conflict between the Casamance independence movement and the Senegalese state, which began in 1982.

Throughout its history, the PFPC has organised community consultations to document people’s experiences and understand their aspirations, facilitated spaces for dialogue, and organised Peace Tables bringing together representatives of the parties to the conflict, as part of a mediation initiative promoted by women’s organisations.

Since 2015, the Platform has also run a shelter and medical and psychological support centre for women and girls who have survived sexual and physical violence. In partnership with UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), it has developed initiatives to combat gender-based violence and created the Women’s Forum of the Senegal–Guinea-Bissau–Gambia Space to contribute to regional peace and stability.

The Casamance conflict has been under a sustained ceasefire since 2012, but a peace agreement that politically addresses the demands underlying the conflict has yet to be reached.

The 2026 ICIP Peace in Progress, endowed with €10,000, recognises the PFPC’s work in positioning women as agents of peace in the resolution of the conflict and in helping to break the silence surrounding the war through the creation of community dialogue spaces at local, regional and national levels.

On Tuesday 22 September, ICIP held the ceremony at the Parliament of Catalonia to present the 2026 ICIP Peace in Progress Award to the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance (PFPC), coinciding with the commemoration of the International Day of Peace. The award recognises this network of 15 Senegalese women’s organisations working on women’s security and rights in the context of the conflict between the natural region of Casamance and the State of Senegal, which has been ongoing since 1982.

More specifically, the 2026 ICIP Peace in Progress Award recognises the PFPC’s work in “positioning women as agents of peace in the resolution of the conflict and breaking the silence surrounding the war through the creation of community dialogue spaces at local, regional and national levels.”

Recognition of women’s struggle

In his opening remarks, ICIP President Xavier Masllorens highlighted the purpose of the ICIP Peace in Progress Award: to recognise “people and organisations that work against the current, upholding human dignity and building bridges where there are physical or mental walls”. In this regard, Masllorens stated that the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance “teaches us a magnificent lesson: defending women’s rights (women being the most vulnerable group in violent conflicts) means understanding and expressing the experiences lived during the conflict, as well as providing care for girls and women who have survived violence”.

Jordi Tomàs, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Barcelona and an expert on the Casamance conflict, presented the background and work of the award-winning Platform, highlighting “the extraordinary historical tradition of women’s associations in Casamance”. His presentation emphasised the PFPC’s grassroots work with local communities, as well as its lobbying efforts aimed at local, national and international leaders, “in a land where, for 44 years, there has been an unresolved political and military conflict, and where lasting peace has still not arrived”.

The president of the PFPC, Ndéye Diédhiou, received the 2026 ICIP Peace in Progress Award from ICIP President Xavier Masllorens and the President of the Parliament of Catalonia, Josep Rull, accompanied by Niako Seck, representing one of the PFPC’s member organisations.

In her acceptance speech, Diédhiou stressed that peace is built day by day, village by village, with women at the centre: “Peace is not only a matter for the parties to the conflict; peace is a matter for an entire people and, in this sense, women must play a key role. It is a daily, demanding task that involves dignity and empowerment for women.”

The ceremony also featured Jaume Duch, Minister for European Union and Foreign Action, who highlighted the award-winning platform’s grassroots work as an example of how peace starts with “communities and people who decide to build it every day”.

Parliament President Josep Rull closed the ceremony by thanking ICIP and the award-winning organisation, and stressed the need to defend peace, democracy and dialogue in the face of the current reactionary wave and dehumanising discourses.

The ceremony was hosted by Sílvia Plana, Head of Strategic Alliances at ICIP, and featured a musical performance by the Senegalese dance and percussion group Ngomez Nokass.

The ICIP Peace in Progress Award: fifteen years of recognition

Established in 2011, the ICIP Peace in Progress Award aims to publicly recognise individuals, organisations and institutions that have made a significant and sustained contribution to the promotion and construction of peace.

The award consists of public recognition, a sculpture created by Nobel Peace Prize laureate, artist and activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, entitled Puerta de Sol (Sun Gate), and a cash prize of €6,000. Over its twelve-year history, the ICIP Award has recognised individuals and groups from Catalonia, Bosnia, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Mexico and Algeria for their work in favour of reconciliation, truth, justice and equality, with a particular focus also on women’s empowerment and a gender perspective.

The Àgora project launches its seventh edition this Saturday, 19 September, bringing together around twenty participants committed to listening, dialogue and coexistence.

Initiated by the ICIP in collaboration with the Centre for Contemporary Studies and the Lluís Coromina Foundation, Àgora uses reading as a gateway to deep conversation among people with diverse backgrounds and ideological perspectives. This year, the sessions will be facilitated by FundiPau.

The programme takes place over three Saturdays. The first session, on 19 September, will feature an opening presentation by writer and translator Raül Garrigasait, who will draw on Seneca’s On Anger to initiate a discussion on how this classical text speaks to the present moment. On 17 October, philosopher Begoña Román, a specialist in ethics, will lead a session based on Cicero’s On Friendship. The final session, on 7 November, will be led by political scientist Ferran Requejo, an expert in democratic theory, and will focus on Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War.

Diverse and committed perspectives

This year’s group brings together people from a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds, with equal representation of women and men. Participants include academics such as Manel García Sánchez, Professor of Ancient History at the University of Barcelona, and Sergi Ferrer, Lecturer in Political Science at the Open University of Catalonia; professionals from the health sector, including doctor Mariona Vàzquez and psychiatrist and former MP Blanca Navarro; and legal professionals such as Carles Grima.

The group also includes voices from the third sector and public administration: Ariadna Manent, Deputy Director of Fundació Maresme; Martí Zamora, sociologist and Head of Projects at CATESCO; Toni Borrell, political scientist and social worker at the Catalan Development Cooperation Fund; and Rosa Suriñach, Councillor at Barcelona City Council and an expert in urban mobility. Other participants come from the business sector, scientific research, journalism and sport as a tool for social transformation, including people linked to organisations such as the Ateneu Barcelonès.

Dialogue through disagreement

Àgora is deliberately designed to be a demanding experience. Participants devote three full days to reading, discussion and listening alongside people with diverse ideological perspectives, in closed-door sessions that create a climate of trust. The aim is not to bring positions closer together or reach agreements, but to engage in dialogue through a thoughtful and unhurried conversation, even when there may be disagreement on the issues being discussed.

The Àgora project is part of the ICIP’s «Social and Political Dialogue» area of work, which understands dialogue as a necessary exercise in depolarisation in a context of declining standards in public debate and difficulties in listening to positions different from our own.

Barcelona will host the International Meeting of Women Searchers from 6 to 10 March 2027. Organised by ICIP, the meeting will bring together women searchers from around the world to exchange experiences and strengthen the global struggle against enforced disappearances. The call for participants is open until 13 September 2026.

In the absence of truth, justice and reparation that so often characterises cases of enforced disappearance, many women take on the search for their loved ones and become leading actors in the defence of human rights and peacebuilding. This work, however, is not without risks: searchers frequently face institutional indifference, stigmatisation, criminalisation and, in some cases, threats or attacks.

With the aim of creating a space for exchange and mutual learning among women searchers from different contexts, ICIP is organising this meeting as part of the BCN4Peace project and in collaboration with a broad network of organisations and institutions. The initiative seeks to foster the sharing of knowledge, challenges and common strategies in response to a phenomenon that affects thousands of people around the world.

The meeting follows up on one of the calls to action emerging from the World Congress on Enforced Disappearances (Geneva, 2025) and also forms part of the commemorations of CED20, marking the twentieth anniversary of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

A working space with a gender perspective

The meeting is conceived primarily as a working space among participants, featuring contributions by women searchers themselves, training workshops and collaborative knowledge-building activities, complemented by events open to the public. It will also include a dedicated discussion on the gendered impact of enforced disappearances, drawing on the General Comment of the Committee on Enforced Disappearance on this issue.

Participants will include women searchers, representatives of international organisations, experts and individuals accompanying search processes.

Call for participants open until 13 September

Women searchers interested in taking part are invited to submit their applications through this online form by 13 September 2026. Participants will be selected on the basis of diversity criteria, including geographical context, age and experience. Previous participation in projects promoted by ICIP or partner organisations will also be taken into consideration. Priority will be given to applicants who are able to participate in Spanish, English or French, the working languages of the meeting.

The preparation of the meeting is currently supported by Baketik Fundazioa, Peace Brigades International – Colombia, Casa Amèrica Catalunya, CEDI, CEPAD, OIDHACO, REDS, SODEPAU, SOS Bebés Robados Catalunya, and Taula per Mèxic. ICIP also invites other organisations to join this initiative by providing financial support, funding travel costs, contributing to the conceptual development of the meeting or helping disseminate the call for participants.

For further information, either about the application process or opportunities for collaboration, please contact icip@icip.cat.

The International Meeting of Women Searchers is part of the work focused on the enforced disappearances, in the area “Violence in non-war settings“.

In June, a team from ICIP joined the Catalan Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), organised by Taula Catalana (Catalan Platform for Peace and Human Rights in Colombia), to monitor the second round of the Colombian presidential elections on Sunday 21 June.

The mission was made up of 27 people, including members of the Parliament of Catalonia, representatives of local governments, and members of Catalan civil society organisations and institutions, such as ICIP, committed to the defence of peace and human rights in Colombia.  The Catalan Government’s delegate to the Andean States, Antoni Vicens-i-Vicens, and the representative of the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation (ACCD) in Colombia, Javier Calderón, also took part.

The EOM operates in accordance with the United Nations electoral observation principles, based on impartiality, neutrality and respect for the work of the host country’s own institutions.  Its goal was to help strengthen the guarantees of political participation in the electoral process – through human rights-based observation, an accompaniment of social actors, and direct engagement with Colombian and international institutions.

The mission follows in the footsteps of the 2022 experience, when an international electoral observation mission was deployed from Catalonia for the first time, bringing together 35 participants from a wide range of institutional and civil society backgrounds.

Deployment across the country

This time, the EOM was deployed across six regions of the country: Apartadó, Barrancabermeja, Cali, Cúcuta, Montes de María and Popayán – chosen to ensure a diverse and representative picture of how the elections unfolded across different regional contexts.

Before heading out to their respective regions, on Wednesday 17 June the group received training in the Colombian electoral system and the key aspects to monitor throughout the process, delivered by the Colombian NGO Viva la Ciudadanía.

Once Election Day ended, on 22 June, the mission presented a preliminary report setting out its main findings, identified risks and recommendations for strengthening electoral guarantees – all from a human rights and gender perspective.

The ICIP Governing Board has decided to award the 2026 ICIP Peace in Progress Award to the Women’s Platform for Peace in Casamance (Plateforme des Femmes pour la Paix en Casamance, PFPC), a network of 15 women’s organisations working for peace, security and women’s rights in the context of the conflict between the Casamance natural region and the Senegalese state that has been ongoing since 1982.

The award recognises the Platform’s work in “positioning women as peace agents in conflict resolution and breaking the silence about the war, through the creation of community dialogue spaces at local, regional and national level.“

The PFPC was established in 2010 with the aim of working towards the restoration of peace in the Casamance region after three decades of conflict between the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) and the Senegalese state. It is one of the longest-running conflicts on the African continent, having caused more than 5,000 deaths and 10,000 injuries – many from anti-personnel landmines – and thousands of forced displacements to the neighbouring countries of Guinea-Bissau and Gambia.

Since its founding, the PFPC has carried out community consultations to document lived experiences during the conflict and understand the aspirations of the population, facilitated spaces for communities to express themselves on the peace process in the region, and organised seven Peace Tables with representation from the parties to the conflict, an unprecedented mediation exercise led by women’s collectives.

In partnership with UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Platform has promoted actions to combat gender-based violence and established the Women’s Forum of the Senegal–Guinea-Bissau–Gambia Space, a cross-border advocacy framework for peace and regional stability.

The PFPC’s dialogue and advocacy initiatives have had a tangible impact on the region, which has been living under a sustained ceasefire since 2012. That said, despite the various ceasefire agreements signed, a political solution to Casamance’s independence claim – the root cause of the conflict – has never been placed on the table.

Support for women and girls

The PFPC has played an active role in defending the rights of women in the context of the conflict. Since 2015 it has managed a shelter and support centre for women and girls who are survivors of violence, victims of sexual and physical abuse, offering medical and psychological care as well as support for social and professional reintegration. Since its establishment, the centre has assisted around five hundred women and girls from Senegal and neighbouring countries such as Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau.

A long and silenced conflict

Casamance is a territory of 30,000 square kilometres, bordering Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, with a population of one and a half million. In the Ziguinchor region, the capital, the Diola people predominate — a community that asserts its culture and traditions and rejects the policies of the Senegalese government, which it considers to have systematically marginalised the region.

The Casamance conflict, despite being one of the longest-running on the African continent, is paradoxically one of the least known. Its origins lie in December 1982, when Senegalese security forces violently suppressed a peaceful demonstration in Ziguinchor, called by the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), a movement fighting for the region’s independence and the recognition of the rights of the Casamance people. Following those events, the MFDC radicalised its actions and the armed wing of the movement emerged.

Since then, there have been periods of high-intensity conflict, particularly in the late 1980s and 1990s, and sporadic or low-intensity clashes between combatants divided into different armed factions and the Senegalese army. Over the years, there have also been numerous peace initiatives, particularly from organisations within the region, many of them led by women.

An active peace process

Following various ceasefires, a peace agreement was signed in 2004 that saw three factions of the MFDC movement abandon armed struggle. Despite the truce, clashes resumed intermittently until 2022, when the MFDC and the Senegalese state signed the Declaration of Mutual Commitment on Disarmament Conditions.

The peace agreement, renewed in 2023, 2024, and 2025, which has led to the disarmament of the movement’s Diakaye faction, does not provide a political solution to the conflict but offers hope for achieving lasting peace in the region. Ending the conflict requires a comprehensive approach encompassing the completion of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process for former combatants, demining of the territory, the return of displaced persons and economic revitalisation.

On May 27, 2026, the Hub Social Barcelona hosted the event “No War, No Tyrants”, which served as the public presentation of the BCN4Peace initiative. The event, attended by 150 people, marked the beginning of a new strategic alliance among the ICIP, the Centre Delàs for Peace Studies, and NOVACT, with the support of the Barcelona City Council.

The main goal of BCN4Peace is to position Barcelona as an international reference point for the culture of peace, nonviolence and disarmament. In a European context increasingly shaped by militarization and cuts to development cooperation, the initiative seeks to reinforce the city’s long-standing commitment to peace and human rights.

Voices Against Tyranny

The event featured two internationally renowned speakers. On the one hand, john a. powell, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading voice connected to the Black Lives Matter movement, analyzed how today’s “tyrants” use fear and polarization to erode democracy. Powell stressed that the best response to authoritarianism is not only resistance, but also the creation of a narrative of belonging that includes everyone.

On the other hand, Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini, a globally recognized expert on the Women, Peace and Security agenda and founder of the ICAN network, offered first-hand testimony on the human cost of war and repression. Naraghi-Anderlini defended the power of civil society and Iranian women, who use nonviolent tactics against authoritarian regimes, and warned that sanctions and violence often end up strengthening the most extremist sectors in power.

The event was moderated by journalist Rita Marzoa.

City Diplomacy at the Center

The event also highlighted the importance of city diplomacy as a tool to ensure the continuity of peace policies beyond changes in national governments. Barcelona’s Deputy Mayor Maria Eugènia Gay closed the discussion by affirming that the city must continue “raising its voice” and leading movements that place human rights back at the center of all political, economic and social action.

With this public launch, BCN4Peace begins its journey as an open platform to articulate peacebuilding efforts in the Catalan capital. ICIP is one of the main driving forces behind the initiative, together with Centre Delàs and NOVACT, aiming to turn this project into a long-term commitment.

The interactive exhibition “PolsXtrems: Your gym for training critical thinking” – an ICIP project developed in collaboration with the Directorate General for Dissemination – closed its doors on Sunday 17 May to resounding public success.  Over the course of three months, the show drew up to 28,000 visitors, transforming Palau Robert’s Exhibition Room 2 into a gym for training critical thinking.

The exhibition also captured the interest of educational centres: 700 secondary school and vocational training students visited the show through guided tours led by the association Verificat, as a pedagogical resource for developing critical thinking in the classroom.

Produced by ICIP and curated by the creative studio Domestic Data Streamers – responsible for the art direction and museography – “PolsXtrems” is a high-intensity circuit training course designed to put critical thinking to the test, resist toxic polarization, and stimulate curiosity and respect for those who think differently.

In a context of information overload, where disinformation and hate speech spread with alarming ease and polarization is on the rise, the exhibition space recreated a training room with a range of activities aimed at building mental flexibility and a critical mindset, and raising awareness of unconscious biases and the importance of fact-checking.  The final section of the circuit recreated a changing room where visitors were invited to listen to different points of view on current social debates, such as immigration, housing and tourism.

In March and April, ICIP organised the panel discussion series “Who is training your mind? Disinformation, polarisation and hate speech” as a complement to the exhibition “PolsXtrems”, which runs until 17 May at Palau Robert.  The exhibition recreates a gym where visitors can train their critical thinking and test their capacity for dialogue and listening to different opinions – all set against a backdrop of growing political and social polarisation, rising disinformation, and the normalisation of exclusionary narratives.

Emotional disinformation and the need for media literacy

The first panel discussion, held on 25 March under the title “The risks of disinformation“, focused on the mechanisms behind the spread of disinformation — fuelled above all by social media — and on the need to develop tools to counter it.

Participants included Laura Pinyol, vice-president of the Audiovisual Council of Catalonia; Ona Sindreu, data journalist and editorial coordinator at Verificat; and Nereida Carrillo, PhD in Journalism and Communication and director of the association Learn to Check.  The session was moderated by Sergi Picazo, a journalist at Crític.

The speakers discussed how traditional media increasingly compete with social networks in the dissemination of information, and how these same platforms tend to spread fake news and promote content that appeals to emotions and encourages more extreme opinions.  To counter this situation, participants emphasised the promotion of content verification tools, the regulation of platforms, and media literacy.  For example, Carrillo presented the PANTERA method, based on analysing content according to its provenance (source), authorship, novelty, tone, evidence, replies and amplification.

Algorithms, engines of polarisation

The second session of the series, held on 8 April under the title “Algorithms, power and polarisation” featured Emma Fraxanet, PhD in Information and Communication Technologies and postdoctoral researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center; and Karma Peiró, co-founder and executive director of the Fundació Visualització per la Transparència (Transparency Visualisation Foundation). The session was moderated by Rita Costa from Build Up.

The discussion focused on the responsibility of digital platforms and their business model in fostering toxic polarisation.  Research findings were presented demonstrating that networks such as Facebook or X structurally favour conflict and toxicity, as the most extreme content generates the most interaction and, therefore, the greatest financial return.

As a counterpoint, the experts outlined concrete alternatives including prosocial design (Prosocial Design Network), which promotes algorithms fostering dialogue and connecting divergent viewpoints through mutual understanding, as well as new European regulations, such as the Digital Services Act, to demand transparency from major tech companies and encourage the development of more local and ethical networks.

The normalisation of hate speech

The series concluded on 22 April with the panel discussion “Impact and narratives of hate speech: How to confront It?“, featuring Cheikh Drame, president of SOS Racisme; Ángeles Schjaer, pedagogical coordinator of Open Arms; and Júlia Vigó, head of Equality Policies and Feminisms at the Taula del Tercer Sector Social (Third Social Sector Platform).  The discussion was moderated by Pablo Aguiar, director of FundiPau.

The session raised the alarm about the spread and normalisation of exclusionary discourse in the public, media and political sphere. Participants recalled that hatred is not a new phenomenon, but rather responds to historical structures of discrimination (racist, sexist and classist), which have served to justify the dehumanisation of the “other”. The speakers denounced institutional racism and European border policies, which often push migrants into situations of extreme vulnerability, and called for grassroots networking and civic mobilisation in the face of policies that promote hatred and exclusion.  The session also addressed how to combat hate speech with transformative narratives.

The panel debate series highlighted the importance of promoting an education grounded in respect for human rights, the need to foster critical thinking, and the commitment to a system that places social justice, ethical technology and equal opportunities at its centre.