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Peace Brigades International, ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2016

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The 2016 ICIP Peace in Progress Award recognizes the non-governmental organization Peace Brigades International (PBI) “for its long history of protecting human rights defenders who work in areas of repression and conflict”.

Peace Brigades International was created in 1981 by a group of activists inspired by Gandhi’s nonviolent tactics. They were convinced that international accompaniment could deter attacks against the civilian population in conflict areas. Over the last 35 years, the organization has developed activities to support local human rights defenders, including protection and accompaniment, safety training, advocacy workshops and workshops on rebuilding social fabric.

The award ceremony took place on Tuesday, February 7, at the Parliament of Catalonia. On the part of the award-winning organization, the representative of PBI Spain, Montserrat García, picked up the award, while the commentary was given by the historic human rights activist and current Member of Congress in Guatemala, Nineth Montenegro.

The ICIP Peace in Progress Award is granted by agreement of the Governing Board of ICIP and consists of public recognition, a sculpture created by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, artist and activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, called Porta del Sol, and a financial prize of 4,000 euros. The award is presented at an institutional award ceremony which takes place annually at the Catalan Parliament.

Joan Botam, 2015 ICIP Award

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Catalan priest and Capuchin friar Joan Botam received the 2015 ICIP Peace in Progress Award at a ceremony that took place at the Parliament of Catalonia on April 12. Botam is a promoter of numerous initiatives linked to peace and ecumenism; he is one of the most important figures who introduced pacifism to Catalonia and a strong advocate of religion as a source of peace and dialogue.

Joan Botam (Les Borges Blanques, 1926) holds a doctorate in theology and is the founder of both the Víctor Seix Polemology Institute and the Ecumenical Center of Catalonia, of which he is currently president. His career linked to the pacifist movement begins in 1955, when he becomes chaplain of the religious movement Pax Christi.  In 1963 he is elected vicar provincial of the Capuchins of Sarrià and, as such, he plays a key role in the events of the Caputxinada, the sit-in of students, intellectuals and artists in the Capuchin Convent in 1966. His intervention as vicar provincial was decisive in preventing the arrest of the demonstrators. More recently, Joan Botam represented Barcelona in the United Nations Millennium Summit of religious and spiritual leaders (2000) and was presented with the Creu de Sant Jordi Award (2010) for his contribution to interreligious dialogue and the promotion of peace, coexistence and understanding between cultures.

WILPF, 2014 ICIP Award

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The 2014 ICIP Peace in Progress Award honors the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) “for its century-long involvement in the work of women for peace, as well as its commitment to disarmament, the defense of human rights and the persistence to obtain the recognition of the role of women in the building of peace.”

WILPF, which turns 100 years old this year, was a pioneer in the creation of an internationalist pacifist feminism and is a model for all initiatives of women for peace. WILPF’s founding objectives were –and still are—”to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make known the causes of war and work for a permanent peace.” Currently WILPF is headquartered in Geneva and New York and is present in 30 countries.

The award ceremony took place on Tuesday, February 24, at the Parliament of Catalonia. The event was attended by WILPF president, Adilia Caravaca

The ICIP Peace in Progress Award is an annual award consisting of a public recognition, a sculpture created by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, artist and activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, called the Porta del Sol, and an economic endowment of .4,000.

Jovan Divjak, ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2013

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The ICIP Governing Board decided to award the 2013 ICIP Constructors of Peace Prize to Jovan Divjak, “for his courage, as a military man, to disobey the commands of the Yugoslav People’s Army and defend Sarajevo during the siege of the Balkan War, and subsequently, for his long-standing civic work, with various initiatives in favour of the victims of war”.

From general to peacebuilder

Jovan Divjak was born in Belgrade in 1937 to a Serbian family originally from the Bosanska Krajina region. In the spring of 1992, when the Siege of Sarajevo began, Divjak was ordered by Belgrade to leave the city. He refused and left the Yugoslav People’s Army to serve as a commander in the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in an act of disobedience and commitment to those suffering from aggression. From this new position, Divjak oversaw and coordinated the defense of Sarajevo – symbol of multi-ethnicity – in front of the attack by Serbian troops led by General Radovan Karadzic.

For this courageous attitude, he has been known as the Serbian one who defended Sarajevo, although he defines himself as a Bosnian born in Belgrade, and is considered a national hero in Bosnia.

After retiring from the military career in 1994, Divjak participated in the foundation of the association OGBH (“Education builds Bosnia and Herzegovina”), of which he is currently the executive director. The association works to ensure the high school of all children who are victims of the Bosnian war, regardless of ethnicity, by providing grants and material support. For his work in the association, Divjak has received numerous local and international recognitions.

The ICIP Peace in Progress Award is an annual award consisting of a public recognition, a sculpture created by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, artist and activist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, called the Porta del Sol, and an economic endowment of .4,000.

Conscientious objectors and insubmisos, ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2011

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The ICIP Peace in Progress Award Prize 2011 recognized the collective of objectors and insubmisses of conscience of the compulsory military service “in representing a long and diverse struggle against conscription, which contributed to the deepening of democracy and to the spread of the values of the culture of peace, as well as popularizing, with the rejection of the use of weapons, conscientious objection, civil disobedience and the nonviolent resolution of conflicts”.

The award ceremony took place in February 2012 at the Palace of the Parliament of Catalonia. He received the award, on behalf of the group, Pepe Beunza, the first conscientious objector to the compulsory military service for ideological reasons of the Spanish State in 1971, accompanied by four other representatives of the movement: Jordi Agull., who was the second conscientious objector; Jaume Llans., insubmissive; Ramon Panyella, president of the Movement for Peace – the former Association of Conscience Objectors; and Mart. Olivella, member of the first group of Can Serra objectors.

Catalan Parliament, ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2011 (extraordinary edition)

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The Governing Board of ICIP granted an extraordinary edition of the 2011 ICIP Peace in Progress Award to the Parliament of Catalonia for “representing and symbolizing, as the finest example of the sovereignty emanating from the people of Catalonia, the continuity and legacy of the institutions, customs and practices of our ancestors, in which consensus, dialogue and peaceful resolution of disputes are deeply rooted.”

The award ceremony took place in the auditorium of the Parliament of Catalonia in October 2011 during the ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of Pau Casals’ speech to the United Nations General Assembly. The event featured the participation of the president of the Pau Casals Foundation, the abbot of the monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat, Josep M. Soler.