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The jury of the second edition of the ICIP Hip-Hop for Peace Contest has announced the winners after viewing all of the entries submitted.
Category 1 (Middle school, high school and vocational school students):
– First prize for the students of Lauro High School, in Les Franqueses del Vallès, for the video “Requiem for a Dream”.
– Second prize for the students of Hug Roger III High School for the video “Res a dir, molt per criticar” (Nothing to say; A lot to criticize).
– El Til·ler School received an honorable mention for the video “El Rap dels Til·ler” (Til·ler Rap), for praising diversity and working on group cohesion.
Category 2 (Young people between the ages of 12 and 25 from various institutions)
– First prize for the Garraf Youth Office for the video “Gritando al mundo” (Shouting at the world).
– Second prize for the Servei Gironí de Pedagogia Foundation for the video “¿De qué lado estás?” (Whose side are you on?).
– The Alt Empordà County Council received an honorary mention for the video “Barreras Cutáneas” (Skin barriers), for its quality and technical excellence.
The awards ceremony will take place on Friday 13 April at 12:00 noon at the ICIP office. The awards consist of a masterclass given by a hip-hop professional and the recording of the winning entry at a professional recording studio.
The ICIP Hip-Hop for Peace Contest aims to give visibility to the commitment and creativity of young people in the field of peace culture. The event is supported by the Department of Education and the Directorate-General for Youth of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

The 2017 ICIP Peace in Progress Award recognizes Arcadi Oliveres for “his tireless dedication and commitment in the promotion of peace, social justice, human rights and disarmament, from a universal perspective”.

Linked since his young years to the scouting movement, the Christian movement Pax Christi and to the Víctor Seix Institute for Polemology, he received his first influences towards pacifist thought from Frederic Roda and Joan Botam. During the period of the Francoist dictatorship, his commitment to democracy led him to join the Assemblea de Catalunya (‘Assembly of Catalonia’), from where he started promoting the Marxa de la Llibertat (‘Freedom March’) in 1976, claiming “Freedom, Amnesty and Statute of Autonomy”.

In 1982, he joined Justícia i Pau (‘Justice and Peace’), organisation he ends up presiding and from where he boosts the first campaign for 0.7% of development aid for Third World countries. All along his trajectory, his determined activism took him to participating in campaigns of the anti-NATO movement, against arms trade, in favour of conscientious objection against compulsory military service and tax resistance, against the external debts of poor countries and against war. In his side, dedicated to global justice, he also was a fierce defender of immigrant regularisation, he was linked to the anti-globalisation movement and to the 15M protests in Catalonia.

The award ceremony took place on Tuesday, April 17, at the Parliament of Catalonia.

Coinciding with the School Day of Nonviolence and Peace (DENIP), observed today, 30 January, ICIP has announced the winners of the First Hip Hop for Peace Contest. This contest is aimed at young people and students of Catalonia, between 12 and 25 years of age, with the aim of promoting a culture of peace.
The video “STOP WARS,” created by a group of students aged between 15 and 18 from Lauro High School in Les Franqueses del Vallès, won the award in Category 1, for secondary school, vocational school and high school students of Catalonia. The video is a denunciation of inaction in the face of injustice, and a call for action.
The video “NO LA MALTRATES” (DON’T ABUSE HER), by a group of young people between the ages of 19 and 23 associated with the Fedelatina organization, won the award in Category 2, for socio-educational, cultural, youth and civic centers and institutions. In this case, the video denounces gender violence and calls for the empowerment of women.
In addition, the jury awarded a special mention to “TODOS SOMOS IGUALES” (WE ARE ALL EQUAL), by students from the Manyanet School in Molins de Rei, and “LLUITA CONTÍNUA” (CONTINUOUS STRUGGLE), by Lluís de Peguera High School in Manresa (Category 1); and “RAP CONTRA LA DISCRIMINACIÓ” (RAP AGAINST DISCRIMINATION), by the Martí Codolar Youth Center in Barcelona, and “SALT ÉS MY CITY” (SALT IS MY CITY), by Fàbrica Jove in Salt (Category 2).
A total of 24 videos, corresponding to 11 organizations and/or schools in Catalonia, were submitted to the competition, which is supported by the Department of Education and the Directorate-General for Youth of the Generalitat of Catalonia. The jury was made up of Cécile Barbeito, a member of the ICIP Governing Board; music critic Sandra Tello; Antoni López, representing the Department of Education; Thais Nieto, representing the Directorate-General for Youth; Isabel Ribera, an expert in the field of education; and Miquel Casas, an ICIP specialist.
Awards ceremony
The awards ceremony for the First ICIP Hip Hop for Peace Contest will take place on Monday, 13 February, at 11:30 am, at the ICIP Library (Tapineria, 10, 1st floor, Barcelona).
The awards consist of a masterclass given by workshop conductor and activist Pau Llonch (for the winners in Category 1) and a recording at “La Conga Music” professional recording studio in Sabadell (for the winners in Category 2).

The International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) presented the 2016 Peace in Progress Award to the NGO Peace Brigades International (PBI) for their work in the support and accompaniment of human rights defenders. The event took place in the Parliament of Catalonia on Tuesday 7 February and was attended by approximately one hundred people.
The ceremony was chaired by the President of Parliament, Carme Forcadell, and ICIP president Xavier Masllorens. 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.
ICIP president Xavier Masllorens justified recognition for PBI because “standing by those whose most fundamental rights are violated, and who risk their lives and safety, accompanying them, is at the very heart of the ethic of care that we promote from the institutions that work for peace.”
The importance of the work carried out by Peace Brigades International was made clear with the emotional testimony of human rights activist Nineth Montenegro, founder of the Mutual Support Group (GAM), an organization formed by relatives of the disappeared in Guatemala, who was supported and protected by PBI in the 1980s after she denounced the abduction and disappearance of her husband: “Neither my daughter nor I would be alive if it were not for the commendable, selfless and self-sacrificing work of members of the Brigades. […] They gave me the opportunity to stand up today in Guatemala and keep fighting for a better country.”
During the ceremony a video about Peace Brigades International was shown, and then Professor Antoni Pigrau, member of the ICIP Governing Board, read the conferment statement. The award was presented to the international representative of PBI Spain, Montserrat García, who dedicated it to all human rights defenders, “with the hope that it will contribute to make the important work they do more visible, and for which they face threats, attacks and persecution.” In her speech, García regretted that “unfortunately, the world remains a dangerous place to defend human rights and the need for international support is growing.” The international representative of PBI also highlighted “the hundreds of volunteers” who have been members of PBI teams and who are one of the “fundamental pillars” of the organization.
In the closing ceremony, the President of Parliament, Carme Forcadell, congratulated the International Brigades and stated that they were a “necessary model” because “we need to have examples that reinforce the culture of peace in our society.” Forcadell said that “peace is much more than the absence of violence,” because “there can be no peace without respect for human rights and dignity. There is no peace without freedom and justice.”
Inspired by Gandhi’s nonviolent techniques, Peace Brigades International was founded in 1981 with the conviction that the presence of international volunteers could deter attacks against the civilian population in conflict areas. Thus, for 35 years, they have been working in conflict areas, where their volunteers provide support to human rights activists and other groups and organizations that are threatened, such as unions or indigenous communities. They currently have permanent teams in Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, Nepal, Indonesia and Kenya, and they have also worked in Sri Lanka, the Balkans, El Salvador, Haiti and East Timor.
The ICIP Peace in Progress Award is granted annually and consists of public recognition, a sculpture created by Nobel Peace Prize winner, activist and artist Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, called Porta del Sol, and a financial prize of 4,000 euros.
Full video of the ceremony (Canal Parlament)

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.

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.

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.