Nov 15, 2021 | Human Rights
Despite the great advancements in human rights throughout our history, the death penalty continues to be used in some countries as a legal punishment. This punishment is an extreme violation of human rights and a form of discrimination and torture against the people, who are often deprived of a legal process with all the guarantees.
Helsinki España organizes an online conference in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the death penalty and its application in the world. Our lecturers are coming from non-profit organizations with a long history of fighting for the abolition of this type of torture, international law experts, and the testimony of the first Spanish person who got out of death row in the USA.
The conference will take place on 23rd November, from 9:00 hours to 14:00 hours, via Zoom platform. Join us for free and learn by first-hand the situation about the death penalty.
Sign up here! https://forms.gle/Y8TXZZN527NNasrQ9
Nov 10, 2021 | Education, Human Rights, Youth to Youth
We are celebrating! December 10 marks International Human Rights Day in remembrance of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in 1948 by the United Nations General Assembly, 73 years ago!
For that reason we launched our contest #JOVENESXJOVENES TIK TOK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, inviting children, adolescents and volunteers to participate by recording a Tik Tok and filling social media with solidarity messages about Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda.
The winners of the contest will be able to collect their prize on December 10 at our closing event of Youth for Youth Madrid 2021.
Contest rules
Oct 20, 2021 | Youth to Youth
On Monday, October 25, the canarian youth enrolled in Youth for Youth began the training course on Human Rights. This course will take place until Friday, October 22, in the Nexo building located on the Tafira campus, thanks to the collaboration of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC). The president of Helsinki Spain, María Jaén, and the Vice-Chancellor for Students, Alumni and Employability of the ULPGC, David Sánchez, opened the course this Monday. (You can see the news at the ULPGC’s web)
Throughout the week, the students will be trained on human rights, sustainable development goals and other related subjects such as gender equality, mental and emotional health, environment protection, migration, refugees and asylum, the fight against bullying. and the responsible use of social networks. The course is given by experts in the different subjects, having the students the opportunity to recreate some of the dynamics that they will later put into practice in the schools.
It will be an intense but crucial week to train and transmit what you have learned to the little ones!
Sep 9, 2021 | Education, Human Rights, Youth to Youth
We are starting strong this course with our human rights education project in Madrid, the Canary Islands and Malaga. “Youth for Youth” is a project based on the education as a fundamental tool for mobilization and social transformation, which tries to raise awareness about social problems, promote debate and critical thinking among the youth and childhood. Helsinki Spain is launching this project with the support of the Community of Madrid and the Ministry of Health.
Don’t let this opportunity slip away! Train yourself with experts and civil society organizations in the defense of human rights and develop workshops through a participatory methodology in schools.
Training date:
Click on the poster and SIGN UP!
If you are interested, you can check more information in Youth to Youth.
Jun 28, 2021 | Human Rights, REACT
Faced with the risks and threats to International Peace and current conflicts, more than twenty people of different nationalities met in Alicante and later in Segovia, to make possible the XXV edition of REACT- Rapid Expert Assistance and Co-operation Teams- , a five-week training program on peace processes and conflict prevention, organized by the Helsinki Spain Association.
Rapid Expert Assistance and Co-operation Teams (REACT), was created in 2003 by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and organized by the Helsinki Spain Association, with the aim of preparing professionals with various interested career paths in improving their knowledge in conflict prevention, crisis and post-conflict management, rehabilitation and development, as well as their practical skills for field work in international peace operations.
It is an initiative composed of 7 modules that was born to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand and analyze the main threats to international security and peace, the situations in which armed conflicts arise, their key actors and its impact on civilians. Likewise, it is intended to improve the capacities of the participants in the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, as well as the protection of civilians in armed conflicts and, to strengthen the competence and confidence of the members when dealing with risk situations and / or criticism effectively, as would happen in peacekeeping work.
Throughout the 25 editions of the course, there have been experts from international organizations (United Nations, European Union, OSCE and NATO), diplomatic personnel and other officials, as well as military and police personnel, members of the International Committee of Red Cross and other humanitarian NGOs, as well as independent consultants and staff from different international universities.
On this occasion, the 25th Edition of REACT composed of twenty-two participants from; Colombia, Spain, Nigeria, Mexico, Argentina, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Togo, Lebanon, the Philippines, Canada, Jordan, Italy, France, China and Liberia has taken place in L’Alfas del Pi, in Alicante, in collaboration with the councils of Cooperation and Volunteering, Residents and Equality of the City Council. Until June 26, the program has been developed at the Platja Social Center, where six of the seven modules based on training in conflict prevention and peacebuilding, international law, protection of civilians, current conflicts and threats to peace were included. and international security, key actors and their contribution to international peace and security and tools for sustainable peace.
The seventh and last module called Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT) is taking place in Los Angeles de San Rafael, Segovia, from June 27 to July 2, thanks to which, students participate in simulations to learn to deal with risks partners and other critical or emergency situations during mission deployment, such as team members in an international field operation. The HEAT content covers skills and competencies on how to act in the event of kidnapping, hostage-taking and encounters with weapons, mines and explosives; through the acquisition of knowledge about first aid in hostile environments and orientation and communication in the field; to driving an SUV and defending against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.
REACT is the only training course of these characteristics that takes place in Spain and to date it has trained more than 400 people. Throughout its 25 editions, the Helsinki Spain Association has worked under the conviction of the transformative power of education and the need to train people from all kinds of countries and situations in conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict, as the best instrument at our disposal to contribute to the global efforts for the construction of Peace.
