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.
Jun 15, 2021 | Human Rights, REACT
The first days of ‘Challenges in 2030’ of l’Alfàs del Pi have started. These courses have been organized by the Councils of Cooperation and Volunteering, Equality and Residents of Other Nationalities, in collaboration with the Fons Valendià per la Solidaritat and Helsinki España.
These lectures are focused in analizing the loss of human dignity throughout armed conflicts. And also, they have started last Friday in the ‘Casa de la Cultura” with the lecture “Organized Crime and terrorism in XXI Century” led by Edgardo Buscaglia, a recognized expert in Law and Economics.
Within the framework of his academic work about the integration of organized crime in legal economy, Edgardo supports civil society organizations during the fight and prevention of this social phenomenon.
The Councils of Cooperation and Volunteering, Isabel Muñoz; Equality, Rocío Guijarro and Residents from Other Nationalities, Martine Mertens, were attendees to the opening event of these conferences which will continue on this Wednesday 16th June from 10 to 12:30pm in “Casa de la Cultura” with the session “The woman and the girl in armed conflicts”.
This session includes the projected documentary ‘Els fils del tauler’ by Josep Gayà, a project in which the Fons Valencià per la Solidaritat y Col·lectiu Mirades are collaborating. The film won the award for Best Documentary in the category of half-length film in the International Film Festival for the No Violence, where 815 projects were summoned from 59 countries.
‘Els fils del tauler’ is a research documentary about the weapons industry, refugees and villages fighting for peace. It has been aired in around 50 countries by international television during a high-ranking schedule and has participated in almost 20 international film festivals.
After visualizing the documentary, a round table will be held where the speakers will be Josep Gayà, the colombian activist and refugee Claudia García Giraldo; the sarahui activist and refugee Lemadla Kori; the journalist and photographer Amador Guallar and Natxo Peñarocha, technician in Education for the Global Development and Citizenship of Fons Valendià per la Solidaritat.
These conferences will be coming to an end on Tuesday 22nd June at 18h with the lecture “Experiences in peace missions with a gender perspective”, led by Daniella M. Marelli who currently works in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a Protection Delegate offering humanitarian aid to people affected by conflicts and armed violence.
The Town Hall of l’Alfàs del Pi has established the main goal to make visible and approach the Sustainable Development Goals from the 2030 Agenda. These conferences, international in nature, want to motivate a reflection towards armed conflicts, arms industry and international terrorism as well as getting to know first-hand living experiences from women and peace activists who are also advocating for Human Rights. All this from professionals from national and international organizations such as the United Nations, European Union and the ICRC.
It is mostly about conferences intended for open public. The only requirement is willing to know what happens in other countries around the globe.
In order for these conferences to be held in l’Alfàs, the Councils for Cooperation and Volunteering, Residents and Equality have worked in a coordinated way with the Fons Valencià per la Solidaritat and the Helsinki España association, demonstrating once again the degree of commitment of the consistory alfasino with the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda, keeping them very present in each of the activities that are organized in the municipality.
Jun 1, 2021 | Gender equality, Human Rights, REACT
Yesterday, we successfully launched out REACT’s course XXV edition (Rapid Expert Assistance and Co-operation Teams). The Social Centre Platja Albir de l’Alfàs del Pi in Alicante, Spain kindly welcomed us in their facilities and gave us the space we required to implement the course. This year’s participants will be staying in Alicante until 26th June and will later go to Segovia to receive a practical training course about handling the critical situations and/or emergency situations while being deployed in hostile environments.
During our opening event, the Cooperations and Volunteering councilors: Isabel Muñoz and Martine Mertens as well as Equality councilor: Rocío Guijarro joined our president María Jaén Barandiarán and our secretary general Ángela Suárez Jaimes to welcome the participants who assisted.
REACT, ever since its creation in 2003, has maintained its main goal to be: prepare professionals with diverse career paths who are interested in joining REACT also from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). This year this course takes in people who have traveled from different parts of the world such as Afghanistan, Argentina, Cameroon, Colombia, Spain, Ethiopia, Mexico, Nigeria and Togo with the purpose of providing necessary knowledge and abilities to achieve a good management in peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
In this edition, REACT has the honor to receive professors and lecturers who have vast knowledge in humanitarian action, human rights, gender equality, peace missions, etc. and they also have the experience of working in international organizations such as the United Nations, European Union, OSCE, OTAN, International Committee of the Red Cross, NGOs with a humanitarian nature, among others.
For our first course that took place yesterday, our participants attended the lecture regarding the topic International Human Rights Law taught by Professor Adam Dublin who was a legal fellow in the United Nations Office of the Co-Prosecutors at the Cambodian genocide tribunal and also worked in India in issues related to human rights and girls and women’s protection.
Oct 21, 2020 | Youth to Youth
Spain continues to lead the ranking of economies with the highest percentage of unemployed youth. According to data from the Labour Force Survey from the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, the unemployment rate for young people aged 16 to 24 is 33,3%.
The low activity rates, the very high unemployment figures, and the precarious working conditions compromise the future of a generation that feels frustrated, condemned to social marginalization, and unable to achieve full autonomy and a future outside of their families.
The youth unemployment rate of Spain is the highest in the EU, with 33% it even surpasses the Greek data (32,5%). Spain also has the worst working conditions for young people.
Moreover, according to the report of labour insertion of the university graduates presented last July (2019) by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Spain is one of EU countries where the graduates performed low-skilled Jobs. 37,1% of the graduates in Spain performed these jobs, compared to 23,2%, the European average, according to data from the CYD Foundation report of 2017.
In Spain, 30% of university graduates 4 years after graduating are still unable to find a job. This can lead them to social exclusion after all the work and effort made.
On the 27th of May of 2020, UN news published that the impact of COVID-19 has been disproportionate among the young workers. More than one out of six is unemployed, and the working hours of those who have kept their job have been reduced by a 23%, as claimed by the most recent report of the international institution that deals with labour issues. The report also indicated that the rapid and substantial increase in the young unemployment register since February has affected women more than it has affected men.
El País newspaper reported on the 3rd of June of 2020 that the youth unemployment rate had increased seven-tenths between March and April in the nineteen countries that share the euro. It reached 15,8% and increased eight tenths in the European Union until reaching 15,4%. Date confirms that Spain had the highest youth unemployment rate among the member states for which Eurostat published data in April, the indicator saw a monthly increase of eight tenths, while in year-on-year terms the growth was of two tenths, reaching 33,2%.
The ILO reported that the pandemic will have a triple impact on the young people, not only it destroys their jobs, but also their education and training. Because of this, ILO has demanded “urgent, concrete, and large-scale” political answers aiming to support the youth. The director of the ILO office in Spain, Joaquín Nieto, has warned that this situation is especially relevant for the Spanish labour market, which was already suffering from one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. In fact, he believes that Spain “cannot allow a high youth unemployment rate to be installed in a structural manner, which could mean a failure with disastrous long-term consequences for an entire generation”. He then recommended implementing a special Youth Guarantee plan so that young people without a job and without studies are offered a job or a training proposal. At the global level, the general secretary of the ILO, Guy Ryder, has highlighted that if “immediate and significative” measures to improve the conditions of this generation “they could carry the legacy of the virus for decades”
Considering all this data, Helsinki Spain decided to once again re-launch our project “Employment Guidance and Social Collaboration”, with the help of the community of Madrid.
Our project is aimed at young graduates from the community of Madrid who are currently unemployed and under 35 years.
The project is going to take place from September to December 2020.
Oct 15, 2020 | Youth to Youth
We hereby present you Kamal Aldalati, student of medicine at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela.
He will be with us in the next human rights training session for our project Youth toYouth in Galicia to share with us his testimony and give us a wide perspective and approach to the reality migrants live.
Kamal is a syrian refugee, he used to work as an anesthetist in a hospital until he had to run away from his country because he was at risk of death. His testimony will help young college students who will volunteer with us, to fully comprehend the dimensions of the migratory phenomenon and the right to asylum. Additionally, they will learn key tools to sensibilize about this topic to children in schools.
We still have places available for you to participate in our project!
Sign up: Helsinki@helsinkiespana.org
