International Catalan Institute for Peace ICIP
21 September: The International Day of Peace
Institutional statement of the ICIP
21 September
Despite the economic crisis, international arms expenditure increased by 5.9% in 2009, to 1,500 million dollars, according to figures from the annual Institutional Declaration by ICIP on 21 September, on the International Day of Peace. The declaration calls this growth incoherent, irrational and savage.
In the nuclear sphere, despite some breakthroughs concerning arsenals and legal instruments, 7,500 nuclear weapons are still operative, and 2,000 of these can be launched in minutes. The ICIP calls for a convention to abolish this situation, which it considers to be "unacceptable".
The Declaration, read by the ICIP President Rafael Grasa, was announced at an event at the institute's headquarters, with the president of the Parliament of Catalonia, Ernest Benach, and the Minister of the Interior and Institutional Relations, Joan Saura in attendance. Both stressed Catalonia's historic commitment to peace.
Over the next year, the ICIP is committed to working in three areas, under the slogan "Tools for peace". These areas are compliance with the UN's Millennium Objectives, monitoring of the debate, development and impact of instruments for the construction of peace and prevention of conflicts, and increasing the tools for peace currently available from the ICIP, which include observatories, magazines, websites and books.
The photograph exhibition "Barefoot words. Women making peace", by Dani Lagartofernández was inaugurated to coincide with the International Day of Peace. The exhibition, which can be seen all week at Gran Via 658, Barcelona, gives a voice to thirteen Israeli and Palestinian women – from Gaza and the West Bank - who are committed to the peace process. According to the photographer, the display is a response to his personal wish to "seek new formats for communicating dignity in a situation where there are so many victims".
