“Arms trade, conflicts and human rights. Analysis of European arms exports to countries in situations of armed conflict and human rights violations” is a report by the Centre Delàs d'Estudis per la Pau, the Escola de Cultura de Pau and the Institut de Drets Humans de Catalunya that analyses arms exports by EU member states during the year 2018 (the most recent year with available export information) to countries that were in a situation of armed conflict that year. The report analyses arms exports to 11 countries that were the scene of armed conflict. The analysis includes a summary of the recent history and evolution of the conflict in question, a description of the most relevant events that took place during 2018, as well as an analysis of each case from the perspective of arms imports and compliance with the main instruments of human rights and international humanitarian law. In addition to the case analysis, the report also provides an overview of the status and evolution of arms transfers from EU Member States, as well as a comparative perspective on the characteristics of the current armed conflict.

Authors: European arms exports: Jordi Calvo Rufanges, Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto. Armed conflicts: Josep Maria Royo, Jordi Urgell, Pamela Urrutia, Ana Villellas, María Villellas. Human rights ans International Humanitarian Law: Karlos Castilla

Read and download the full report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

The report “The military and borders' security industry in Catalonia” aims to provide information on the reality of the presence of this type of companies in Catalonia. The research analyzes the growing trend of production in the security sector, linked to companies that already provided military components and services to big companies of the defense sector or to the Spanish Ministry of Defense itself. These military and security companies have started a millionaire billing growth throughout Europe (also in Spain and Catalonia), at a time when Spanish military spending had declined due to 2007 economic crisis.

The research puts into context the companies located in Catalonia that benefit from the response of the European institutions of fortifying borders to the problems linked to people fleeing wars and poverty. This has generated a significant increase in the border security market, so that big defense companies have entered the security market and, especially, border security, with great growth potential that has meant the revival of this industry. Companies such as Indra, Sener, Tecnobit, GMV, Rohde & Schwarz, Accenture, Sopra Steria, ATOS IT or Thales, all of them companies that have lately grown or have settled in Catalonia, which have an important position in the defense and defense sectors security, and they receive funding from this sector.

Authors: Nora Miralles and Pere Ortega

You can read and download the executive summary in Spanish and in Catalan; and the full report in Spanish and in Catalan. 

More than thirty years of women’s participation in the Spanish Army and many legislative and formal changes geared towards mitigating the effects of sexism, have not altered the eternal relationship between patriarchy and militarism, a binomial that remains, to this day, unquestionable.

This new report from Centre Delàs d’Estudis per la Pau analyses how the situation facing women within the Armed Forces, far from representing a milestone in the feminist demands for equality of access to areas of power in the public sphere hitherto denied to women, is in fact a further example of patriarchal domination and militarist logic. The behaviours and mechanisms derived from this domination are reproduced and perpetuated, despite superfluous changes, because of the performative capacity of patriarchy. The interviews conducted with twelve military women have enabled us to confirm that military women are immersed in a constant process of acculturation, and assess the level of awareness that they themselves have of this process.

This research also shows how the Army has followed a strategy of purplewashing that aims to instrumentalise women in order to transmit a false image of equality and modernity in the Armed Forces.

Authors: Maria de Lluc Bagur and Elisenda Ribes

Read and download the executive summary in English, in Spanish and in Catalan; and the full report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

The new report “Guarding the Fortress: the role of Frontex in the militarization and securitization of migratory flows in the European Union” intends to study and analyze the context in which the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, is developed and implemented in the European Union, as well as its operation, mechanisms and main operations carried out. The research addresses the context that is built with respect to security policies in the EU, and specifically with regard to border and migration policy. As well as, the development of Frontex in this context.

The report analyzes the role that Frontex has in helping to build walls around the European Union, building what is called the “Europe Fortress”, through maritime, area and land operations that criminalize people who have to flee their homes for force, whether from war or economic inequality. It is in this context that migratory flows are approached as a threat, so that they are approached with the same instruments as border crimes.

Author: Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto

Read and download the executive summary in English, in Spanish and in Catalan; and the full report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

Military and “security” actions with military robotic and armed systems haveradically changed the war scenarios, which have evolved from concentratingon military and strategic targets to performing attacks that can seriously affectuninvolved civilian population. Attacks with armed drones often do notappear in newspapers, but they show a steady growth rate in recent years. They are attacks that end up killing civilians, as well as perpetrating summaryand extrajudicial executions of supposedly terrorist people. Lately, inaddition, the military drones are evolving to incorporate autonomous systemsof decision.

This report presents the main concepts related to the new robotic military systems as well as the different types of military drones and the risk that the automation step towards autonomy and the deployment of autonomous and lethal armed systems can mean. The publication seeks to identify the major actors (producing and buying countries, and companies) in the field of armed and autonomous drones, as well as the main types of drones that may include autonomous capacities. The international efforts that aim at the prohibition of these weapons are also presented, as well as the ethical problems that arise in relation to these new weapons, to armed drones and their possible autonomy, in a geopolitical framework in which the business has neglected people and their rights.

Authors: Pere Brunet, Tica Font, Xavi Mojal and Joaquín Rodríguez

You can read and download the executive summary in English, in Spanish and in Catalan; and the full report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

"The business of bulding walls" is a sequel to "Building Walls. Fear and securitization in the European Union" published in 2018 by Delàs Centre of Studies for Peace, Transnational Institute (TNI) and Stop Wapenhandel, which first measured and identified the walls that crisscross Europe. This new report analyzes the businesses that have profited from the construction of walls and technologies spread in European borders, built to intercept displaced and migrant people and to stop them migrating into Europe.

The report shows that the flow of money from taxpayers to wall-builders has been highly lucrative and constantly growing in the European Union (EU) and its member States that have promoted the companies that have profited from the walls building. Some of the corporate beneficiaries are also global players, tapping into a global market for border security estimated to be worth approximately €17.5 billion in 2018. The research also highlights the significant role of the arms companies on the decision-making for border security by creating spaces where their economic interests can be defended. The business of building walls is a lucrative and growing business with lethal consequences for those migrating.

Author: Mark Akkerman

You can read and download the executive summary in English, in Spanish and in French, and the complete report in English.

La espiral de violencia de la España Fortaleza: Armas para la guerra y militarismo para blindar las fronteras

Con “La espiral de violencia de la España Fortaleza: Armas para la guerra y militarismo para blindar las fronteras” se pretende comprender, analizar y estudiar los mecanismos que conducen a la militarización de la Frontera Sur española, que generan la violencia estructural, cultural y directa a la que se enfrentan las personas que son desplazadas por la fuerza, ya sea huyendo de las guerras y los conflictos armados o por las dinámicas de la desigualdad económica global. Por otra parte, se analiza el modelo de amurallamiento del Estado español que ha servido para desarrollar, en los años sucesivos, la denominada “Europa Fortaleza” en la que España juega un papel relevante. No solo por ser una de las principales murallas de la fortaleza europea erigida contra las personas que se han visto obligadas de un modo u otro a emigrar, sino por haberse convertido en uno de los principales exportadores de armamento y material militar de todo tipo.

Este informe analiza la corresponsabilidad que le atañe al Estado español sobre la venta de armas a países y regiones del mundo que se encuentran en una situación de conflicto o especial vulnerabilidad. Llama la atención sobre cómo estos hechos contribuyen a profundizar el contexto de inseguridad para poblaciones enteras que se ven obligadas al desplazamiento forzado o a huir en condición de refugiadas. Mientras tanto, la respuesta que el Estado español utiliza es la militarización de las fronteras y la limitación a esos flujos de personas que huyen hacia territorio español y europeo. Lejos de constituir un caso aislado, España es un ejemplo a la hora de desarrollar y consolidar la denominada Europa Fortaleza, que ha llevado a que otros estados de la Unión Europea reproduzcan medidas de control del movimiento y militarización fronteriza realizadas previamente en territorio español. 

Autores: Jordi Calvo Rufanges y Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto (Centro Delàs de Estudios por la Paz)

Revisión editorial: Felip Daza, Laia Vila, Lina M. González y Sofia González (Novact)

Puedes descargar el informe completo en castellano aquí.

It is in the cities where most of the world's citizenship is concentrated, 55%, and at the same time, it is the space where most conflicts are settled. Conflicts are directly related to the commodification of the city, the city as a business; and the diversity and plurality of the people who live in urban conurbations. It is then the confrontation of interests and the social and cultural diversity that generates conflicts, and the challenge is how to face them, learn to manage them and transform them in a positive way, creating relationships of mutual respect, reciprocity and justice through actions that do not involve violence. .

Coinciding with the celebration of the International Day of Peace, the Centre Delàs d'Estudis per la Pau publishes a new report that addresses the construction of peace in cities to provide alternative proposals to the current security model. The research gives rise to a proposal for an Agenda for Peace in Cities based on a prior analysis of urban violences and its different typologies and effects on the lives and bodies of all city inhabitants throughout the world.

Authors: Tica Font and Pere Ortega

Read and download the executive summary in Spanish and in Catalan; and the full report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.