A group of transnationals is receiving millions of euros of public research funds to develop surveillance technologies and increasingly invasive espionage, as revealed by a new report published by the Transnational Institute, Statewatch, the Delàs Center for Studies for Peace, International Institute for Nonviolent Action (NOVACT) and the Center for Education and Research for Peace (CEIPAZ).

The report Market forces reveals that the research program of the EU 'Secure Societies', which has a budget of 1700 million euros, has been largely defined by the influence of the sector of "internal security" and that , in this process, it is building a Europe that is increasingly militarized and focused on security.

Author: Chris Jones

You can download the executive summary in Englishxecutive summary in English and in Spanish, and the full report in English.

Arms trade and conflicts. Analysis of European exports to countries in armed conflict

Arms trade and conflicts. Analysis of European exports to countries in armed conflict is a report by the Centre Delàs d'Estudis per la Pau and the Escola de Cultura de Pau, which analyzes arms exports by member states of the EU during 2015 (more recent year with available information on exports) to countries that were in a situation of armed conflict that year. The report analyzes arms exports to 13 countries that were the scene of 16 armed conflicts, offering an analysis of the context of the different conflicts, referring both to the recent history of each armed conflict, and to the most relevant concrete events that took place during 2015.

In a context of growing arms trade from the EU and, at the same time, the increasingly serious consequences of these conflicts on the population - increasing mortality figures linked to these conflicts and an increasing number of people forcefully displaced as a result of this violence - this report aims to enrich the public debate about the impacts that the EU's armament policy has on the countries that are the scene of armed conflict. At the same time, it is a tool to generate greater political commitments both at Spanish and European level with a specific agenda aimed at controlling, reducing and eliminating arms exports to countries in armed conflict.

Authors: Jordi Calvo Rufanges, Ainhoa Ruiz and Edgard Vega (Delàs Center of Peace Studies); and Josep Maria Royo, Jordi Urgell, Pamela Urrutia, Ana Villellas and María Villellas (Escola Cultura de Pau).

You can download the executive summary in English and in Spanish. And the complete report here in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

The  absurdity of Military Spending. Analysis of the budget of defence in Spain, 2017

After being in decline for ten continuous years, the budget of the Spanish Ministry of Defense has increased by 32% compared to 2016. This enormous increase, as well as the budgetary fights that have been applied to hide the real military costs from the public opinion, are analyzed in this new report of Delàs Centre of Studies for Peace.

Further, this report sets out the criteria for the counting of military items established by Centre Delàs, which reveal that the current Spanish military expenditure amounts to 18,776 million euros, 51.4 million dollars a day and 1.64% of the GDP. This is well above the 1% as indicated by Minister of Defence María Dolores de Cospedal.

Author: Pere Ortega

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

The weapons bubble and the military industry in Spain. Special Armament Programs

The military industry in Spain is largely fuelled by the demands of the Ministry of Defense, and in particular by the so-called Special Armament Programs – Programas Especiales de Armamentos (PEA). PEA were approved the first time in 1998 and since then, due to the commitments made, generated a major State debt to military industries responsible for manufacturing them, reaching to the date an estimated €15.000 million.

Both the excessive accumulated debt and the public deficit associated with the PEA require a revision of these programs. An analysis that the Centre d’Estudis per la Pau addresses in its last report, together with a detailed picture of the main enterprises that conform the military production oligopoly in Spain.

Author: Pere Ortega

You can download here the executive summary in Spanish and in Catalan and the full report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan. Soon available in English and Catalan.

European arms that foster armed conflicts. Conflicts that cause refugees to flee. An analysis of arms exports from the European Union to countries with refugees or internally displaced persons 2003-14

The arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees at the gates of Europe, mainly from the Syrian war, has given rise to political and social agendas focused on how to receive this population and on border control and surveillance. However, there has not been a sufficiently exhaustive debate about the causes of these population movements. This new report by Centre Delàs analyses the role that authorized and and realized European arms exports play in the aggravation and perpetuation of armed conflicts and tension situations that lead millions of people to leave its home every year.

Authors: Jordi Calvo Rufanges (Coord), Ainhoa Ruiz Benedicto (Centre Delàs) and Edgard Vega Vargas (Centre Delàs)

You can download the executive summary in Spanish and in Catalan, and thefull report in English, in Spanish and in Catalan.

The incorporation of women into the Spanish Army. Opacity, sexism and violence

The incorporation of women into the Spanish Army it is formally established as a process of modernization into the Army. In spite of the fact that the official sources refer to this process as a fact of “equality” the reality is very different. Open the door of the army to the women, allow them to obtain the same rights of men or will turn them into other pieces of the militaristic gear?
Question like the sexual violence inside the army, the difficulty in the familiar conciliation or the perpetuity of the patriarchal roles make think about the army as an institution that generates violence inside and out of its rows.

Author: Maria de Lluc Bagur researcher for the Delàs Centre for Peace Studies

You can download the report here in English, Spanish and Catalan

Gender and military culture. Lives, bodies and social control under war

In the new report by the Delás Centre it is analysed the relation of mutual dependence among the militarism and the patriarchy one. That is when the militarism penetrates in the society mobilize all the material available resources to the service of the war, included the human resources. The war speech, the devaluation of the value of the life, the construction of “the other one” as enemy or the promotion of certain masculinities can generate increase of the violence and feedback the existing one as mechanism of control on women, children and non-hegemonic sexual and gender identities.

Author: Nora Miralles Crespo, collaborator of the Delàs Centre for Peace Studies

You can download the report here in English, Catalan andSpanish

Spanish arms exports 2006-2015. Spanish weapons used in Middle East conflicts 

The Delàs Centre publishes a new report on Spanish arms exportations in which it is analyzed the role of Spain in the Middle East conflicts as well as the possible breach of the Spanish and European legislation on the trade of weapon.

In the report three worrying cases are outlined: the special relation with Saudi Arabia, the fact that explosives of the group Maxam were finishing in ISIS's hands, and the armament presence of Spanish manufacture in the war of Yemen.

Authors: Tica Font (ICIP) and Eduardo Melero (Delàs Centre)

You can download the report here in English, Spanish and Catalan