ngos

Òscar Camps and Carola Rackete of NGOs Proactiva Open Arms and Sea Watch receive chamber's annual distinction ahead of National Day celebrations

Interior minister Salvini refuses to offer a safe harbor despite six EU countries willing to relocate rescued migrants

Catalan NGO awaits authorization to dock with 147 people on board after 14-day standoff

Catalan NGO warns of 2.5-meter waves threatening crew and 151 migrants saved in the Mediterranean

The rescue NGOs call on cities, organizations, and citizens to step up “against the unjust and inhumane policies of Europe”

Catalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, Raül Romeva, traveled to Lebanon to assess the Catalan cooperation projects which are being carried out there. Indeed, the Government is involved with 17 projects in the country in cooperation with several NGOs, the UN, and the Lebanese authorities. “We want to collaborate in building the necessary response to tackle the crisis in the Mediterranean,” said Romeva and added that “society is demanding” that Catalonia reaffirm its commitment with the refugees. Romeva made these statements after visiting the refugee camp and medical center in Halba, a village located in the Akkar area, next to the Syrian border, where 35% of the population are refugees.

“Catalonia has always been a welcoming land”. This is the leitmotiv of the campaign launched today by 200 Catalan associations and NGOs and a hundred cultural companies and citizens. The initiative ‘Our home, your home’ seeks to promote the reception of refugees in Catalonia through a wide range of activities aimed at raising awareness among society. The movement arose from a group of Catalan volunteers who worked in the informal refugee camps in northern Greece, until the refugees were evicted and moved to premises under military control. “We felt ashamed of being accomplices to the policies of our Government and we promised we would do something to change their [the refugees] situation”, explained Ruben Wagensberg. Although Spain has to receive 10,500 refugees according to the scheme of distribution of the European Commission, it has only welcomed 516 to the date. The main goal of the initiative is to ensure that Catalan institutions act, ignoring the inaction from Spain, and start welcoming refugees. 

Catalonia's National Alliance for Self-determination, which brings together some 3,000 entities including political parties, local governments, trade unions, employer associations, Chambers of commerce and NGOs, held on Friday its 3^rd meeting. The Alliance decided to send the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, a letter to ask him not to block the self-determination vote scheduled for the 9^th of November, which would be organised under the Catalan legal framework. The document will highlight that the Constitutional Court stated that it did not have powers to solve issues arising from a part of Spain wanting to modify its political status and that "public powers, particularly the territorial ones" are those who have to solve it "through dialogue and cooperation". The letter will be sent in the coming days, ahead of the meeting between Rajoy and the President of the Catalan Government, Artur Mas. In this meeting, Mas will discuss this vote but also the institutional and social issues in Catalonia.

The Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat) has launched its first call for applications for ‘Grants for the International Projection of Catalan Civil Society Organisations’, designed to cover the participation costs of such organisations in international meetings. The grants will be managed by the Federation of Internationally Recognized Catalan Organisations (FOCIR) and applications can be submitted until the 27^th of March. The Secretary General of Diplocat, Albert Royo, detailed the call on Wednesday evening. He stressed that activities aimed towards international public opinion could have a significant impact on presenting Catalonia to the world.

Despite exceptional increases for concrete development projects, external relations and international cooperation services and funds were reduced by almost 50% within the plan to reduce public spending in 2011. The Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation decided to increase financial aid to the Horn of Africa to help with the humanitarian crisis that is affecting 13.5 million people.

NGOs in Catalonia meet to prepare an aid strategy for the victims of the recent heavy flooding in Pakistan. They are ready to act as soon as international organisations decide exactly what is needed in the field