Article by Andreu Jerez for the number 61 of the magazine ‘Pueblos’ - ‘Communication, Power and Democracy’. The text addresses the lack of time and resources in the mainstream media for developing a critic and honest journalism.

The Committee for the Defence of People’s Rights and the Free Legal Practice of Barcelona Bar Association celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2013. To commemorate the anniversary, the committee commissioned Contrast the production of a short documentary about the Commission, its history and future challenges. The documentary was produced by Contrast, Metromuster and 15Mbcn tv. The objetives of the Committee are mainly as follows: - To ensure that people’s rights are safeguarded, both individually and collectivelly, and that the existing state and international regulations that preserve and protect these rights are complied with, by using the mass media, promoting public campaigns and events, drawing up proposals and suggestions to modify the current legislation addressed at the authorities and the public opinion, and by taking all those relevant measures to preserve the efficacy of human rights.

The International Catalan Institute for Peace (ICIP) presented the II ICIP Peace in Progress Award to five “Madres de Soacha” (Mothers of Soacha, a town near Bogotá in Colombia) at the Catalan Parliament last Monday 18th March 2013. The sons of these five mothers were assassinated extrajudicially by the Colombian Army between 2007 and 2008. The award recognizes the courage and exemplariness of the persistent struggle of these women, who “do not accept silence nor proposals of compensation and who do not back off despite the menaces and coercion”, and their contribution to the creation of citizenship and the defense of justice and juridical state.

Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, is considered the largest in the world by the UN. It was created over twenty years ago, in 1991, by UNHCR to house Somalis fleeing conflict then emerging. Currently, it hosts almost 500,000 people. The documentary ‘Dadaab’, produced by Contrast, discloses one of the lesser known sides of the conflict in Somalia while exploring the personal dynamics that are generated in the camp by tackling the life contradictions faced by its inhabitants.