COMUNICATION

More than 360 people from nineteen countries have registered in the 2nd Conference “Revealing Conflicts. Journalism and Communication for International Cooperation”, which has been inaugurated today at the Faculty of Documentation and Communication Sciences of the University of Extremadura. This conference, which has been organised by Yuste Foundation along with the Extremaduran International Cooperation Agency for Development and the University of Extremadura, is directed by the Extremaduran reporter who specialises in conflicts, Ángel Sastre. (01/03/2023)

In the opening ceremony the director of Yuste Foundation, Juan Carlos Moreno, recalled that a year after the celebration of the first conference, wars are still “a sad daily reality, the problem of migrants and refugees remains cruelly present and climate change is here”. In this sense, he affirmed that communicative work is “the key that must open the consciences of all and should be the focus that illuminates where the action of public administrations should be directed”.

In turn, the director of the Extremaduran International Cooperation Agency for Development (AEXCID), Angel Calle, claimed that this conference has become a “banner of the work carried out by the Agency in the area of communication in order to inform about what happens in the world and what the Extremaduran cooperation sector works on in order to alleviate and reverse”. He explained that with the help of Extremadura’s social organisations, AEXCID is present in more than twenty countries. Finally, Calle highlighted the role of communicators “because you shed light and transparency on the causes of all these conflicts that are taking place today in the planet”.

The rector of the University of Extremadura, Pedro Fernández Salguero, stressed that this event represents an opportunity for students to interact directly with communication professionals, photojournalism, war reporting and investigative journalism. He then stated that the conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the primary role of communication professionals in the generation of news and content and he placed value on the accounts they communicate “so that all of us become aware of the difficulties and basic needs that take place elsewhere in the world”.

The programme counts with the participation of professionals from the field of communication, photojournalism, war reporting and investigative journalism, such as Patricia Simón, who has come directly from Ukraine to participate in the conference; photographer Santi Palacios, winner of the Ortega y Gasset Prize; comic book writer Jon Sedano, and journalist and humanitarian worker Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, among other professionals who will share their experiences on how information that serves to analyse issues such as the dangers facing the planet, the humanitarian crises resulting from armed, political or social conflicts, as well as the silenced reality of the African continent is transmitted.

The conference is part of the INNCODE project, an initiative that emerges from the collaboration between the Office of Cooperation and Solidarity Action of the University of Extremadura and the Extremaduran International Cooperation Agency for Development of the Regional Government of Extremadura. In addition, it counts with the collaboration of the Vice-rectorate of Students, Employment and Mobility and the Faculty of Documentation and Communication Sciences of Badajoz.

The 2^nd “Revealing Conflicts” Conference will continue in the afternoon of 2 March, from 16.00 to 20.30 pm.