OEI awards the special mention of the Ibero-American Prize for Education on Human Rights to ‘RSF-UMH Elche, Safe Space for Freedom of the Press’ program

The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), recipient of the 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation for the OEI Ibero-American Program of Human Rights, Democracy, and Equality, has awarded a special mention from the fifth Óscar Romero Ibero-American Prize of Education on Human Rights to the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for their promotion of the ‘RSF-UMH Elche, Safe Space for Freedom of the Press’ program.

The award ceremony took place at the OEI facilities in Madrid, with its Secretary General, Mariano Jabonero, in attendance. He presided over the ceremony and awarded the prize to UMH Associate Professor of Journalism, Deputy Vice Rector for International Projection and Communication, and academic coordinator of the recognized program, José Luis González‐Esteban. Accompanying the UMH academic was the President of Reporters Without Borders for Spain, Alfonso Bauluz. Participants in the presentation and dialog preceding the award ceremony included Ambassador-at-Large for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, Alberto Cerezo; Ambassador-at-Large for Summits and Ibero-American Space, Carmen Fernández; director of the program cited by the OEI, Irune Aguirrezabal; representatives from the Spanish Ministry of Education, as well as members of the jury awarding the prize, who highlighted the social projection of the program implemented during Fall Semester of the current school year that is just now concluding.

The agreement that enabled the ‘RSF-UMH Elche, Safe Space for Freedom of the Press’ program was signed in January 2023 by UMH rector, Juan José Ruiz; the then mayor of Elche, Carlos González; and RSF Spain president, Alfonso Bauluz. This program receives support from the UMH Vice Rectorate for Internationalization and Cooperating, which is led by Professor Vicente Micol. The two beneficiaries of this successful first edition were journalists, Andrea Aldana (Colombia) and Loraine Morales (Cuba). They integrated as instructors of training workshops for students in the final years of the Bachelor’s in Journalism and Dual Bachelor’s in Audiovisual Communication and Journalism. Both were forced to flee their respective countries of origin due to grave threats against them, and they underwent situations of risk to exercise their professions.

“Reporters Without Borders had to get me out of my country, Colombia, twice, for which I am very grateful. Through this program I can introduce Spanish and European youth at the UMH about Latin American realities. This program gave me back a little piece of the life that I had lost there. Elche and the UMH gave me a family,” says the journalist, Andrea Aldana. For her part, the Cuban journalist, exiled now to Tijuana, Mexico, explained how the program, “Allowed me to escape from the routine, the conflicts that are part of being a migrant, from the precariousness. Returning to UMH classrooms in Elche, working on a team, learning new contexts and speaking about my experiences and those of my Cuban colleagues were liberating to say the least.”

In addition to their classroom interactions with students from those undergraduate programs, who are fully integrated into the permanent Ryszard Kapuscinski International Seminar on Journalism, Human Rights, Migration and Borders, both journalists met with UMH professors from the Department of Social and Human Sciences. There, the two became collaborating professors, they aided in teaching efforts for the Master’s in Innovation in Journalism program, and they held discussions & colloquiums with several distinct professional groups of journalists from around the Province of Alicante. Along these lines, associate professor Gonzalez-Esteban and program promoter, highlighted during the recognition by the OEI that the objective of “connecting realities and establishing a liberating intercultural dialog for them and enriching for our students, faculty, and local journalists” was fulfilled. For his part, the president of Reporters Without Borders, journalist Alfonso Bauluz, added during the ceremony that “It was a complete experience for everybody, the hosted journalists and the well-prepared young university students who are enriched by these interactions and who must build the future.”

The UMH, through its Vice Rectorate for Internationalization and Cooperation, has signed a collaboration agreement with Reporters Without Borders Spain to convene this program’s second edition.