University of Deusto

This research work is carried out in collaboration with the Alboan Foundation and Hegoa. Its aim is to strengthen and spread citizen participation in important activities which not only directly raise awareness in the Basque Country but also have repercussions in social organisations in Colombia, Costa Rica and Spain. It is hoped that the following will be achieved: a methodology for the systemisation of citizen participation processes and experiences, the systemisation of significant field experiences, as well as new theoretical and practical contributions in the spheres of international local development, education and raising awareness among citizens.

Its main aim is to regard Humanitarian Action as an instrument for the protection of Human Rights through the analysis of the practice of some key humanitarian agencies in Colombia.

This research work will be carried out taking this general objective as a reference, and will be focused on specific areas or approaches that will be clarified as the project is developed. The main specific areas of study include:

• those actions in the international cooperation context involved in the efforts aimed at the human rights protection of the population affected by armed conflict, as well as those actions designed to ease the path towards a post-conflict society. 
• Related to the previous point, the influence of the Colombian conflict on the indigenous people?s rights will also be examined.
• Also, the impact of conflict on women will be dealth with.

This study is focused on two main objectives: 1) to determine the extent to which those elements Muslim people regard as constitutent of the Islamic identity in our society are (in)compatible with specific institutional, legal or political structures and 2) to examine the likelihood of adapting those compatible structures to such reality.

This research work will be carried out according to the following scheme:

• Islam: main referents of islamic identities; European Islam: currents, references, main expressions. Islam in globalisation: Islam and postmodernity. 
• Plurality, multiculturality, open or closed societies, state neutrality regarding religion or identity; the idea of public space: conceptual framework.
• Religious differences (or in religious identity) and democratic societies: a comparative political-legal approach: analysis of international and domestic regulations and jurisprudence. 
• Specific factors or elements (aspirations) through which the islamic identity is expressed in the public space.
• Analysis and possible reformulation of current structures to suit the islamic identity: philosophical, political and legal changes.