On November 14 CIEMEN unveiled plans for a "Collective Rights of Peoples Exhibition Space" that will represent stateless peoples at the next World Social Forum in Belém do Pará, Brazil. CIEMEN will run the exhibition space, which will be dedicated to the topic of collective rights of stateless peoples, in collaboration with the Catalan Agency for Development Co-operation.

The exhibition area, which will consist of two marquees with a total capacity of 800 people, will be the venue for a whole range of activities that will aim to raise awareness, stimulate debate and gain recognition for peoples and nations that lack their own state. Representatives from European nations (including the Basque Country, Corsica and Scotland) will participate alongside delegates from the Middle East (including Kurdistan, Kabylie and Palestine) and the Americas (such as the Mapuche and indigenous peoples from Ecuador, Bolivia and Brazil).

Quim Arrufat, in charge of international relations at CIEMEN and co-ordinator of the "Collective Rights of Peoples Exhibition Space", said he hoped to achieve the following objectives: "centralize the presence of stateless nations, peoples and communities at the World Social Forum and within the alter-globalization movement in general; stimulate debate through joint events that encourage participating stateless nations, peoples and communities to exchange ideas, experience and reflections; elaborate a discourse in defence of collective rights that is specific to and shared by stateless nations, within the framework of the alter-globalization movement."

Arrufat also spoke of the need to "bring the World Social Forum process, the aims of the alter-globalization movement and the existence of other stateless peoples to the attention of the Catalan public."

Working meetings and public seminar
On November 13-16, a number of delegates who will take part in the "Collective Rights of Peoples Exhibition Space" met in Barcelona to approve and organize the events that will take place in the marquees, following meetings at the European Social Forum in Malmo (September 17-21) and the Social Forum of the Americas in Guatemala City (October 7-12).

While these delegates were in Barcelona, CIEMEN took the opportunity to organize a public seminar on November 14, when a series of round table sessions were held on "Stateless peoples, globalization, collective rights, and the WSF process".

Further information:

• CIEMEN: www.ciemen.cat