The Victims of Terrorism Collective (COVITE) is a national association created in November 1998 by victims of terrorist attacks in the Basque Country. It brings together more than 400 famillies who’ve had one or more of their members murdered by terrorist organizations like ETA or GAL. They defend democratic principles, respect for the law and the principles of Justice and Historical Memory in order to guarantee a context of dignity after any terrorist attack.
In February 2001 COVITE joined the Agreement for freedom and against terrorism signed by the Popular Party and the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party.
In 2002 the COVITE International Award to actions for the memory and support of victims was established. Among those who have collected the prestigious award are the Grupos Tedax de los Cuerpos de Técnicos en Desactivación de Explosivos de la Guardia Civil (Spanish bomb disposal experts); Policía Nacional y Ertzaintza (Spanish and Basque Police Forces); Antonio Beristain; Saida Benhabiles; Javier Gomez Bermudez; Iñaki Arteta; Carlos Herrera; Vecinos por la Paz de Berriozar; Rogelio Alonso, Florencio Dominguez and Marcos Garcia Rey; Joseba Arrei; Alfredo Tamayo; Mary Joseph Grech; and Carmen Alba.
In 2011 COVITE was awarded, along with the Catalan Association for Civic Coexistence, the X Prize for Civic Coexistence of the Ermua Forum for their work on ‘demonstrating that the prelude to coexistence can only be justice, and that concessions to ETA only lead to the acknowledgement that terrorist activity has been effective and efficient in achieving the political ends they tried to impose on us for decades through murder and coercion.”
In 2014 and 2015, COVITE’s multi-media initiative www.mapadelterror.com got the interest of the European Commission and the first global forum of extremism counter-narratives (Countering Violence Extremism Global Expo, CVE). Both organisms invited COVITE to present its work in Paris (France) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) respectively, as an example of best practice in the prevention of terrorism.
