Raqqa is a territory marked by deep and layered fragility. In recent years, the political and social context has been shaken by continuous shocks: internal instability, the cut in funding for humanitarian aid. All this in a region already affected by thirteen years of war, a severe economic crisis, international sanctions and the heavy consequences of the Daesh (ISIS) occupation.
The result is an enormous need for essential services, particularly in education and protection.
In December 2024, with the arrival of new waves of displaced people from the rural areas of Aleppo and Afrin, all schools in Raqqa were closed to accommodate families in buildings turned into collective centres. Even when the situation partially stabilised, 38 out of 51 schools remained closed, compromising the education of an entire generation and, along with it, their future opportunities.
The consequences of past conflicts are still evident: many schools are unusable or severely damaged by bombing, leaving entire communities without safe spaces for children and adolescents to learn.
The absence of functioning schools not only deprives people of the right to education, but also takes away a protected place, increasing the risks of exploitation, child labour and early marriage.
At the same time, this context has had a very serious impact on protection services for women, girls and children. There is an increase in child labour, early marriage, domestic violence, psychological stress and social isolation. Strong discrimination against displaced families and those returning from camps, such as Al-Hol, also persists.
Opportunities for reintegration and access to work remain extremely limited, especially for women, in host communities already facing profound economic and social difficulties.
In this scenario, it is evident how much non-formal education and protection are deeply intertwined needs: learning cannot be ensured without a safe environment, just as protection cannot be ensured if children and caregivers do not have access to structured, stable educational spaces where they can find normality and future perspectives.
This is all the more true in a context like Raqqa, where the presence of recently displaced persons and returning families makes it urgent to create places that foster not only access to services, but also coexistence, social cohesion and integration between groups experiencing tension, stigma and mutual marginalisation.
THE 'BUILDING FUTURES' PROJECT
The Building Futures project was created precisely to strengthen the Safe Spaces of Un Ponte Per for children and women and girls, and to rebuild what was destroyed: skills, educational paths, community networks.
Thanks to the support of theItalian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai and in collaboration with local partner DOZ, Un Ponte Per worked in an integrated manner on protection, education and social cohesion.
In 13 months of the project, 40,850 people were reached in Raqqa, helping to reduce the educational and protection barriers affecting children, adolescents and women in contexts marked by vulnerability and insecurity.
A STORY THAT TELLS THE VALUE OF THESE SPACES
N. is 18 years old and came to our Women and Girls Safe Space in Raqqa after years of family violence. She was frightened, withdrawn, without any faith in the future.
Through the one-to-one interviews with the counter gender violence programme workers and the psychosocial support sessions, she found for the first time a space where she could feel safe to speak out, understand her rights and begin to rebuild her self-esteem.
By participating in the literacy group, she acquired new skills and made connections that helped her come out of isolation. Today she looks to the future with greater serenity and wishes to support other girls in her community.
Stories like hers are frequent. Facilitators tell how these paths transform not only the lives of women and children, but also their own:
"When we see the children regain confidence and the mothers - often heads of families - feel less alone in coping with parenthood and economic difficulties, we realise that our work is really changing something".
In a fragile context like Raqqa, these spaces are much more than a service: they are places to start again.
A JOURNEY THAT COMES FROM AFAR
Un Ponte Per has been working in the protection sector in Syria since 2017, initially integrating this work into health programmes and, since 2020, inaugurating the first Safe Spaces. Over the years we have contributed to UN strategy documents, data analysis from the field and capacity building of local organisations and institutions.
Despite the chronic uncertainty of funding - which often jeopardises the continuity of activities - we have chosen not to abandon communities, but rather to reach out to the most isolated ones.
For us, supporting local communities is not a single project, but a mission.
And non-formal education, as well as health and protection, is an integral part of this mission: a bridge between the present and the future, between the crisis and the possibility of building a different society, by Syrian people for Syrian people.
Every time a centre threatens to close due to lack of funding, we know that dozens of women will lose a safe space and hundreds of children the only place to study and regain a sense of normality.
That is why we continue, even when it is difficult.
Continuing on this path means offering Raqqa - and everywhere else for that matter - the chance to shape a generation that is not defined solely by the experience of conflict. Today, non-formal education is the only channel of access to learning for thousands of children and must remain closely integrated with protection activities.
Safe Spaces are among the few places where children and women can learn, talk, feel protected, receive guidance and support. They are spaces that belong to communities and that, together with communities, must be allowed to grow.
At a time of political and social transition, Syria needs, more than ever, citizens who are educated, informed, and able to participate in rebuilding its future.
Ambra Malandrin
Protection & Education Coordinator
Between September and October 2025, thanks to the extraordinary solidarity of those who chose to stand with Un Ponte Per through the 'Water for Gaza' campaign , our Palestinian partner UAWC was able to bring an additional 1,000 parcels of fresh vegetables to displaced families and vulnerable communities in the areas of Khan Younis, Northern Gaza and Gaza City. A concrete gesture of closeness, born out of a desire to be there for the Palestinian population.
More than 5,000 people were able to receive local food - cucumbers, chillies, avocados, garlic, molokhia and onions - in a context marked by constant insecurity, evacuations, destroyed infrastructure and increasingly difficult access. A small sign of normality and dignity in the midst of chaos.
These products are not just food: they symbolise a deep bond between the indigenous people and their land, even in the midst of genocide.
All this was possible thanks to the tireless work of the local committees and representatives of the displaced communities, who, while living first-hand amidst displacement, hunger and family losses, with courage and dedication coordinated every stage of the distribution, to ensure dignity for their people, right where they are most needed.
"The most exciting thing for us is knowing that the donations you are collecting with Acqua per Gaza come directly from people for people. When we do aid distributions we explain this to the families: this is all made possible by fundraising on the street in Italy, where each person donates what they can. And people understand this very well" (from the UAWC team present in Gaza).
OUR ANSWER: WATER FOR GAZA
Two years ago we launched our 'Water for Gaza' fundraising campaign to do our part in supporting the Palestinian population.
Thanks to donations received, we have reached 50,000 people with clean water, food baskets and hygiene kits, mobile toilets to meet urgent hygiene needs and limit the spread of disease, and water tanks to provide lasting support to communities forced to be displaced by Israeli military order. With the arrival of winter, we were able to secure tents built from makeshift materials with water-repellent sheets to withstand the weather. In addition, we distributed new fishing nets to allow people to return to the sea.
A CONFIRMED FOOD CRISIS
Over the last few months, the population of Gaza has been facing a full-blown famine: more than 500,000 people were already in a catastrophic state of hunger at the end of August, rising to around 640,000 by the end of September. Dramatic numbers, which tell of the failure of the international community and the denial of a basic human right: access to food.
FOOD AS A WEAPON OF WAR
People, particularly children, suffer from malnutrition due to food shortages, out-of-reach prices and risky access to scarce supplies.
Over 2,500 aid seekers have been killed, and many more injured. Food aid has been turned into a weapon and militarised, with the blessing of the West.
In spite of everything, community kitchens have tried to fight back, serving over 650,000 meals a day. But in many areas of Gaza, they failed to reach those in greatest need.
Cultivated fields deliberately destroyed, supply routes disrupted, economic activities cancelled: hunger has become a direct consequence of the war and the restrictions imposed on humanitarian aid.
HELP US DO MORE. DONATE NOW
Now is not the time to stop. We continue to stand by the Palestinian people in the face of the systematic design of erasure. We continue to denounce with all our energy the responsibility of those who are carrying it out, and the complicity of those who remain silent.
You can support our intervention by donating now to the Water for Gaza campaign.
Now is the time to multiply solidarity efforts to build a different future. Basic necessities continue to be lacking and sanitary conditions remain extremely critical.
Un Ponte Per works with local communities and facilities in the field to bring food, clean water and shelter for the winter thanks to your donation.
Two years after the devastating 2023 earthquake that struck Türkiye and northern Syria, forcing thousands of Syrian families to flee their homes, many people are still living in dire conditions of displacement in the now overcrowded collective centers of northeast Syria.
Many of these came from the areas of Aleppo, Shahba, Til Rifaat and Manbij, carrying with them little more than the trauma of loss and the urgent need for basic necessities.
Further worsening the situation came a second wave of displacements, which began in December 2024, when with the fall of the regime, the security situation further deteriorated due to the reignition of internal armed conflict.
With the arrival of summer, the crisis became even more serious: the chronic shortage of basic services was compounded by a growing shortage of clean water, making immediate action necessary. The precarious conditions in the collective centres continued to increase health and hygiene risks, especially for the most vulnerable segments of the population, such as children and the elderly.
In response to this crisis, Un Ponte Per launched 'Ready to Respond', a key emergency intervention implemented together with the Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC), thanks to the support of Fondation de France (FdF) and Fons Català de Cooperació al Desenvolupament (FCCD). Our aim, to protect the health of displaced families by preventing the spread of water-related diseases through better access to hygiene products, providing emergency WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) kits in temporary shelters.
Delivering a Hope Through Hygiene items
Between 4 August and 14 September 2025, we distributed 4,090 emergency WASH kits to displaced families living in the 100 collective centres spread across Raqqa, Hasakeh, Qamishli and Derek. Each kit contained essential hygiene items tailored to the needs of women, men, children and the elderly, ensuring an inclusive response that respects the dignity of all.
The project was built step by step, starting with a careful identification of needs and the registration of displaced families, in cooperation with the IDP Committees, the Hassakeh Civil Council and the humanitarian coordination authorities. The distribution of the kits took place with great care: each package was delivered directly to the heads of the families, both men and women. In order to ensure that no were left out and to act with maximum transparency, we conducted post-distribution evaluations on the impact of the intervention.
“We evacuated from Manbij after the earthquake in 2023. I lost my brother when the roof collapsed on him. Years later, these kits mean a lot to all of us . Big thank to you." Khaled, displaced from Manbij.
Khaled's story is just one of many that testifies how for families still displaced today, with their burden of grief from the bereavements they have experienced, these kits were not just aid: they represented a message of solidarity, proof that they were not forgotten.
GIVING PEOPLE BACK THE CHANCE TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES
In emergency settings, access to clean water and hygiene products can make the difference between health and illness. The risk of spreading disease outbreaks - such as cholera and dysentery - increases exponentially in overcrowded shelters, especially when access to safe water sources and adequate sanitation is limited.
It is not just about reducing the risk of disease, but about restoring a sense of dignity and normality to people who have lost everything.
By prioritising women's needs and ensuring equitable and inclusive access, this intervention has been a community-led and people-centred response, strengthening the capacity of affected populations to recover.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Today, as Syria goes through a delicate phase after years of regime, conflict and natural disasters, Un Ponte Per continues to stand by the most vulnerable communities to support local organisations in responding to emergencies and in the work of reconstruction and recovery. Our work is driven by a belief in solidarity, dignity, and the right of all people to rebuild their lives in safety.
Gulistan Issa - UPP Campaigner and Project Manager
Hospitals without drugs for life-saving operations. Clinics in camps for displaced people without medical staff. Ambulances at a standstill for lack of fuel. This is the devastating reality we began telling you about six months ago, when we saw with our own eyes the effects of the Trump administration's suspension of USAID funding last March.
These have been terrible months, in which we have witnessed day after day the deteriorating health conditions of thousands of people. Since the early months of the year, many organisations have suspended or stopped their operations in the region altogether, and camps for displaced people have been hardest hit. Essential services such as food and water distribution, health care, nutrition and protection have failed, making life even more difficult for those already living in precarious conditions.
In camps like Abo Khashab and Serekaniye, we at Un Ponte Per, together with our partner KRC, have remained the only ones to guarantee health services, albeit with enormous difficulties, forced to drastically reduce the activities of our clinics, limiting them to emergencies and transfers to hospitals.
But hospitals were also gradually losing their ability to provide free care to the population: by the end of April, only one out of sixteen public hospitals remained fully functional throughout north-east Syria. This meant that pregnant women, children and people with chronic or life-threatening illnesses no longer had access to essential and often vital care. Paying the highest price, once again, were displaced people living in camps.
In the meantime, another important change has transformed the Syrian scenario: the reduction of services in the camps, combined with the new political situation following the fall of the regime, has pushed many families to return to their areas of origin. Today we are witnessing a gradual emptying of the camps and the repopulation of areas like Deir ez-Zor, which had remained inaccessible for years. But the return takes place in devastated contexts: there is a lack of water, energy, livelihoods, health services and basic infrastructure.
To helplessly witness the difficulties these people were experiencing, to see the crisis in a health system that we have been supporting for fifteen years to make it solid and free, and to have to suspend the contracts of Syrian colleagues with whom we had shared a long journey, were very hard tests. But it was our sense of responsibility towards them and the local communities that pushed us forward.
Crucial at this time was the support of our donor community, which responded to our appeals to cover basic health needs and gave us the strength to continue to seek new funding and to denounce the injustice of the cuts.
So, after months of effort, we finally started to see the first results.
Since July, part of the US funds have been released, while thanks to UN support, a new project has started that allows us to partially resume support to the Hassakeh National Hospital (HNH), the main medical facility in the region, a referral point for over 700,000 people.
This project aims to strengthen the patient referral system by linking primary health care facilities to the HNH in order to improve access to specialist care. The aim is to remove economic barriers that prevent people from receiving treatment by reactivating essential services. Concretely, UPP will support the hospital by covering the full cost of surgery, diagnostic tests and treatment for the displaced population living in the camps.
We cannot forget the stories of the people we have met in recent months - like Hanan and Nasser. For them, and for all the families who continue to resist in this tormented region, every step forward is crucial. It will take time to measure the consequences on these people's health of the irresponsible decision to suspend funding, in Syria as well as around the world. But it is necessary to recount them, so that we do not forget and so that those who made these decisions assume their political responsibility.
Our work is not finished. We will continue to look for funds, to strengthen solidarity networks and to amplify the voices of those who otherwise would not be heard. But if today we can say that something is starting to move again, it is only thanks to those who did not leave us alone.
Lavinia Brunetti - Health Programme Manager of Un Ponte Per
In continuity with the mobilization launched on September 22, Un Ponte Per confirms its participation in the national strike and mobilization day against the genocide of October 3 and in the subsequent actions.
September 22 was only the first stage: the general strike demonstrated that there is a collective will to resist, which does not accept the complicit silence of governments.
The following is the appeal published on the occasion of the first day of the strike.
With the occupation of Gaza City, the last dramatic chapter of the Israeli colonialist settlement project is being written.
In front of the deliberate extermination of a people, in front of hundreds of thousands of people on the run, exhausted by two years of total siege, in front of images that break our hearts, we cannot stand still.
Faced with the repression of dissent, a media narrative that continues to portray genocide as a 'war between armies', and the silence of governments, it is urgent that we overcome the sense of impotence that pervades us and take our bodies to the streets.
That is why on 22 September Un Ponte Per adheres to the general strike, proclaimed by the basic trade unions and the Palestinian movements. We strike to stop the genocide in Palestine, to reject the normalisation of horror, to boycott an economy that feeds this system of death, to support the difficult journey of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which seeks to break the siege.
We have decided to close our offices in Italy on this day, because we want to give a strong signal of dissent: when governments choose complicity, it is up to us - citizens and citizens, associations and movements - to make our voices heard and to strongly demand the interruption of all forms of collaboration with Israel. And to strengthen our solidarity action, we will donate the day of strike to the Water for Gaza campaign.
These days our activists are in the squares and at the garrisons that criss-cross the cities. On Monday we invite you to 'lower your shutters' and join the mobilisations of 22 September: in the squares, in the marches, to block an unjust system that fuels this massacre.
Let's choose to take a stand: let's strike, let's join the boycott, let's join this appointment, as well as those that await us in the coming weeks.
Let us choose together to be on the right side of history.
From 8 to 14 September in Rome, the first edition of Arene Decoloniali took place, a festival conceived by Un Ponte Per with the aim of opening an unprecedented and urgent space for reflection in the Italian cultural scene.
For seven days, cinema, literature and debates brought back to the centre what has been repressed for too long: the memory of Italian colonialism, anti-colonial resistance and the consequences of a Eurocentric outlook that still shapes politics, culture and society.
A MEMORY REMOVED
In Italy, colonialism has been removed from collective memory. Massacres, deportations, racist laws and concentration camps have been systematically concealed, leaving room for the self-absolving myth of Italians as good people. A process that not only concerns the past, but also profoundly affects the present, influencing narratives on migration, the Mediterranean and international relations.
With the Decolonial Arenas, we have chosen to break this silence, offering critical tools to address the colonial legacies that still run through us.
CINEMA AS A SPACE OF RESISTANCE
At the heart of the festival was cinema, understood as a political and cultural practice capable of deconstructing the colonial gaze.
From the screening of Adwa - An African Victory by Haile Gerima - which has been awarded the 2025 Decolonial Arenas Prize - which restores the memory of the Ethiopian victory against Italy, to Soleil Ô by Med Hondo, which recounts the migratory experience and post-colonial identity, to Abandon de poste by Mohamed Bouhari, with its ironic and disenchanted look at colonial stereotypes and the "new slaves" of western society.
The festival closed with Andrea Segre's L'ordine delle cose (The Order of Things), which takes the viewer inside the Italian policies of refoulement in Libya.
Each film was a piece of a narrative that overturned perspectives and gave back a voice to colonised and migrated subjectivities. The cinema thus proved to be not only a means of denunciation, but also a laboratory for imagining new forms of storytelling and new practices of solidarity.
As Soumaila Diawara, guest speaker at the festival, recounted:
"Arene Decoloniali is not simply a review that seeks to inform people, but is also a form of resistance, which overturns a distorted narrative especially about colonialism. It is an initiative that can not only inform about historical responsibilities, but also unite people who are often far apart, on a common path'.
To also maintain the direct thread with Palestine and the genocide resistance actions, we hosted the Global Sumud Flotilla link.
BETWEEN MEMORY AND RESIGNIFICATION
The festival did not limit itself to recounting the past. It traversed symbolic and political issues that are still alive: from the stealing of works of art in the colonies to the re-signification of commemorative monuments, such as the one to the fallen of Dogali, which still defines the Italian soldiers who fell in Ethiopia as 'heroes'.
A tribute to Pier Paolo Pasolini, on the 50th anniversary of his death, also offered an opportunity to reflect on his critical but ambivalent view of Africa and the East.
And it was during these evenings that one of the most moving moments took place: the unexpected meeting with Gimè Ahmed, one of the African students interviewed by Pasolini in the documentary Appunti per un'Orestiade africana. Having arrived in Italy from Eritrea over fifty years ago, incredibly, he had never seen Pasolini's film, despite having searched for it for a long time. We welcomed him on stage and his emotion, his story became for us the very symbol of this first edition of Arene Decoloniali: a place of memory, encounter and deconstruction.
BEYOND ANTI-COLONIALISM: TOWARDS DECOLONIALISM
Decolonial Arenas proposed an approach that goes beyond the condemnation of colonialism as a historical fact. To decolonise means to recognise how the Eurocentric vision has structured cultural, political and even aesthetic categories.
It also means questioning concepts such as 'development', 'aid' or 'solidarity', which have often reproduced logics of domination.
We also brought into the festival our experience of international cooperation: not as an act of generosity, but as a practice of reparation, and as building alliances between civil societies, capable of changing the living conditions of oppressed people together.
AN APPOINTMENT THAT WANTS TO TAKE ROOT
This first edition marked the beginning of a journey: a cultural and political process that does not want to limit itself to the event, but intends to continue to grow and contaminate other spaces.
Special thanks go to the many people who participated each evening and to those who enriched the debates: Papia Aktar of ARCI Rome, Takoua Ben Mohamed, Maria Coletti, Marco Dalla Gassa, Leonardo De Franceschi, Soumaila Diawara, Silvano Falocco of the Yekatit 12-19 February Network, Daniela Ionita of the Italians Without Citizenship Movement, Angela Mona, Marina Pierlorenzi of ANPI Rome, Daniela Ricci and Micaela Veronesi of the National Film Archive of the Resistance, Lorenzo Teodonio, Alessandro Triulzi, Vito Varricchio.
Many thanks to directors Haile Gerima, Dagmawi Yimer and Francesco Di Gioia, and allə artistsə who made the closing night unforgettable: Khalifa Abo Khraisse and Valbona Kunxhiu, Mario Eleno and Manuela Mosè, Luca Chiavinato.
Decolonial Arenas has opened a removed wound and, at the same time, a space of possibility: an arena where memory meets resistance, and the future can finally break free from the shackles of the colonial past.
And this is just the beginning, the journey continues: in anticipation of the second edition in 2026, we will continue to offer new initiatives and insights.
Follow the @arene_decolonials page on Facebook and Instagram to stay updatedə.
A solidarity caravan has reached the Rafah crossing point, while the Strip sinks amid bombs, hunger and isolation. In these lines, we report the account of those who were there: voices and stories from the border of the siege. Interview with Giulia Torrini, co-president of Un Ponte Per.
In Gaza, people are dying of hunger, thirst, bombs and silence.
In the days from 17 to 19 May, while the international community stammered and the Western chancelleries divided themselves between timid warnings and diplomatic complicity, an Italian delegation decided to break the deafening immobility. Sixty members of parliament, MEPs, reporters and activists reached the Rafah crossing point to denounce the Israeli siege and the systematic use of hunger as a weapon of war.
The Gaza Strip has sunk into an abyss of inhumanity. Since 2 March 2025, no humanitarian convoys have crossed the borders: water, food and medicines remain blocked at the borders under Israeli control. The United Nations is sounding the alarm: over 14,000 children risk death from hunger and dehydration in the next 48 hours. UNRWA denounces the impossibility of distributing the remaining aid due to the continuous restrictions imposed by Tel Aviv.
In the almost choral silence of the international community, the figures become an epitaph: more than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the Israeli military operation in October 2023. Entire families wiped out, health infrastructures reduced to rubble, schools turned into targets.
Confirming the systematic brutality of this offensive, on 19 May, the day the Italian delegation was still at the Rafah crossing, Israel ordered the immediate evacuation of Khan Younis and launched an unprecedented air attack on the town. Within an hour, hospitals, homes and civilian infrastructure were hit: at least 135 were killed, hundreds injured. Thousands of people, many already displaced, were forced to flee once again, without destination or protection. The war against the civilian population continues unabated; meanwhile, humanitarian aid remains blocked at the borders.
In an interview, Giulia Torrini - president of the Un Ponte Per organisation and member of the Italian delegation present at Rafah - recounts the moments she experienced near the crossing: 'During our stay at the Rafah crossing, explosions followed one another at regular intervals, every eight or ten minutes. The roar was sharp, penetrating, impossible to ignore'.
While the Netanyahu government declares the objective of 'total control' over Gaza in the name of the fight against Hamas, another truth takes shape on the ground: that of a strategy that many voices, without hesitation, define as ethnic cleansing masquerading as a war against terrorism. The rhetoric of security is thus being bent to justify a war of annihilation, which mainly affects unarmed civilians.
CAIRO: THE VOICES OF THE SURVIVORS
The recent initiative of the Italian delegation, promoted by AOI, ARCI and Assopace Palestine, took on a significance that goes far beyond symbolic solidarity. It was an explicitly political initiative, conceived as an act of rupture against the silent complicity of European institutions and the West's hesitant diplomacy. The presence at the Rafah crossing was not only intended to urge the entry of humanitarian aid, but to openly denounce the international legitimisation of a regime that, with its siege of Gaza, is waging a systematic war against the civilian population.
Torrini recalls the meetings with the Palestinian community in exile that took place in the days leading up to the arrival at the crossing: 'In Cairo, we met what we could call the "survivors": journalists, aid workers, activists who were refugees in Egypt, mostly women. They did not just share their stories: they confronted us with our responsibility, laid us bare, without discounts.
The testimonies, particularly during the confrontations with the political component of the delegation, were direct and incisive. Some activists bitterly expressed their conviction that not enough is being done, pointing out that for months images of violence have been observed and shared without this leading to concrete change. One young woman also raised the question of the use of those images, believing that their dissemination could take away the dignity of the victims, turning them into a spectacle for a now insensitive world. According to her, if even the sight of those bodies cannot shake consciences, perhaps it would be better not to show them at all'.
A provocation, certainly, but also a deeply true statement. A denunciation of Western voyeurism, of our progressive moral anaesthesia.
During these meetings, journalists such as Abdel Nasser, aid workers and activists from the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) spoke about the destruction of 90 per cent of the agricultural land in the Gaza Strip: 'A direct attack on food self-sufficiency, part of a strategy that uses hunger as a weapon of war,' reports Torrini. "A worker from the association Vento di Terra told of being evacuated nine times before managing to find refuge in Egypt, exhausted by an existence always under threat. However, he recalled that even there, life for a Palestinian refugee remains extremely difficult. One is not free to work, study, move around. It is the systemic condition of the Palestinian diasporas, from Lebanon to Syria'.
Torrini also recounted another significant moment of the day: an in-depth meeting with an expert on international relations.
Several key elements emerged during the discussion: the declining support of Hamas among the Palestinian population, the growing detachment between the leadership and civil society, but also the maintenance of a certain influence of the movement abroad. The ambiguous role of the Gulf countries, the progressive marginalisation of the Palestinian cause in the Arab agenda, and the total absence of political will on the part of the Israeli leadership to embark on a diplomatic path were all mentioned. According to the shared analysis, Tel Aviv's strategy would not be limited to a containment of the conflict: rather, it would aim at the definitive elimination of the Gaza Strip. Not crisis management, but a systematic project of annihilation.
RAFAH: A POLITICAL GESTURE ACROSS THE BORDER
"The Egyptian soldiers guarded the pass motionless, engines switched off, weapons in their arms: a mute and absent presence. And there we were, in silence broken only by the explosions, punctual every eight minutes. A surreal silence, barely cut by the chirping of birds - you can hear it in the background in all our telephone audio as well. And in the midst of all this, shouting 'Free Palestine', 'Stop the Genocide', 'Stop Illegal Occupation', in English, to break that silence - even though we knew very well that no one was really listening to us - was an act of breaking, a political cry.
The gesture of leaving soft toys and toys on the Egyptian border, unable to cross the border like the girls and boys for whom they were intended, has become the emblem of a powerful protest. Fragile, childish, helpless objects: symbols of a torn childhood. A cry addressed to Europe to stop covering with the language of diplomacy what, in fact, is an ongoing violation of international law.
"To be there, with almost 20 parliamentarians and MEPs in the front line, displaying placards with the faces of European leaders - the same ones who continue to deny the reality of an ongoing genocide or remain inert in the face of the blocking of humanitarian aid - was very strong. And then those puppets, those little clothes scattered on the ground, accompanied by the chalk mark normally drawn around corpses at crime scenes... it was a visual denunciation. In that desolate, empty square, where trucks laden with aid once thronged, today nothing passes by any more'.
With this action, the delegation restored dignity to the word 'presence', transforming it into active witness and direct denunciation. No more generic appeals, but a precise question: where does European policy stand when borders become barriers to life?
GAZA: REPORTERS UNDER THE BOMBS
In a context where the truth is often reduced to the silence of rubble, even the word of reporters becomes a target. At the Rafah crossing, 14 female journalists launched an appeal with a clear and inescapable tone: 'Stop shooting at journalists'. A cry born of the urgency to denounce what is taking place in the shadows. Since 2023, more than 220 Palestinian reporters have been killed under Israeli shelling; dozens are detained and held in prisons, their families persecuted. In the absence of the international press, kept out of Gaza for over 19 months, it is they - exposed and isolated - who are the only eyes left to tell the story. Some, in order to stand out, wear improvised vests with the inscription 'PRESS', which protect them from nothing but invisibility. 'The press is not a witness to the conflict: it is a target', they write. And this is perhaps the most dramatic detail of a conflict that those who document fear. The appeal of the women journalists from the Rafah crossing is addressed to Europe and the world: they ask for the protection of Palestinian reporters and access to the Strip for the international press to be guaranteed.
"A Palestinian journalist," Torrini continues, "explained to us that local reporters now move around inside their homes without wearing the bulletproof vests marked 'PRESS'. Those same vests, which should provide some semblance of protection, are now no longer provided. Nothing comes any more: neither helmets, nor protectors, nor any kind of safety material. Therefore, many journalists make do with makeshift means: they stuff their vests with sponges, recreating a kind of symbolic uniform. It is no longer a means of protection, but a gesture of dignity, almost a form of resistance, a way of saying 'we are there', even though they know perfectly well that those handmade paddings will never save them from a bullet, let alone a bomb'.
EUROPE MOVES, BUT TOO SLOWLY
Under increasing pressure from public opinion and some member states, the European Union announced the revision of the association agreement with Israel, invoking the human rights clause. The UK also suspended trade negotiations with Tel Aviv, while France and Canada threatened sanctions. However, these measures appear belated and insufficient in the face of what many are calling an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Meanwhile, the Israeli army insists on civilian targets: emblematic is the attack against a diplomatic delegation visiting Jenin, in the West Bank, which triggered condemnatory reactions from several European governments.
'Arriving at the Rafah crossing had a strong echo in the Arab world,' Torrini comments. 'We ended up on Al Jazeera, on I Am Palestine, on various Middle Eastern media. It served to tell, to circulate another narrative. Perhaps it is no coincidence that, immediately after our return, some European leaders started to raise their voices. Three MEPs were with us in Rafah. A few days later, the President of the European Commission called for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Italy and Germany opposed it, predictably, but something moved. The rest of Europe began to react.
As Italian activists, we know that we are in a delicate historical moment. Our government, like previous ones, continues to boast of its 'friendship with Israel'. But this rhetoric is beginning to show cracks, especially compared to other European countries that - albeit slowly and not out of sudden moral conscience - appear to be struggling in the face of growing public pressure'.
Today, international civil society has a margin for action, albeit limited, to denounce the inaction of its governments. In this context, the direct confrontation between the solidarity caravan and local realities has led to the drafting of an official document, addressed to the Prime Minister, with the request for a clear and unequivocal stance against the war.
The symbolic and political significance of this initiative will depend on the ability of the oppositions to remain cohesive and recognise the centrality of the Palestinian issue. The testimonies heard on the ground, the numbers of civilians killed are evidence that can no longer be ignored.
"The Palestinian issue today is much more than a local conflict: it is a reflection of a new global paradigm. On the one hand, a colonial power that uses apartheid as an instrument of conquest and territorial control; on the other hand, an international humanitarian system that, born after the Second World War to protect peoples affected by conflict, is today degenerating into a commercial, even profitable mechanism. Humanitarian aid has become a political lever and its operators are now declared targets. Some fear that we are moving towards a model in which assistance is entrusted to private foundations or pro-Western organisations, supported by Israel and the United States, emptying the very concept of international aid of meaning and legitimacy. In this context, the US decision to cut USAID funds and dismantle the cooperation agency is a clear signal'.
Palestine, in this framework, becomes a laboratory. An experiment. What happens there prefigures models destined to be replicated everywhere: in any context of occupation, siege or colonisation.
'This is why politics must act,' Torrini concludes. "If degradation consolidates in Palestine, it risks spreading everywhere. And this is where political as well as moral lucidity is needed. During the delegation's stay, with jurists and academics, we discussed at length not only the legitimacy of the term genocide, but also the solid international legal framework that already exists: from the rulings of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, to the legal instruments available to European governments to impose sanctions. The instruments, therefore, are there. What is lacking is the political will. This is demonstrated by the fact that the motion tabled by the opposition to suspend sending arms to Israel was rejected. On the other hand, the majority's motion to make further military purchases from Israel passed. Yet a responsible government should neither sell nor buy weapons from a state that is, in fact, massacring a civilian population as such. In theory, everything is clear, but in practice, the actions continue to fall short'.
Interview by Daniela Galiè published in Dinamopress on 23 May 2025. Photos by Daniele Napolitano.
Hospitals without drugs for life-saving operations. Clinics in camps for displaced people without medical staff. Ambulances stopped due to lack of fuel.
This is the devastating reality we are facing in north-east Syria after the US administration's decision to stop funding USAID. A decision that, overnight, has left millions of people without the essential support they need to survive in an area that still depends entirely on international aid. And we, who have been working on the ground since 2015, see the effects of this catastrophe every day.
Due to the suspension of USAID funds announced on 20 January, which resulted in the closure of 90 per cent of the agency's programmes on the evening of 25 February, more than 4.5 million people in need of life-saving humanitarian assistance are at risk of being left without support, and that in north-east Syria alone.
It is urgent that every person in solidarity chooses to donate to curb this drama.
This is witnessed by Lavinia Brunetti, Un Ponte Per worker from the Areesha camp, in the TV2000 report.
HUMANITARIAN AID UNDER ATTACK
Trump's is a real attack on international aid, which as of mid-February has already led to the interruption of 61% of services that provide access to primary and secondary health care, 54% of programmes to protect against gender-based violence and the exploitation of child labour, 56% of programmes that now provide access to clean water and basic sanitation, and 53% of food security programmes.
Our Director General, Martina Pignatti Morano, makes an urgent appeal:
"The suspension of USAID funds is exacerbating an already deep humanitarian crisis in Syria, leaving millions of people without access to essential services. In a country ravaged by 13 years of conflict, this decision is forcing international and local humanitarian organisations to scale back, if not stop altogether, vital operations, particularly affecting the most vulnerable in the communities: women, children and girls, and displaced people who are entirely dependent on international aid."
This is an unprecedented crisis that affects the entire country, but which becomes particularly critical in the north-east: here, more than 100 health facilities in the governorates of Deir ez-Zor, Hassakeh, Raqqa and Aleppo risk total closure between March and April 2025.
In camps for displaced people, the disruption of health services and vaccination programmes is exposing children to deadly diseases such as measles and cholera, with the risk of an alarming increase in child mortality. Local organisations, pillars of the humanitarian response, without international support are running out of resources to provide assistance.
Without immediate action, the entire Syrian healthcare system risks collapse. The lives of thousands of people suddenly deprived of primary medical care are at risk.
THE RESPONSE OF A BRIDGE TO
We at Un Ponte Per have been working in north-east Syria for 10 years, supporting the population in the difficult process of rebuilding a public health system and responding to the humanitarian needs of the population. Over many years we have been through numerous emergencies, attacks on health facilities and infrastructure, as well as natural disasters, and we have always continued to do our part, standing by the side of the most vulnerable communities.
To date, our interventions have provided 1,640,000 people with access to primary health care, protection programmes for women and children, clean water and sanitation. People who count on our support.
These included more than 100,000 residents of camps - including the one in Al Hol - and 700,000 who relied on the Hassakeh National Hospital, which provided free treatment to 1,300 patients every month , including 300 mothers with their children.
We are doing everything we can to keep the essential services of the Hassakeh Hospital and the clinics in the camps operational. Thanks to the donations we have received, we have ensured the coverage of the hospital's need for life-saving medicines for the months of January and February. But all this is in danger of having to be suspended any day now: on 27 February alone, more than 450 people in the hospital were laid off, and without new funds, by 30 April most of the services in all the health facilities will be completely interrupted.
URGENT APPEAL
Our Director states this clearly:
"With the closure of the NGO projects that operated in the area, the poorest region of Syria is in absolute need of the solidarity of each and every one of us. Every donation, large or small, can now make a difference and will help us to guarantee care, provide medication and protection to support the population as we have always done, and for as long as it is needed."
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
On 20 January 2025, US President Donald Trump issued the Presidential Executive Order to reassess and realign US foreign aid, which imposed a 90-day stop on funding disbursements (expiring on 30 April) for development assistance around the world, in order to assess programme effectiveness and 'coherence with foreign policy'. The parameters of the review process are unclear and have not been made public, but the US administration has already started to cancel hundreds of USAID contracts and funding, effective immediately. A 'coherence' that has been translated on the ground into immediate cuts in aid to programmes for health care, education, protection and support for women's empowerment: a direct attack on humanitarian and development aid.
On 26 February, the Trump administration issued over 10,000 project suspension letters that reached UN agencies and numerous NGOs. These include Un Ponte Per, which has seen 90% of its activities in north-east Syria officially suspended, drastically reducing its capacity to support the operations of local health facilities such as the National Hospital in Hassakeh, Primary Health Care Centres in camps for displaced persons, Mobile Health Units and Ambulance Coordination Centres, which guarantee primary health services in internal medicine, paediatrics, gynaecology, treatment of infectious diseases, analysis laboratories and medical dispensaries, and psychological support to tens of thousands of people every month. These activities also offered the possibility of identifying cases of women survivors of gender-based violence, children and girls excluded from education and victims of child labour, early marriages, and accompanying them in dedicated support paths.
Un Ponte Per first started working with USAID/BHA at the request of its local partners in north-eastern Syria to compensate for the progressive reduction of international funding for programmes active in the area. In January 2020, in fact, with the UN Cross Border Resolution, following the veto of Russia and China, the United Nations renewed humanitarian support to the country but halved the number of crossings through which aid could be accessed, closing those from Iraq and Jordan and leaving the north-east of Syria effectively isolated. Non-governmental organisations such as Un Ponte Per that have refused to register with the Damascus government since that year, so as not to come to terms with the dictatorial regime of Bashar al-Assad, have lost the possibility of accessing these funds, finding themselves forced to face serious humanitarian shortages without the necessary financial support. At the same time, since 2022, following the humanitarian emergency caused by Russia's aggression against Ukraine, EU agencies have gradually decreased their engagement in crisis countries such as north-east Syria to focus their resources on responding to the Ukrainian humanitarian emergency, increasing the gap between available funding and the need to respond to the population's needs.
On 30 April, the 90-day suspension of USAID funds ends, and it is very likely that funding for programmes already notified of the suspension will be confirmed, a cut that will disproportionately affect Syria's most vulnerable communities who, after almost 14 years of conflict, depend entirely on aid for their survival.
In north-east Syria, the consequences of this decision could be catastrophic, if alternative sources of support are not found, the health system risks collapse: hundreds of thousands of people will be left without life-saving assistance, basic care, medicines, further aggravating an already dramatic humanitarian situation. Finally, this could fuel tensions and unrest in camps for displaced persons and communities, creating fertile ground for the resurgence of extremist movements.
In this context, every donation can make a difference.
Ambra Malandrin, head of the project "Building futures: promoting peace through education" financed by 8x1000 funds from the Soka Gakkai Italian Buddhist Institute, tells "Il Nuovo Rinascimento" about the results of the first months of activity in the Safe Spaces we set up in Raqqa, which for years have continued to guarantee protection services to women and children.
WHAT DOES THE PROJECT 'BUILDING FUTURES: PROMOTING PEACE THROUGH EDUCATION' CONSIST OF? WHAT ARE ITS OBJECTIVES?
The humanitarian crisis situation in Syria is very delicate, there are serious shortages of essential services, including education. An estimated 2.4 million children are out of the education system and there is a very high illiteracy rate. Children aged 12-14 are sent to work and girls are forced to marry.
The city of Raqqa is still scarred by the occupation of Daesh (ISIS). This occupation has broken down the social fabric and led to an increase in child labour as families live in economically degrading conditions.
One of the aims of the project is to provide non-formal education to eliminate the gap between those who go to school and those who do not: due to high costs and lack of facilities many families are unable to support their sons' and daughters' education. Through the project we provide them with literacy and basic numerical skills for illiterate women; remedial schooling for children out of the education system, to facilitate their reintegration into formal schooling; extracurricular support courses for children who, despite attending school, find it difficult to study due to social hardship or lack of educational support.
Non-formal education also includes peace-building and conflict resolution training. Another objective is psycho-social protection and support, which aims to support the development of personal resilience to overcome problems arising from crisis situations and trauma and to counter abuse, child labour and gender-based violence.
THE PROJECT WAS SUPPORTED WITH 8X1000 FUNDS FROM THE SOKA GAKKAI FOR THE THIRD YEAR. CAN YOU SHARE THE RESULTS ACHIEVED SO FAR?
Your contribution has been crucial, starting in 2022 we reached 4,400 individuals in just six months with protection projects, through individual support, recreational activities and psycho-social support. In 2023, we reached 18,000 people through radio campaigns and one-to-one sessions, with awareness-raising initiatives focusing on topics such as gender-based violence prevention, child protection, women's rights and the rights of persons with disabilities. We have seen a positive impact on the population, particularly in Raqqa where safe spaces have been created for girls who are survivors of gender-based violence. This year, with the inclusion of other educational and peacebuilding activities, we reached in just three months about 130 children and women with educational activities, 160 with protection interventions and more than 10,000 people with an International Day of Peace radio programme. We also train local staff on gender-based violence issues to make the project sustainable for the future.
HOW DO YOU DEVELOP NON-FORMAL EDUCATION AND WHAT RESULTS DO YOU EXPECT?
Non-formal' education is flexible and responds to different needs of people. It has three basic components: integrating children who have been excluded into the national education system, filling the educational gap that does not allow them to attend classes with their peers. The second component is school preparation, i.e. after-school courses, to support children who have difficulties in studying due to social hardship or poor educational and economic support and therefore drop out of school. This aspect of non-formal education includes tutoring in certain subjects, such as mathematics, science and English. In our centres there is a room where children can stay between classes to do their homework with a teacher to help them.
The last component is basic numeracy and literacy for tutors. This improves the women's practical skills but also strengthens their educational role within the family, promoting greater autonomy and increasing their employment possibilities. Peace education is always integrated into recreational activities, e.g. conflict resolution and climate change, and mixed sessions with approximately 500 participants are planned to create community dialogue and reduce intergenerational tensions, but also to develop greater civic awareness.
WHAT ARE SAFE SPACES AND WHAT KIND OF ACTIVITIES DO THEY INVOLVE?
UPP-DOZ Safe Spaces are protected environments where women and children can access psychosocial support, educational activities and protective services in an inclusive and respectful context. One of these Safe Spaces is dedicated to girls and another to children and adolescents. Their aim is to provide protection, e.g. there is an integrated approach with sessions such as emotional and peace education.
They also discuss gender-based violence, early marriage and child labour. Cases of gender-based violence are still very high, one of them being forced marriage, in which about 80 per cent of 15-year-old girls are forced into marriage.
For this reason, in our centres women find staff trained by UPPs(case workers) who can effectively support them in cases of violence and can access them more easily because they are in the same places where women go for other activities; therefore, they do not have to openly declare to their family members (often the abusers themselves) that they are going to the anti-violence centre to ask for support.
There are also recreational and play activities and parenting training sessions, which aim to implement child protection capacity within families. There are many courses that involve strengthening mutual support between women because female isolation is very strong in Raqqa. There is also a place set up to take care of smaller children so that female guardians can participate in other activities while children are in contact with experts in child care.
WHAT KIND OF FUTURE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE REALISED THANKS TO THE PROJECT?
The impact we would like to see is radical and lasting with an emphasis on non-formal education because for us this is the key to progress and empowerment and must be pursued holistically.
We aim to realise opportunities for growth by increasing the autonomy of the people we work with and this is necessary to prevent contextual problems such as child labour and violence. Of course, peaceful education also serves this purpose, to strengthen the social fabric.
We would like to create and maintain safe environments and support people in overcoming momentary difficulties, such as the current ones, in which the Syrian population is once again experiencing a severe crisis, but we would also like these tools to have a long-term impact, as resilience tools, to build a fabric of peace that starts from the local communities themselves.
Following the recent forced displacement due to political changes and the risk of military occupation, since early December 2024, Raqqa has been facing an emergency situation in which all public schools have been converted into collective centres to accommodate over 50,000 displaced people in a matter of weeks. This has left thousands of chidren without access to education, exacerbating the already existing education gap. Displaced children are also not attending school, further increasing the need for non-formal education interventions in emergency settings. In the coming months, we will closely monitor the changes and growing demand, as evidenced by the long waiting lists for our non-formal education courses, which far exceed the resources currently available.
Ambra Malandrin
Protection & Education Coordinator
For over 30 years, we have worked in Iraq to protect the rights of the population, especially women and minors, respecting the complexities and richness of the Iraqi mosaic. Over the past six months, and particularly in recent days, Iraqi public opinion and civil society have been engaged in a significant debate regarding the rights of women and girls.
“In today’s world, where the rights of women and children are finally central to public discourse, even in Iraq, allowing marriage under the age of 18 is dangerous and could have catastrophic consequences for Iraqi society.” This is explained with great clarity by our Iraqi Head of Mission, who has worked with us for decades.
Indeed, three laws were recently passed in parliament, including one on personal status, which has sparked intense internal debate in the country over the years, largely ignored by international media. These laws, shaped by political compromises and sectarian divisions, are considered by many in Iraqi civil society to be among the most dangerous ever presented in parliament due to their impact on women, society, and Iraq’s already fragile social cohesion. There are also concerns about the constitutionality of the parliamentary session held on Tuesday, January 21, during which, in just 10 minutes, three highly divisive laws were approved (as highlighted by the Coalition 188 in a public statement). Among these, the amendments to the Personal Status Code are particularly troubling. This code governs personal and legal capacity, family law, marriage, the rights and duties of spouses, property arrangements, separation, divorce, filiation and custody, maintenance, guardianship, inheritance, and more.
THE PERSONAL STATUS CODE OF 1959
The Code, enacted in 1959 following the establishment of the Iraqi republic, was the result of mobilization by various segments of society, including the early women’s organizations that played a central role. The Code aimed to establish a unified legal system governing the personal status of all individuals. Based on Islamic principles, the Code also introduced a series of “civil” rights and protections, especially concerning marriage, divorce, inheritance, and the rights of women and minors. These were guaranteed to all citizens, regardless of their religious or sectarian affiliation. Since 2003, the Code has faced periodic attacks and attempts to amend it, which were countered by the mobilization of women, civil society, and political actors. At least until last Tuesday, when parliament approved new amendments that dismantle the Code’s “civil” character and increase the influence of Ja'fari (Shiite) and Hanafi (Sunni) jurisprudence as sources of law. This shift contradicts the Iraqi Constitution, which—while acknowledging the importance of religious traditions—emphasizes the establishment of a civil and democratic state rather than a religious or theocratic system. The original intent of the 1959 Personal Status Code was to safeguard civil rights, particularly for mothers and minors, without conflicting with Islam or other major religions in Iraq. The current advancement of sectarian laws significantly worsens the state of human rights in the country.
THE AMENDMENTS OF JANUARY 2025
The main change introduced by the amendments is the reduction of the 1959 Code to just one of several possible legal frameworks for personal status matters. Alongside it, both Shiite and Sunni jurisprudence are now included. In this context, the most alarming aspect of the new amendments is the legalization of child marriages. According to Ja'fari jurisprudence in Shiite Islam, the legal age for marriage is set at 9 years old for girls. The primary change is that the law can now vary depending on individuals’ religious affiliations, effectively institutionalizing sectarianism in the legal system and further dividing Iraqi society, with severe consequences for the country’s stability and security. Another modification repeals Section 5 of Article 10, which has been in force for over 15 years to prevent extrajudicial (i.e., exclusively religious) marriages. Until now, courts were required to approve all marriages, ensuring they met legal criteria on a case-by-case basis. The repeal strips state judges of their authority in this area, explains Coalition 188, a group of civil society actors at the forefront of resisting the changes to the 1959 law.
HOW IT AFFECTS IRAQI WOMEN
In addition to the already mentioned legalization of child marriage, the amendments and institutionalization of the principle of “sect” have particularly harmful consequences for Iraqi women and girls. Some of these include:
WOMEN IN IRAQ
It’s easy to see how these changes represent a significant deterioration in the lives of Iraqi women, whose courageous struggles for self-determination we have often supported and highlighted. Without going too far back in history, we can look at the events of October 2019, when women took to the streets in Iraq’s major cities to claim their space and voice in typically male-dominated environments. In February 2020, they marched through Baghdad in response to calls for them to return home and leave the public squares. Or we can turn to the words of long-time Iraqi feminist activist Hana Edwar, captured in Silvia Abbà’s book, Il mio posto è ovunque. Voci di donne per un altro Iraq (Astarte Edizioni and Un Ponte per):
“On February 13, 2020, there was a march in many Iraqi cities—Baghdad, the center, and the south of the country. It was incredible; women from all walks of life were there, young women leading the march with such confidence… Thousands of women walking the streets chanting slogans against gender violence. It was beautiful. I’m so proud of them. In that moment, I felt the entire space speaking about women as the revolution, as the voice of the revolution, the voice of trust in change, for a new future in Iraq.”
Even in less extraordinary circumstances, Iraqi women fight daily for their rights in their families, workplaces, and universities. As our Head of Mission concludes: “It is unimaginable for a young girl to become pregnant while still attending primary school. This is not the society we want to build. We Iraqis want a democratic, civil society that respects diversity. That’s why we need laws that apply equally to all social, religious, ethnic, and sectarian groups.” We can only share these concerns, these hopes, and continue to walk every day alongside our Iraqi sisters.
