Press release
Un Ponte Per and C.S. Lebowski bring popular football to the Shatila camp (Lebanon)
An Italian delegation composed of activists from the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per and athletic trainers from the Florentine sports club, to meet the Palestinian Youth Club in the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila
Rome, 12 May 2023 - On 13 May, the delegation of the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per and the Centro Storico Lebowski sports club from Florence will leave for Beirut, Lebanon, and specifically for the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila, where it will remain for a week.
The aim of the mission is to bring together the very special experience of the C. S. Lebowski - the first football club with a popular shareholding system - and the Palestinian Youth Club, a counterpart team born in the Shatila camp and entirely composed of Palestinian footballers.
The delegation will include activists from the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per, athletic trainers from C.S. Lebowski and the Tuscan director Niccolò Falsetti, candidate for the David di Donatello 2023 for the film 'Margini'.
The delegation's programme includes a cycle of daily training sessions with girls and children, adolescents and young people, with a special focus on girls and the role that sport can play in their path to emancipation and self-determination. At the end of the week, a tournament will be organised involving teams from other refugee camps in Beirut. Meetings are also planned with young female students from UNWRA schools in the Shatila camp, with the aim of involving them in sports activities.
The players will be coached by two Florentine athletic trainers, with the aim of sending a message of transversality and fairness in the sports field, and to bring the extraordinary experience of an atypical sports community such as the one embodied by C.S. Lebowsi to a marginalised place like Shatila.
The Centro Storico Lebowski has made headlines for its now international fan base, and for its rootedness in the Florentine territory and in particular in the working-class neighbourhood of San Frediano, in Florence. Here is its history: www.cslebowski.it.
Un Ponte Per has been present in the Shatila camp for 30 years, with solidarity projects and distance support to accompany the study path of boys and girls. Among the activities it supports inside the camp is the "Basketball Beats Borders" project, which has seen the birth and development of a men's and a women's basketball team inside Shatila, now famous far beyond the camp's borders.
Press release
HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION - NICOTRA (UN PONTE PER): 'CANCELLING IT IS A FAVOUR TO THE MAFIA AND THOSE WHO EXPLOIT MIGRANTS'
Rome, 18 April 2023 - "Cancelling special humanitarian protection for people who risk their lives and freedom in their own country is an act unworthy of a civilised country that proclaims itself democratic. It is not true that - as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been repeating for days - there is no such protection in other EU countries. If anything, the opposite is true."
This was stated by the co-president of Un Ponte Per who is currently taking part in the presidium of the world of associations and solidarity that is taking place in Piazza Madonna del Loreto in Rome to protest against the 'Cutro decree'.
'The cancellation of special humanitarian protection,' Nicotra explains, 'will throw thousands of human beings into clandestinity and will certainly not stop the flow of people fleeing wars, persecution and famine. A red line is thus dangerously crossed, giving a gift to those who exploit black labour and to the criminal organisations towards which people deprived of protection will be pushed. This madness must be stopped."
"We know that the Cutro decree is the child of political choices that have seen, in past years, the criminalisation of migrants by governments of different political orientations. It is about breaking with a bankrupt line that has produced more insecurity for all and increased deaths at sea," concludes the Un Ponte Per co-president.
Press release
"Gr(E)at Lab": Non-formal education intervention in the Gratosoglio (MI) district kicks off
A project to improve the quality of education based on non-formal education has started in Milan, promoted by a network of associations coordinated by the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per and financed by the Milan Community Foundation.
Milan, 14 April 2023 - Entitled "Gr(E)at Lab - Gratosoglio: educational workshops on art and talent", this is the new project launched by the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per in the Gratosoglio district of Milan to improve the quality of educational services for children and young people through non-formal education workshops on fundamental issues such as respect for the environment and the fight against the mafia.
The activities - which have just started in the Youth Aggregation Centre managed by Lo Scrigno Società Cooperativa Sociale-Onlus, and will soon involve the youth centre of the Piccolo Principe Association, the Parish of San Barnaba and the Istituto Comprensivo Statale Arcadia - aim to reach 1,250 children and young people thanks to the collaboration with a wide network of organisations that have been working in the Milan area for years. These include Parada Italia Onlus, Libera. Associazioni, Nomi e Numeri contro le Mafie, CSV Milano- ETS, Casa per la Pace Milano, Arci Bellezza, ClownOne, SocialTime and Legambiente.
The project aims to improve the quality of educational services for children and young people in the Gratosoglio neighbourhood, through non-formal education workshops using art, sport, play and clownery.
The main activities include the organisation of an interactive exhibition on prejudice entitled 'The others are us'; the use of cooperative games, social circus workshops, comics, murals, poetry slam and clownery.
The idea of the intervention was born in a context of great uncertainty, in a historical phase dominated by a global health emergency that saw the closure of schools, to which were added the last months of 2022 dominated by a world crisis that brought the theme of war back to the centre of public debate.
In this context, the sense of bewilderment of the youngest segments of the population has increased and the problems are exacerbated in peripheral areas, where public services and institutions struggle more to respond to the many needs present and the risk of pockets of marginalisation is higher.
Organisations then play an important role by making their experience and solidaristic nature available so that together we can respond to the new needs, especially the educational ones.
Theleader of this association network is Un Ponte Per, a non-governmental organisation that has been working for over 30 years in Italy, the Balkans and the Middle East with programmes of international cooperation and solidarity with the aim of promoting peace, human rights, preventing new conflicts and working in various fields: education, health, humanitarian, cultural, dialogue building and social cohesion.
Already active with numerous non-formal education projects in the Milan area, Un Ponte Per will carry out this new intervention thanks to the work on the territory of its local committee.
Press release
IRAQ WAR. UN PONTE PER: 'FOR 20 YEARS WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR WARRANTS FOR BUSH AND BLAIR'
"On 20 March 2003 began the illegal invasion that has built a more insecure and unjust world, replacing diplomacy and international law with the force of arms. It was a war not only against the Iraqi people but also against the peoples of the world and the international public opinion that had mobilised in every corner of the planet to stop the massacre. Not to have listened to what the New York Times called 'the second world power', the anti-war movement, was an act of shortsightedness and arrogance that plunged us into the current chaos, dividing peoples and fuelling the wells of hatred against the West'.
This was stated in a joint statement by Alfio Nicotra and Angelica Romano, national co-presidents of Un Ponte Per, the Italian NGO and pacifist association present in Iraq since 1991.
"In these decades," Nicotra and Romano continue, " Un Ponte Per has witnessed the atrocities inflicted by the war on the Iraqi people, as well as the crimes committed by the previous dictatorship. We have been under the bombs with the victims, we have suffered threats and kidnappings of our co-operators, we have denounced the war crimes with the white phosphorus bombs on Falluja, the summary executions, the destruction of houses and public buildings, the arbitrary arrests and the shame of torture in Abu Graib prison. There is nothing to be proud of about that war, waged on the basis of accusations - the phantom weapons of mass destruction - that were blatantly fabricated and completely false. That is why we have been waiting for 20 years for the International Court in The Hague to put on trial former US President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair who led the invasion of a sovereign country'.
'Today's Iraq with its extraordinary civil society,' Nicotra and Romano continue, 'has grown in spite of the wrong choices imposed at the time by US Governor Paul Bremer, based on the division of Iraq on an ethnic and religious basis, imposing from above a constitution that is not representative of democratic values, of the equality of persons and of human and civil rights.
"The watchwords of the movement of Iraqi girls and boys," the two co-presidents of Un Ponte Per recall, "who from 2019 to 2022 held the country's squares demonstrating against corruption, private and party militias, sectarian divisions and patriarchal society, demanding the removal of US and Iranian troops from Iraqi territory, must be supported by the international community in order to restore the national sovereignty of this country as well.
'The huge resources consumed in military missions, including Italy's,' Nicotra and Romano conclude, 'must be used instead for the civil reconstruction of Iraq and the strengthening of its unity and democracy'.
Press release
Syria. UPP and Soka Gakkai alongside women and minors against violence
The second phase of the "Our Protected Home" project in North East Syria, aimed at women and minors survivors of violence in Raqqa, has been completed. Thanks to the support of the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai it has been possible to assist 4,449 people.
Raqqa, March 13, 2023 - The project "Darna al Aman" ("Our Protected Home"), designed to combat gender-based violence, ensure continuity in life-saving services and guarantee protection for minors, launched in the summer of 2022 and made possible by the support of Otto per mille funds from the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai (IBISG), has come to an end. The intervention, implemented by the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per (UPP) and its local partner DOZ, reached 4,449 women and minors in Raqqa, Syria, the former capital of the Islamic State in the country.
The project activities took place in 3 Safe Spaces for women, minors and adolescents opened by Un Ponte Per and DOZ that were at risk of imminent closure due to reduced availability of funds for protection interventions in the area.
Here, women, minors and adolescents have safe and discreet access to protection services and are welcomed on a daily basis by staff specialised in psycho-social support, handling cases of gender-based violence and protecting minors from abuse and exploitation. Through training courses, awareness-raising meetings, workshops and recreational activities, adolescents, minors and women from the Raqqa community, including those who have survived or are at risk of violence, have the opportunity to meet and be supported in total safety. In order to reach the Spaces, a safe transport service has also been ensured for those most at risk and most vulnerable, including from an economic point of view.
In a context like Raqqa, tried by years of conflict, the levels of violence within families themselves are still very high. Protection services, on the other hand, are few, as is the possibility for staff to receive adequate training.
During the course of the project, which started in the summer of 2022, the local staff working in the Safe Spaces have been trained on an ongoing basis; radio programmes have also been produced, broadcast by the local radio station 'Bissan FM', to spread awareness-raising messages to combat gender-based violence and violence against children, and a number of community activities have been carried out to mark World Children's Day, the International Campaign '16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women' and World Human Rights Day.
In 2023, thanks to the precious contribution of the Otto per mille funds of the Italian Buddhist Institute Soka Gakkai, UPP and DOZ will be able to keep the 3 Safe Spaces open, and to guarantee continuity to the support activities, expanding them and making the women welcomed more and more involved.
Human rights organisations warn of the deteriorating situation of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Libya and the worrying reduction of civic space
We, activists and members of civil society organisations working on ongoing human rights violations against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Libya, express our deep concern about the general climate of impunity and lack of accountability in the country. This volatile situation is further hampered by the reduction of civic space, especially in light of the criminalisation of activists and the ongoing crackdown on civil society organisations.
Detention centres
In the last six years, since the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding was signed, almost 185,000 people have been intercepted at sea by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and returned to detention centres in Libya. In these centres, which are in the hands of violent militias, they are at high risk of being subjected to mistreatment, forced labour, rape, torture and human trafficking. A recent research conducted by Tilburg University concluded that at least 200,000 refugees (mostly from Eritrea) were enslaved and trafficked to Libya in the period 2017-2021.
The OHCHR report Unsafe and Undignified: The forced expulsion of migrants from Libya, as well as the June 2022 report of the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the specific case of migrant detention centres.
Since 2021, some of the 'official' detention facilities have been run by the Stabilisation Support Authority (SSA), which, according to Amnesty International, is a 'state-funded militia that operates with impunity' and also intercepts migrants at sea.
In its latest report of 30 January 2023, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Libya stated that 'arbitrary detention in Libya has become pervasive as a tool of repression and political control' and that 'the Libyan authorities must take decisive steps to provide justice and reparation to the vast number of victims suffering from long-standing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law'.
Externalisation policies, delays and refoulement
The EU and its member states continue to further develop externalisation policies and seek to contain migration by all possible means. They do this by equipping and supporting the so-called 'Libyan Coast Guard', which intercepted and returned 24,684 people to Libya in 2022 and almost 3,046 in 2023. Evidence shows how some of these interceptions are facilitated by Frontex through aircraft and drones.
The International Organisation for Migration reports that in the entire year 2022, 525 people died and 848 went missing on the central Mediterranean route. It is likely that these numbers are much higher due to the total lack of information on the numerous shipwrecks along this route. As reported by Alarm Phone, rejections by merchant ships are also frequent.
The situation at the land borders is also extremely worrying: according to official statistics reported by theOHCHR, 'in 2019 and 2020, at least 7,500 migrants were deported from Libya's external land borders', most of them Egyptians, Sudanese and Chadians. More recently, forced returns to Niger, Sudan and Chad have increased. Furthermore, boat departures of Egyptians from east of Libya are increasing: in 2022, Egyptians were the second nationality of migrants arriving in Italy (after Tunisians), while in 2021, more than 26,500 Egyptians were apprehended at the Libyan border. Also very worrying is the situation of asylum seekers and refugees inside Libya, registered with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and victims of arbitrary detention and deportation, as well as the lack of a legislative framework for the protection of migrant workers in the country. Hundreds of migrants are expelled by Libyan forces to be starved or kidnapped by gangs who then demand a ransom. In January 2023, 600 migrants held in the Al Kufra facility controlled by the Department for Combating Illegal Migration (DCIM) were expelled by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF). This number included Sudanese asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR. Many are believed to have died in the desert and most are missing.
At the same time, the EU pledged to 'further strengthen Libya's capacity to prevent irregular departures', as stated in the Action Plan for the Central Mediterranean, and to provide EUR 45 million to Libya and Tunisia to strengthen border management, including by supporting the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCCs) and the 'Border Guard Training Academy in Libya'. The EU also pledged to 'explore ways to improve the migrant disembarkation process in Libya', as outlined in the 12-point MOCADEM Action Dossier on Libya.
Libya is not a safe place for the disembarkation of migrants, and despite numerous acknowledgements of this fact by UN bodies and the Council of Europe and numerous denunciations of the agreements, the EU remains silent. On 6 February 2023, Italy handed over the first of the five patrol boats promised(within the EUTF budget) to the Libyan Coast Guard, in the presence of European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Várhelyi.
It is clear that the way in which the EU and some EU Member States cooperate with the Libyan authorities in the field of migration further hampers the stabilisation process in Libya. Moreover, it fosters a cycle of violence linked to interception and detention that strengthens local militias and human traffickers who profit from the lives of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
The undersigned organisations call for:
The EU and its Member States to commit to.
- Ensure that any agreement or cooperation between Libya and the EU and its member states is consistent with international and EU law.
- Ensure transparency and disclosure of the monitoring and follow-up mechanisms adopted by the EU to ensure the safety of migrants at sea, at disembarkation points and in detention centres.
- Encourage and pressure the Libyan authorities to open serious investigations into human rights violations and implement recommendations received from the UN Fact-Finding Mission.
- Stop providing material and financial support to increase Libya's capacity to intercept people at sea and/or at land borders, as this deteriorates the rights of migrants and refugees, increases push-backs at sea and violence against them.
- Ensure transparency and accountability in the use of EU and Member States' budgets for border management projects in Libya.
- Focus Member States' and EU foreign policy on supporting the peace and stability process in Libya and reduce the excessive focus on border management.
- Emphasise that Libya cannot be considered a safe haven for the disembarkation of migrants rescued at sea and implement an EU search and rescue (SAR) operation in the central Mediterranean.
- Strengthen safe and legal routes for migration to the EU.
- Put pressure on the Libyan authorities to fully respect guarantees of the right to freedom of association, in particular to
- end the extensive and systematic campaign of arbitrary investigations and arrests of bloggers, members of local civil society organisations (CSOs) and Libyan staff of international NGOs;
- allow Libyan CSOs to interact freely with UN agencies and international NGOs without prior security clearance; cease all forms of reprisals against members of Libyan civil society who communicate with the international community on the human rights situation in the country
- allow Libyan CSOs to visit detention facilities for migrants without prior security clearance; and
- freeze any decision to suspend or dissolve Libyan CSOs without a prior judicial ruling; such rulings must be made with full respect for due process rights.
List of signatories:
[:en]
Human rights organisations warn of the deteriorating situation of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Libya and the worrying shrinking civic space
We, activists and members of civil society organisations working on ongoing human rights violations against migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Libya, express our deep concern regarding the general climate of impunity and lack of accountability in the country. This volatile situation is further hampered by the shrinking of civic space, especially in light of through the criminalisation of activists and the crackdown on civil society organisations.
Detention centres
In the last 6 years, since the Italy-Libya Memorandum of Understanding was signed, almost 185,000 people have been intercepted at sea by the so-called Libyan Coast Guard and brought back to detention centres in Libya. In these centres, which are at the hands of violent militias, they are at high risk of being subjected to mistreatments, forced labour, rape, torture and trafficking. A recent research carried out by Tilburg University concluded that at least 200,000 refugees (mostly from Eritrea) have been enslaved and trafficked in Libya between 2017-2021.
The OHCHR Report Unsafe and Undignified: The forced expulsion of migrants from Libya, as well as the June 2022 report from the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya, found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the specific case of migrants' detention centres.
Since 2021, some of the 'official' detention facilities are being run by the Stabilisation Support Authority (SSA), which, according to Amnesty International, is a 'a state-funded militia that operates with impunity' and who also intercepts migrants at sea.
In its latest report dated 30 January 2023, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Libya said that "arbitrary detention in Libya has become pervasive as a tool of political repression and control", and that "Libyan authorities must take decisive steps to provide justice and redress to the vast number of victims suffering from long-standing violations of human rights and international humanitarian law".
Externalisation policies, pullbacks and pushbacks
The EU and its Member States continue to further develop externalisation policies and try to contain migration by all possible means. They do so by equipping and supporting the so-called 'Libyan Coast Guard', who intercepted and returned 24,684 people to Libya in 2022, and almost 3,046 so far in 2023. Evidence shows how some of these interceptions are facilitated by Frontex through aircrafts and drones.
The International Organisation for Migration reports that in the whole year 2022, 525 people died and 848 went missing in the Central Mediterranean route. These numbers are likely to be much higher due to the complete absence of information regarding many shipwrecks taking place along this route. As reported by Alarm Phone, pushbacks by merchant vessels are also common.
The situation at land borders is also extremely worrying: according to official statistics reported by OHCHR, 'in 2019 and 2020, at least 7,500 migrants have been expelled from Libya's external land borders', most of them Egyptians, Sudanese and Chadians. More recently, forced returns have increased to Niger, Sudan and Chad. Also, boat departures of Egyptians from the East of Libya are on the rise: in 2022, Egyptians were the second nationality of migrants arriving in Italy (after Tunisians), while in 2021, more than 26,500 Egyptians were stopped at the Libyan border. The situation of asylum seekers and refugees inside Libya who are registered with the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and are also victims of arbitrary detention and deportation, is very concerning as well, as is the lack of a legislative framework for the protection of migrant workers in the country. Hundreds of migrants are expelled by Libyan forces to get starved or kidnapped by ransom gangs. In January 2023, 600 migrants detained in Al Kufra facility controlled by the Department for Combating Illegal Immigration (DCIM) were expelled by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF). This number included Sudanese asylum seekers registered at the UNHCR. Many are believed to have died in the desert and most went missing.
At the same time, the European Union is committed to further "strengthen capacity of Libya to prevent irregular departures", as stated in the Action Plan on the Central Mediterranean, and to disburse EUR 45 million to Libya and Tunisia to strengthen border management, including supporting Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (MRCC) and the "training academy for border guards in Libya". The EU is also committed to "explore ways to improve process to disembark migrants in Libya", as stated in the 12-point MOCADEM Action file on Libya.
Libya is not a safe place for disembarkation for migrants, and despite the numerous acknowledgements of this fact by UN bodies and the Council of Europe, and the many denunciations of agreements, the EU remains silent. On 6 February 2023, Italy handed over the first of the five announced patrol vessels to the Libyan Coast Guard (under EUTF budget), in the presence of European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Várhelyi.
It is clear that the way the EU and some EU Member States collaborate with Libyan authorities in the field of migration is further hindering the stabilisation process in Libya. It also fosters a cycle of violence linked to interception and detention which strengthens local militias and human traffickers who are making money out of the lives of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
We, the undersigned organisations, ask that:
The EU and its Member States:
- Ensure that any agreements or cooperation between Libya and the EU and its Member States are consistent with international and EU Law.
- Esure transparency and disclosure of the monitoring and follow-up mechanisms adopted by EU to ensure the safety and security of migrants at sea, at disembarkation points and detention centres.
- Encourage and pressure Libyan authorities to open serious investigations into human rights violations and to implement the UN Fact Finding Mission's recommendations.
- Stop providing material and financial support to increase Libya's capacity to intercept people at sea and/or land borders as it deteriorates the rights of migrants and refugees, increases pushbacks at sea and violence against them.
- Guarantee the transparency and accountability regarding the use of EU and Member States' budget for border management projects in Libya.
- Focus Member States' and the EU's foreign policy on supporting the peace and stability process in Libya, and reduce the excessive focus on border management.
- Stress that Libya cannot be considered a Place of Safety for the disembarkation of migrants rescued at sea and put in place an EU Search and Rescue (SAR) operation in the Central Mediterranean; as well as to respect their duty of Search and Rescue.
- Reinforce safe and legal pathways for migration to the EU.
- Press Libyan authorities to fully respect the guarantees of the right to freedom of association, notably to:
List of signatories:
Press release
Silvia Abbà
MY PLACE IS EVERYWHERE
Women's voices for another Iraq
Rome, 7 March 2023 - On 10 March, "Il mio posto è ovunque. Voci di donne per un altro Iraq" by Silvia Abbà, the first volume of "Manifesta", a series directed by Renata Pepicelli for Astarte Edizioni, produced in collaboration with the NGO Un Ponte Per.
Silvia Abbà's volume starts from a question: does feminism exist in Iraq? From independence in 1932 to the protests of October 2019, the stories of Iraqi women speak of the courage to make their voices heard, of their determination to be what they want. Outside the interests of regimes and international actors, Iraqi women show where they belong: wherever they want to be.
Astarte Edizioni's 'Manifesta' series offers a feminist and decolonial perspective of the often unknown or misunderstood voices, struggles, subjectivities and instances of gender that traverse the societies of the Mediterranean, North Africa and Southwest Asia. The series' scientific committee includes Valentina Marcella, Ersilia Francesca and Rassa Ghaffari.
The volume is realised in collaboration with Un Ponte Per, a non-governmental organisation working on the prevention of armed and violent conflicts, particularly in the Middle East, through information campaigns, cultural exchanges, cooperation projects, peacebuilding programmes and building networks for social justice.
The author, Silvia Abbà, received her Master's degree in Peace Sciences: International Cooperation and Conflict Transformation in 2022 from the University of Pisa. Since 2020, she has been involved in the activities of the non-governmental organisation Un Ponte Per.
The first presentation of the book will be held in Pisa on 15 March at 5pm at the Gipsoteca di arte antica, and is organised in collaboration with Un Ponte Per and with the patronage of the degree course in Sciences for Peace, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Sciences for Peace (CISP) and the Single Guarantee Committee of the University of Pisa.
The presentation will be attended by the author, Renata Pepicelli, director of the series, and Lodovico Mariani of Un Ponte Per.
Link to the book: https://astarteedizioni.it/product/iraq/
Website: www.astarteedizioni.it
Press release
Earthquake in Turkey and Syria: UPP launches fundraising campaign in support of the population
TheItalian NGO, which has been working in north-eastern Syria for years, launches a fundraising campaign to support more than 10,000 families in need and denounces: the earthquake affects areas still suffering the consequences of Turkish attacks
Rome, 6 February 2023 - The toll, which is worsening by the hour, of the terrible earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria with its epicentre in Gaziantep is dramatic: dozens of towns have been hit, hundreds of buildings are in rubble, and the death toll stands at 1,500 people, sadly destined to rise.
Also hard hit was north-east Syria, where the Italian NGO Un Ponte Per (UPP) has been working for years alongside its local partners, including the Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC).
In the northern part of the country, it was the town of Jindires, in the Afrin district, that suffered the worst fate.
"Three-quarters of the town was destroyed: these are areas already hard hit by the Turkish attack in 2019, so the buildings did not withstand the impact of the earthquake," explains local UPP staff, who add: "People are still being searched under the rubble in the hope of finding them alive."
To cope with this new crisis affecting an area already tried by years of conflict and recent Turkish war operations, Un Ponte Per has decided to launch an emergency fundraising drive: the aid will go to support the work of the Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) and Action for Humanity/Syria Relief (AFH), which estimates that more than 10,000 families are already in need as a result of the earthquake.
"Tents are needed for those who have lost their homes, blankets, food, hygiene kits for women and children," explains KRC staff. "And medicine: we expect worsening health conditions and numerous injuries."
Today's earthquake is in fact hitting an area that is already in a state of serious emergency, with a health system that is still highly precarious, and where UPP has been working for years with its local partners on the necessary reconstruction of clinics and hospitals destroyed by the war.
In this situation, the distribution of humanitarian aid and medicines is urgent and essential. Once the necessary materials have been collected, KRC will carry out the distributions in Aleppo and in the Shebha camp, while AFH in Sarmada, Harem and Atarbi (in the governorates of Idlib and Aleppo), all areas severely affected by the disaster.
The earthquake tremors - the first of magnitude 7.8 in the middle of the night, the second of magnitude 7.5 this morning - represent the most serious emergency of its kind the region has experienced.
To help raise funds: https://www.unponteper.it/it/emergenza-terremoto-siria/
For more information and interviews
Un Ponte Per press office
stampa@unponteper.it
+39 3996641600
Press release
Sanremo. Un Ponte Per, open letter to Amadeus: invites Russian and Ukrainian conscientious objectors to the festival
The Italian pacifist organisation writes an open letter to the host of the 73rd edition of Sanremo, asking that in addition to Ukrainian President Zelensky, space be given during the Festival to the testimony of Russian and Ukrainian conscientious objectors.
Rome, 31 January 2023 - "Invite the Russian and Ukrainian conscientious objectors to the Sanremo Festival": this is what Alfio Nicotra and Angelica Romano, co-presidents of the Italian organisation Un Ponte Per, write in an open letter addressed to Amadeus, the Sanremo Festival presenter.
"We have learnt with favour," write the two Co-Presidents of Un Ponte Per, Alfio Nicotra and Angelica Romano, "that during the Sanremo Festival, space will be given to the terrible war in progress unleashed by the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukrainian territory, which has been claiming tens of thousands of victims for almost a year.
'This is not the place,' Nicotra and Romano point out, 'to go into the merits of whether or not it is opportune to give space, in a television event watched worldwide, to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. We merely note that Zelensky already enjoys unprecedented media coverage. On the contrary, it seems to us that the testimony, expressed at the risk of their lives and their freedom, of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian conscientious objectors has been completely ignored by public TV and the Italian and European media system'.
"After crossing the tortured territory of Ukraine several times with humanitarian aid and pacifist caravans, Un Ponte Per launched a campaign in support of the Peace Builders, the organisations of the objectors and the pacifist movements of both countries, to cover the legal costs of the trials", continue the two co-presidents, emphasising the importance of giving space to voices such as those of Russian objector Alexander Belik, or Ukrainian objectors Vitaliy Vasyliovych Alekseienko and Andrii Kucher, who "in the delirium of nationalist hysteria choose to put the repudiation of war before the barbaric logic of arms".
"These are very young boys who risk their lives and their freedom, condemned by special courts for their courage," write Nicotra and Romano again, who ask the Festival host to invite the Russian and Ukrainian objectors or in any case to give them a voice and visibility.
'Dear Amadeus,' they conclude, 'you chose as co-host of your evenings a person like Gianni Morandi who had the courage to sing a song against the war in Vietnam: "There was a boy who like me". That boy, those boys, are still there today. They are the Russian and Ukrainian conscientious objectors. Invite them to the Festival, give them a voice'.
Press Release
As the planet is convulsed by the climate and environmental crisis and the growing inequalities and discrimination that follow, it is not surprising that the younger generations - on whom the burden of the impending disaster weighs more than any other - are now protesting in increasingly resounding forms.
The response to these protests, stresses a group of Italian associations and NGOs* that are part of the 'In Defence of' network, is based on the application of increasingly intimidating and repressive measures.
After the travel warrants and fines imposed on activists, there is now also the special surveillance of an Ultima Generazione activist, Simone Ficicchia: proposed by the Pavia Police Headquarters, it will be discussed in court tomorrow, Tuesday 10 January.
This measure, governed by the so-called 'anti-mafia code' (Legislative Decree No. 159 of 2011) against those who pose a threat to public safety, is completely unjustified and is an expression of the growing criminalisation of environmental activism.
Associations and NGOs reject the idea that criminalisation, repression and intimidation are the right answers to a rising anxiety. Those who continue to propose bogus solutions in Italy as elsewhere, such as new infrastructures to import and consume more and more fossil fuels, have every interest in not really tackling increasingly urgent problems and in silencing those who call for urgent and effective solutions.
* Amnesty International Italia, A Sud, COSPE, Greenpeace, Giuristi democratici, Terranuova, Un Ponte Per, Yaku.
