Press Release
Ukraine crisis, UPP: 'Italy chooses active neutrality, peace does not fall from the sky'
Despite the faint news of de-escalation in recent hours, the conflict between the United States and Russia in Ukraine is undermining world peace, threatening the lives of millions of people. The Italian NGO Un Ponte Per demands urgent action from governments following the principle of active neutrality.
Rome 18 February 2022 - As Un Ponte Per, an Italian NGO active in peace building since 1991 in Iraq, we do not take sides with any of the contenders in Ukraine. On the contrary, we ask our government and the European Union for urgent and meaningful actions for a position of active neutrality and non-alignment. Active neutrality does not mean standing still or on the sidelines waiting for events to unfold, but actively working to lower tensions, to create channels for dialogue, to take strong initiatives that bring peoples closer together and allow for a negotiated and just solution to the crisis. Active neutrality means that our government must:
"We call on the mayors and mayoresses of our cities to summon their colleagues and colleagues from the cities of the disputed areas in Ukraine and Russia to Italy, and to call on the mayors and mayoresses of other European cities to convene a summit for peace and dialogue between those peoples. It is only by building bridges, mobilising consciences and uniting peoples that the warlords can be stopped,' the two co-presidents of Un Ponte Per Angelica Romano and Alfio Nicotra jointly state. "Our idea is that of those who fight for a continent, from the Atlantic to the Urals, free of nuclear weapons, in which every wall, border and barrier is torn down, in which all peoples are equally free. A united and united continent where everyone can speak their own language and where all languages can be taught in their schools because linguistic pluralism is a heritage of humanity that no people should have to give up,' the two co-presidents continue.
Nationalism has already led Europe to tragedy in the past, pitting peoples against each other in arms.
We consider military pacts, their very existence and further extension, a threat to the security of peoples. Already today, the cold war climate imposed on our continent by the NATO/Russia confrontation has caused spending on armaments to double, taking precious resources away from the fight against inequality, disease, poverty and a true ecological conversion of the economy. We want the logic of power blocs to be replaced by the concept of shared security, with a revival of the United Nations and the OSCE as the main proponents of common security and cooperation.
The war raging in the East is the direct child of those who destroyed peoples' aspirations for peace after the fall of the Berlin Wall and those who forgot the lesson of the global wars of the last century: the failure of governments that cleared the way for war as a system for resolving international disputes, in violation of the UN Charter and for us Italians of Article 11 of the Constitution. From the rubble of those wars, the world has found itself more insecure and unjust.
We want for our continent multilateralism, peaceful coexistence, and citizenship rights for all those who inhabit it without any discrimination.
We who are accustomed to looking at wars through the eyes of the victims, those who receive bombs on their heads, those who suffer mourning, deportation, rape, enslavement, we cheer neither for Moscow nor for Washington but we fight for peace. Because only peace creates a future and security.
Un Ponte Per will participate in all mobilisations for peace and against the war between NATO, Russia and Ukraine planned for the coming days. We will participate regardless of the platforms of convocation because we believe it is important that in these hours a strong voice is raised from civil society to prevent a new and senseless carnage on our continent.
At this link the full appeal: https://www.unponteper.it/it/2022/02/ucraina-mobilitiamoci-per-la-pace/
In Ukraine we are witnessing one of the worst escalations of tension between Russia, the US and NATO since the Cold War. Perhaps not since the Cuban missile crisis has the risk of a new global conflict been so palpable.
A tension, this time, on the borders of Europe that, if it really passed from words to deeds, would put the survival of humanity and the planet at risk.
No one among the contenders excludes resorting to arms. An armed conflict, even a nuclear one, could involve Europe itself. This is happening at a very specific moment in history, in a climate of exasperated rearmament, in which the world's powerful insist on the line of military supremacy, instead of seeking a balance guaranteeing a peaceful future.
As the Italian Peace and Disarmament Network, we call on our country and all of Europe to take urgent and significant steps towards a position of active neutrality.
The Press Release of the Italian Peace and Disarmament Network follows.
As Italians and as Europeans, we are witnessing a worrying escalation of tension between Russia, the United States and NATO on the borders of Europe.
An escalation in which, as things stand, none of the contending parties excludes the possibility of recourse to arms and in respect of which no observer excludes that it could develop into an armed conflict, including a nuclear one, which could involve Europe itself.
Moreover, this is taking place in a climate of exaggerated rearmament in which armies seem to be seeking supremacy rather than a strategic balance that would be a guarantee of future peace.
Perhaps not since the Cuban missile crisis has the risk of a new global conflict been so palpable. It is a risk we cannot afford, as denounced last week by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientist'salarming '100 seconds to midnight' Doomsday Clock. To avert this risk, every country has a duty to act.
We call on our country first of all, starting with the Foreign Minister, and on the whole of Europe to take urgent and significant initiatives from a position of active neutrality, to achieve an immediate de-escalation of the tension and to begin the search for a negotiated political agreement that respects the security and rights of all the populations involved, clarifying its unwillingness to support military adventures.
To all the countries involved we say: stop. Lay down your weapons and threats and negotiate.
Press Release
The new and spacious premises for the expansion of the Department of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support at the Al Salam Hospital in east Mosul are ready. The construction of this new department was made possible thanks to funding from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and the work of the NGO Un Ponte Per.
Rome, 23 December 2021 - Today, 23 December sees the inauguration of the new mental health and psychosocial support ward at the Al Salamhospital in east Mosul. Among the many personalities attending the event were Dr. Falah Al-Tai, Director of the Nineveh Health Department, Dr. Firas Aqrawi, Director of the hospital, and Dr. Muzahem, Director of the Mental Health Department of the hospital.
Prior to the Islamic State occupation and the complete destruction of the building in 2017, Al Salam Hospital was the largest hospital in the Mosul area. Since the end of 2017, the hospital has been a receptor for external support aimed at reconstruction and the re-establishment of essential services.
The hospital receives between 6,000 and 10,000 patients daily from the entire Nineveh governorate and the Mental Health Department was unfortunately severely limited - since the liberation from Daesh occupation - in the space and means available. Funding from the Italian Cooperation (AICS) in support of the "Salamtak 3" (Your Health) project, implemented by Un Ponte Per (UPP), has finally made it possible to build a new department, open to the entire population.
As of today, the department will have approximately 240 square metres of new inclusive spaces, new equipment that will allow cognitive therapies, drug treatments, psychological assessments and support for medical and school committees. The entire department has been completely moved to the new building, which has no less than 7 rooms, with the addition of 8 beds, dedicated to the variety of services offered.
The project to build the Mental Health Department at the Al Salam Hospital in Mosul was initiated with the aim of supporting mental health, psychosocial support and maternal and child health in the governorate of Nineveh, in order to provide humanitarian assistance to support the vulnerable population, displaced, refugees and returnees in Iraq after the recent conflict with the Islamic State.
Since February, more than 10,145 people have been reached through the project, including many with post-traumatic stress and various ailments. More than 3,000 women, adolescents and children have had access to reproductive health services and specific paediatric counselling, thanks to the presence of psychologists, gynaecologists, sonographers and paediatricians. Approximately 1,000 individual and group psychosocial support sessions were also provided. Thanks to the new department, the Al Salam hospital will become the nerve centre for mental health in the city of Mosul, to which the city's other two hospitals providing these services will also report.
"Salamtak 3" is part of a broader framework of interventions and specialised services that UPP, thanks to the valuable support of AICS, has been carrying out in Iraq, and in particular in the Nineveh Plain and Mosul, since the beginning of thehumanitarian emergency in 2014.
Press Release
Coinciding with World Human Rights Day, the #16days to combat gender-based violence in a country where unequal rights and access to dedicated services for women still remain extremely difficult.
Rome, 10 December 2021 - Today 10 December marks World Human Rights Day worldwide, a day that coincides with the end of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence. For years, the NGO Un Ponte Per (UPP) has been working alongside and together with women and girls in North East Syria who continue to live in a state of emergency that has lasted more than a decade. In Syria, after ten years of war, there are still many people living displaced, with minimal or non-existent health services. An emergency that has left 13.4 million people in need of assistance and humanitarian aid: among them, the condition of women and adolescent girls is one of the most serious problems.
The Raqqa area, the former Syrian stronghold of ISIS/Daesh, is one of the areas where unequal rights and access to services for women remain extremely difficult. The situation has been exacerbated by the spread of COVID-19, which by causing increased levels of poverty, unemployment and psychosocial distress has exacerbated the level of domestic violence, in which women and girls always pay the highest price. Alongside the health emergency continues what has been called the Shadow Pandemic, that of gender-based violence against women and girls.
The COVID prevention measures and the frequent lockdowns in North-East Syria have slowed down but not stopped the incessant work of the UPP Protection Team that, thanks to the support of the Italian Cooperation, has set up a Safe Space for women and girls in Raqqa (WGSS - Women and Girls Safe Space) together with the local partner DOZ, and together with them they continue their daily commitment for their rights and to fight gender-based violence.
In November alone, 570 women and girls attended the Space and participated in the activities supported by the Italian Cooperation. This space, near the hospital in Raqqa, is a private place for women and girls only, where they can carry out group and recreational activities, receive psychosocial support, training and information on their rights and health. During these 16 days of activism, women and adolescent survivors of gender-based violence received non-stigmatising individual support services, run by local workers trained and supported by UPP.
Games, theatre sessions and recreational activities were organised to convey key messages on forced or early marriage, domestic violence, sexual violence and harassment, as well as self-awareness and awareness-raising sessions on women's rights and the importance of education for empowerment, seeking to give adolescent girls an opportunity to think about their goals and dreams. More than 150 women and girls participated in the activities.
With pride Aidha, a Safe Space worker specialising in countering gender-based violence, says: "These days for me were a warning to women and the world in general: violence can never be justified and no one ever deserves it, neither in Raqqa nor anywhere else. Unfortunately, as the UN reports in a press release, despite the emergency still ongoing, there is a shortage of funds to provide support to women and girls survivors of gender-based violence: only 7 per cent of communities across Syria have access to services dedicated to gender-based violence. Numbers so pitiless that they deserve no further comment, despite it being World Human Rights Day.
UPP continues to be one of the few humanitarian actors with the capacity to reach people in need throughout North East Syria, even in remote and insecure areas. The initiatives organised are part of a broader framework of interventions that UPP, thanks to the valuable support of the Italian Cooperation, has been carrying out in North East Syria, and in particular in Raqqa Governorate, since the beginning of the humanitarian emergency in 2015.
Press Release
Six Palestinian organisations on the list of terrorist associations.
The Italian government intervenes
Rome, 27 October 2021 - Civil society organisations are extremely alarmed by the recent decision by the Israeli Ministry of Defence, Benny Gantz, to designate six Palestinian civil society organisations as 'terrorist'. This is the culmination of a long campaign of defamation, denigration, delegitimisation and intimidation that the Israeli government has been carrying out for years, also with the support of organisations such as NGO Monitor, against Palestinian civil society organisations engaged in the defence and promotion of human rights.
The measure is based on the Israeli counter-terrorism law adopted in 2016, in which broad powers are given to the Ministry of Defence to take administrative measures, with serious criminal repercussions. The looming threat to human rights defenders working for these organisations is that ofarrest, closure of offices and confiscation of property. If this were to happen, it would create significant and concrete harm to the civilian population, particularly women and children, who would be deprived of one of the few means of protection against violations committed by both Israeli and Palestinian entities.
The persecutory intent and the desire to stifle the crucial work carried out by these organisations are highlighted by the fact that the reasons given for the designation are vague or undefined. The aim of this measure is not only to discredit the designated organisations, but also to marginalise the importance of the principles and instruments of international law, first and foremost the right to self-determination, which these organisations promote and pursue.
Moreover, the decision to accuse of terrorism organisations that for decades have been engaged at the highest levels in the promotion of human rights and whose reputation and esteem is proven by numerous international recognitions, including the direct access that is granted to some of them to the organs of the United Nations by virtue of their special consultative status at ECOSOC, and by their direct cooperation also with international cooperation agencies, including the Italian one, is an intimidating political message that cannot be ignored.
The government of Israel is indirectly accusing states and intergovernmental organisations that have a history of cooperation with these organisations: the budgets of the programmes funded to the organisations are in fact controlled by the agencies of the donor countries, and their budgets are subject to annual audits by certified external auditors as required by Palestinian law. This decision also aims to end the international community's financial support for the various humanitarian, development, study and research interventions carried out by these organisations, whose contribution to the protection of human rights and the building of a just peace based on the norms of international law is essential.
Faced with the clear persecutory nature of the military order, which makes it of dubious legitimacy, Italian civil society organisations demand that the Italian government take steps to ensure that the decision is immediately revoked, unless the Government of Israel clearly and unequivocally demonstrates the merits of the defamatory accusations underlying the decision taken. By doing so, Italy would avoid the risk of recognising or supporting, even indirectly, persecutory and discriminatory conduct that impedes the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, as recognised by peremptory norms of international law.
Platform of Italian CSOs in the Middle East and Mediterranean
AOI - Italian NGO Association
CINI - Italian Coordination of International NGOs
Link 2007
Civil Society for Palestine
Peace and Disarmament Network
Press Release
Iraq, elections 2021: the voices of civil society
With three days to go before the Iraqi elections, Un Ponte Per and the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI) launch a petition and an in-depth dossier, revealing the critical aspects of the Iraqi political landscape through the voices of civil society.
Rome, 6 October 2021 - Following the liberation from Daesh (ISIS), since October 2019 Iraq has been going through a profound political awakening, brought to the streets by protests by young people and women. Early elections on 10 October were called precisely in response to the demands of the 'Thawra Tishreen' (October Revolution) movement, but the electoral process has been led by traditional forces and characterised by the continued intimidation of militias against activists and new opposition forces. Since the start of the protests, more than 600 protesters, journalists and activists have been killed, 20,000 have been injured, and many more are missing (figures are constantly being updated).
This has generated a mass boycott reaction, which will leave its mark on the election results, and risks benefiting the more sectarian forces. Indeed, large sections of the population are turning towards protest abstention, driven by a deep distrust of the institutional system. Some parties - including those that emerged from the protests - have instead chosen a strategy of political boycott, blaming the unfairness of the system and the violence and intimidation to which their candidates are subjected.
Faced with such violations of political freedoms, Un Ponte Per, an Italian NGO active in peace-building in Iraq since 1991, andICSSI, a platform of international solidarity with Iraqi civil society, have prepared an in-depth dossier and launched a petition urging Italian and European institutions to press for full respect for political freedoms, especially of young people and women, without which any electoral process would be tainted.
The dossier produced briefly reconstructs the origin and evolution of the elections and the development of the contestation of the electoral process by Iraqi civil society. A diverse civil society exists in Iraq, active in the defence of human rights and protagonist of important social struggles. Hundreds of organisations have mobilised themselves by structuring extensive election monitoring networks, committed to detecting violations of democratic principles. Institutionally disadvantaged and little considered at the international level, these networks instead constitute a resource from below, branching out even in remote areas of Iraqi territory.
At this crucial moment, Un Ponte Per, thanks to its 30-year proximity to Iraqi civil society and its support to ICSSI, represents a direct contact with the voices of Iraqi human rights activists.
Link to the petition: https://bit.ly/3acu5XC
Download the dossier: "IRAQ. EARLY ELECTIONS ON 10 OCTOBER: PERSPECTIVES FROM IRAQI CIVIL SOCIETY".
For contacts/interviews with local actors write to stampa@unponteper.it - +39 351 619 8419
Press Release
Syria. AICS and UPP start the rehabilitation of an entire paediatric ward in Raqqa
June saw the start of the fourth phase of the "Darna" project, financed by the Italian Cooperation and implemented by Un Ponte Per (UPP) to ensure access to health and protection services for the population of Raqqa, with a special focus on maternal and child services.
Rome 24 September 2021 - In Syria, after 10 years of war, there are still many people living displaced, with minimal or non-existent health services. An emergency that has led to 13,400,000 people being in need of humanitarian aid today: of these, almost half are in severe need. The situation has been exacerbated by the spread of COVID-19, which is causing rising levels of poverty and unemployment, psychosocial distress, domestic violence and serious risks to the lives and growth of children.
This is the context for the 4th phase of 'Darna' ('Our Home'), a programme aimed at the rehabilitation and support of health services in Raqqa. The project is funded by the Italian Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by the NGO Un Ponte Per (UPP), together with the local partner Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC).
The "Darna" programme was launched in the summer of 2018, after the liberation of Raqqa Governorate from Daesh, and will continue until September 2022.
The state of health facilities, however, still remains critical: only one of the two public hospitals in the area has been reopened. Moreover, since the cessation of hostilities to date, more than 300,000 civilians have returned to the area, increasing the pressure on the few available health facilities.
UPP's goal is therefore to ensure that people have sustained, free and quality access to maternal and child health services.
In fact, the intervention of this 4th phase includes the support of the maternal health detachment of the National Hospital in Raqqa, with a major innovation: the activation of an entire paediatric ward from scratch.
The rehabilitation work on the facility was started on 14 September, with the aim of filling an important gap in the urban and sub-urban area of Raqqa, which lacks public and free paediatric facilities and currently has only 25 beds dedicated to paediatric patients.
The new paediatrics department will operate 24 hours a day with 32 new beds, 2 nurses and a paediatrician always present, as well as a paediatric consultation service 8 hours a day and a 24-hour emergency service.
In addition to paediatric services, maternal and reproductive health services will continue to be guaranteed on a daily basis, with a 24-hour service for obstetric emergencies and basic maternal health services such as prenatal and postnatal consultations for mothers and newborns.
The 16-month intervention plans to directly reach almost 28,000 people. This includes about 12,700 women, 8,000 girls and more than 7,000 children.
UPP and KRC will also carry out information, awareness-raising and prevention activities on protection issues, such as violence against women and children and psychosocial wellbeing, in order to increase the self-protection capacities of the most vulnerable. In addition, KRC, with the support of UPP, will provide psychosocial support services for vulnerable women, men, girls and children in the Raqqa area.
UPP continues to be one of the few humanitarian actors - and the only Italian NGO - with the capacity to reach people in need throughout north-east Syria, even in remote and insecure areas.
The 4th phase of "Darna" is part of a broader framework of interventions that UPP, thanks to the valuable support of the Italian Cooperation, has been carrying out in North-East Syria, and in particular in the Governorate of Raqqa, since the beginning of the humanitarian emergency in 2015.
Press Release
Military missions abroad:
the cry of pain of thousands of people continues to be ignored
Rome, 15 July 2021 - "We remain baffled by the refinancing of the Italy-Libya cooperation agreements and, more generally, by the absence of a real discussion on the reasons for the failure of some international missions such as Afghanistan". This was stated in a statement by Angelica Romano, co-president of Un Ponte Per. "We proceed in reiterating the missions out of an act of ideological faith, deliberately ignoring the cry of pain of the thousands of people held hostage in Libyan prisons or refusing to explain to Italians and Italian women what all the billions spent in 20 years of participation in the war in Afghanistan, which cost over 250,000 victims, 53 of whom were Italian, were for.
Once again, Parliament has chosen not to address the consequences of the agreements with Libya: violence, abuse and torture in defiance of human rights and international conventions. Continuing to delegate to the various Libyan militias the management and containment "by any means" of the flow of migrants is bound to produce new unbearable tragedies.
"Italy needs to radically rethink its international missions, shifting the weight of participation towards development cooperation and support of local civil societies. On the migration side, it is also necessary to strengthen the system of humanitarian corridors to allow for legal migration and to remove these people from human trafficking,' said the other Un Ponte Per co-president Alfio Nicotra.
As a non-governmental organisation that has been active in the Middle East since 1991, we believe it is imperative to give voice and strength to Iraqi, Lebanese, Afghan and also the nascent civil societies in Libya. We have a duty to support them by initiating a people-to-people dialogue, starting from the bottom.
Press Release
A NEW LIBYA?
Lights and shadows after the birth of the transitional government
On the occasion of the second Libyan Peace Conference on 23 June in Berlin, an online event analyses together with experts how the reconstruction of the Libyan state is progressing. With a focus on civil society
Rome, 22 June 2021 - On the occasion of the Second Conference on Peace in Libya - to be held in Berlin on 23 June and focused on the preparations for national elections and the withdrawal of foreign and mercenary troops from the country - Un Ponte Per has decided to launch an in-depth analysis of the Libyan context through a first live online meeting involving journalists and Libya experts.
The meeting will try to go beyond the dominant geopolitical narrative that reduces Libya to a "failed state", divided between rival militias and human traffickers.
For too long the Libyan territory and people have been considered a pawn in the hands of the power of the moment: historically Italy, then France and Britain, then the United States, Russia and finally Turkey. They have all tried to get their hands on the Libyan chessboard, constantly putting colonial political-economic interests before those of a population at the end of its tether, which has been living with guerrilla warfare and a total lack of security for years. The Human Rights Watch report on Libya is truly dramatic: people live in the complete absence of the rule of law, anyone can be outlawed at any time and sentenced to death.
In the Un Ponte Per meeting, the aim is to explore thepolitical and social evolution of the country with the birth of the transitional government - or of supposed national unity - through a lens that finally seeks the needs, hopes and perspectives of the Libyan people and its civil society, without forgetting the rights of migrants crossing the country.
All this will be discussed on 24 June starting at 16:30 live on Facebook on the Un Ponte Per page, together with guests: Francesca Mannocchi, investigative journalist expert on Libya, Farid Adly, Libyan writer and journalist, director Anbamed, Luca Raineri, researcher Security Studies and International Relations at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa. With them also Lodovico Mariani, Desk Programme Libya of Un Ponte Per and Giulia Torrini, National Committee of Un Ponte Per.
Link to the event: https://fb.me/e/TDgUvYsP
The initiative is part of the cycle of online meetings organised by Un Ponte Per on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.
Press Release
Don't leave the boys of Mesopotamia alone.
Let's stop the death squads in Iraq.
Un Ponte Per expresses condolences and concern for the repeated repressions on Iraqi protesters: yesterday again two people were killed and dozens more wounded by gunshots. After months of murders and disappearances of dozens of activists, what future for the country with elections ever closer?
Rome 26 May 2021 - After many months in which the pandemic had forced a reduction in mobilisations, the boys and girls of the 'October uprising' returned to the streets, hundreds of thousands across Iraq, to once again demand an end to corruption, the sectarian quota system, and above all to demand justice for the more than 700 of their brothers and sisters killed by police repression and armed militias. But once again, yesterday, a peaceful demonstration was suppressed in blood. Two demonstrators were killed, dozens were wounded by gunfire.
'Who killed me?' was the slogan chanted by many, referring to the campaign launched by the family of the activist Al-Wazni, a member of the coordination of the demonstrations, who was killed by pro-Iranian militias in Kerbala on 8 May. In the last few months alone, 35 activists had been killed or disappeared in Iraq at the hands of death squads.
Iraq is heading towards early elections in October, demanded and obtained by mass mobilisations, but in the climate of intimidation and violence to which activists are subjected - and until their killers, even when known, are brought to justice - the protesters do not believe there will be the conditions for fair and transparent elections that will bring about the necessary change.
Un Ponte Per hopes that our Foreign Minister and European chancelleries will demand respect for the legitimate dissent of millions of young Iraqis, who are systematically excluded from any prospect of a decent life.
We also hope that there will be a genuine will to get to the truth and bring to justice those responsible for the repression.
The system of sectarian partitioning of the country has swallowed up tens of billions in aid and oil revenues, spread corruption and impunity, with the consequence that even today, 16 years after the war, the Iraqi state is not even able to provide drinking water and electricity to the entire population of the capital.
Today the boys and girls of Baghdad have returned to the streets to remember this and to demand a different future. They just want a normal country, without foreign troops and armed militias on the ground, where all Iraqis are equal without sectarian divisions. In the Iranian-US condominium that has become Iraq, they risk being a crock pot in the geopolitical confrontation. They need all our support.
The Pope's recent visit to Iraq has turned the world's spotlight on that country, let us not turn it off again in the indifference of the international community, which would have a duty to monitor respect for human rights at a delicate time for the country, with elections ever closer.
Countries like Italy - which participated with its army in the war and the proliferation of armaments in Iraq - owe a debt to these boys and girls. We ask our government to honour it.
The National Committee of Un Ponte Per
