Newsletter August 2024

Chères et chers Membres et Amis,

Nous vous souhaitons une belle suite d’été et espérons trouver un peu de votre temps pour prendre connaissance de nos activités ne souffrant d’aucun ralentissement durant la période.

 

Syriea

As previously stated, our coordinator visited the area from July 13th to 19th. The numerous trips and discussions with the members of the ‘Vivere-Syria’ team were aimed at evaluating the ongoing work and planning the next steps. It is with pleasure that we introduce the volunteers of this team here: Excerpts from the travel diary:

Extraits du carnet de notes de voyage :

Country Overview

“For the majority of the population, in the current regime, both the president and the government, as well as local officials, are completely discredited but still greatly feared for their oppressive and harmful capabilities. There were parliamentary elections on July 16th: out of around forty people I spoke with about this, only one had gone to the polls.

At all ages, starting from adolescence, Syrians want to leave their country, aiming primarily for Europe. A widely spread expression here is: ‘Every Syrian has their suitcase ready to leave.’

Many families survive only thanks to funds sent by one or more expatriated relatives.

The general economy of the country is at its lowest, with inflation reaching staggering proportions. Among basic necessities and essential goods, no prices are stable, and the cost of daily living continues to rise week by week.

Here and there, you see some households living comfortably. But there is no doubt that a large portion of the population is stuck below the poverty line. Access to healthcare is particularly almost entirely out of reach for the majority, as public health facilities lack essentials. There are numerous private hospitals, but their costs are beyond the reach of most citizens.

Salaries: Civil servants and soldiers of the national army receive the equivalent of US$ 25 per month. This amount can cover a full tank of gasoline or a month’s rent for a tiny two-room apartment in a dilapidated building. A knowledgeable person I was speaking with there told me that the minimum vital income for a family of four should be US$ 200 per month.

Almost everywhere I went, I saw elderly people as well as very young children collecting plastic waste, the sale of which would not even bring in enough for two meager meals a day.

The conditions of detention are appalling as detailed by the  Amnesty International investigation cited below:

Amnesty International Report on Detention in Syria 2024

Overview of our Working region

(not named for security reason)

The city and its surroundings are entirely under Damascus’ control. It seems that all elements of the Islamic State (ISIS), which had long plagued the area, have been driven out. However, the government forces subsequently brutally repressed countless people suspected, rightly or wrongly, accusing them of having anti-regime sentiments. Entire villages have been reduced to ashes by the president’s air force.

Three-quarters of the city was destroyed during the years of war. Today, some of the less affected neighborhoods are undergoing reconstruction and piles of debris are being cleared. Other entire neighborhoods remain frozen in a state of total ruin and are uninhabitable.

Running water and electricity are available intermittently.

Population movements: aside from the tens of thousands of refugees who have escaped abroad, thousands of other inhabitants have fled the region to settle elsewhere in the country. Almost simultaneously, thousands of Syrians fleeing the fighting in the North and East have come here, either occupying the homes abandoned by their owners or crowding under tents, in garages, etc.; most of these people are still in the area today, while displaced persons who left here are gradually returning, creating a huge housing problem.

Corruption: widespread. Anyone with even the slightest bit of power will abuse it to make others pay for the slightest service or pass. The need to survive is often cited as justification.

Action by ‘Vivere-Syria’ (the name the team gave itself at the start of our collaboration in 2015)

Founded and inspired by M.N., this group consists of about twenty volunteers, with a significant proportion of young people under 30. Three to four of them take on regular, almost daily responsibilities (identifying new cases , home visits, record-keeping and accounting, stock management, etc.)

Nutritional Supplement for Babies up to 12 Months of Age:

  • The program continues with  35 infants registered to the programme every month, each receiving SYP 150,000 per month in food support, approximately US$ 11 per month. This is obviously a modest amount, even by Syrian standards, but without exception, all the families I met consider this sum vital for the minimum nutritional security of their child. There is no doubt that they are telling the truth. A large number of fathers reduced to working as porters earn less than

 

  • The team manages a waiting list of several hundred cases. I attended a registration session for new cases during which M.F. explained to parents that they would have to wait until December to receive help. There is no discrimination at play: the beneficiaries are children of both Muslim and Christian families.

 

  • The preliminary social investigation is quite brief. The team is convinced that parents requesting such minimal aid can only come from the poorest backgrounds, and they are probably right. The home visits I conducted confirm this.

 

  • In summary: the duration of  aid is short, the amount allocated is low, but the validity and usefulness of this work seem indisputable to me; we must, therefore, continue. Keep in mind that both the duration and the amount were determined by the team itself, while Vivere was and remains open to other arrangements as long as they comply with the available budget, CHF 650 to 700 per month (€ 680 to 733).

 

Due to  the rotation of ages , 11 new babies were taken on in June, and 14 new ones in July. The photo shows a family who came in July to register their newborn.

 

 

Burundi

We are continuing to provide socio-professional rehabilitation to women forced into prostitution in the most dangerous conditions, with the help of our local partner, the SFBSP association. During on-site discussions last year with this group of women, we realized that those who have children, had not registered them, and so therefore their children had no civil status. The lack of resources to complete the administrative process, discrimination against sex workers, unknown paternity, and lack of a fixed residence are all factors that combined, result in the child having no legal existence, meaning they cannot receive treatment in public health centers or attend school. After understanding the different facets of this problem, we suggested to our partner that a lawyer be made available to each affected mother-child pair to ensure proper civil registration. This required month of work.

Last month, SFBSP sent us the final report. Twenty children are now officially registered. The testimonies of the mothers cited in this report deeply moved us with their striking simplicity and truthfulness. If there was still any need to confirm this, the words of these women attest to the human value of this mini project. They also confirm Vivere’s experience that, with limited resources, we can positively change the lives of people whose fundamental rights are in danger. In this case, the right to healthcare and education for children who had been brutally dissocialized.

Here they are, at a small ceremony marking the end of the legalization process:     

                         

A mother’s emotional response on seeing her child now eligible for fundamental rights

 

“Before I started sex work, I lived with an illegal husband. When I was 7 months pregnant, he left me, and that was the last I saw of him. My daughter has never known her father. When she was three years old, I went to the kindergarten to enroll her, but in vain because I did not have her birth certificate. Now that SFBSP-Burundi has helped me obtain this certificate, my daughter will attend school this September. May God bless this organization, SFBSP, which continues to support us in various ways.”

 

“I am a sex worker, and one day, I became pregnant without knowing who fathered the child because I meet many men. I gave birth to twin boys who have no father. My children often fell ill, and I went to the North District Hospital for treatment. But since they were not legally recognized, the healthcare providers refused to help me, even though children under five receive free care there.  I could not afford to pay for the care in full. Because of this, I would return home, and if I was lucky enough to have a client, I would buy medicine from the pharmacy. Now, after receiving their birth certificates, whenever they fall ill, I go directly to the health center even if I have no money, and they receive treatment. I don’t know what to say to thank SFBSP-Burundi for helping us ensure our children have a legal identity.”

 

Human Trafficking Assistance to Victims

The partner team of Vivere in a Persian Gulf country (not named here for security reasons) rescues between 10 and 15 victims per month throughout the year. Their work includes identifying the victims, extracting them from exploitative situations, providing care and protection, carrying out legal procedures to re-establish their civil status, and purchasing a plane ticket for their quickest possible repatriation.

Among the recent reports is the following:

“Aida” (a pseudonym) was in contact with some Uzbeks through social media to discuss employment opportunities. A woman named Olivia told her that her sister worked in the hospitality sector in XX (a locality in the Gulf) and earned thousands of dollars a month. Aida was dissatisfied with her job in a textile factory and wanted to change her life. Eventually, she flew to XX and met a woman named Nodira—though that was not her real name. Nodira took her to a shabby villa, where she explained that the most profitable trade was sex, meaning prostitution.

Aida initially refused, but two men entered the room and beat her. When they aggressively began to strip her, she finally had to relent. She was placed in a small room in that villa, where she was forced to satisfy up to 12 men of different nationalities every day. Aida received the equivalent of CHF 47 per day (€49). After a month, Nodira transferred her to a small hotel, where she now earned CHF 70 per day (€73)—but the number of clients increased to 15… 16 per day.

On the day of her arrest, she was supposed to go to another hotel with one of Nodira’s men. There, she saw two young Arab men in traditional robes (gandoura). She managed to break free from Nodira’s guard, who then fled. These Arabs turned out to be police officers. Aida was detained at the police headquarters, but she was unable to assist in arresting her exploiters. The police released her without penalty but issued a deportation order, notifying us that she needed assistance. We took charge of her situation and successfully repatriated her to Uzbekistan in less than three weeks.”

 

 

5° The Defense of Victims Accused of Blasphemy who face the Death Penalty

Among the few brave lawyers working with Vivere in Asia to try to save the lives of those accused of blasphemy, Saïd (a pseudonym) has handled ten cases so far, and has secured the acquittal of three women. It is with great sadness that we inform you that Yamna (a pseudonym) passed away in prison last week; her health had severely deteriorated, and she did not receive the necessary medical care.

Accused of tearing pages from the Quran—almost certainly a false accusation—she was immediately arrested in May 2021 and had been languishing in detention ever since. Despite the obvious deterioration of her physical condition, she received no mercy. No relatives were present at her burial. It is common for the relatives of someone accused of blasphemy to be forced to distance themselves or even disown the detainee to avoid suspicion of complicity and the possibility of facing similar punishment.

    Protest against the acquittal of a woman accused of blasphemy (Hindustan Times 4 may 2021)

     

    Perhaps you can help :

    • In July, we had 276 subscribers to these newsletters. Please feel free to share the contact information of anyone who might be interested in receiving them. Thank you!

    • For our partners in Africa and Ukraine, there is a need for recent and well-functioning mobile phones and laptops, which are either unavailable locally or very costly. If you have any second-hand devices available, please kindly send them to the address below. In the context of our work, the ability to communicate is often vital, in the truest sense of the word.

    Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this and remain at your full disposal for any related questions. With our best regards and wishes for a wonderful and fulfilling end of summer!

    Sincerely,

    The Vivere Committee