My father forced me to marry a married man because he could no longer provide for me. Soon enough, my husband’s other wife started to fight with me, and her daughters would also beat me and invade my privacy. As for my husband, he was obedient to his first wife, and only cared about having […]
PAX, together with Oxfam Novib, SOMO and The Rights Forum held the second of a two-part webinar on current developments in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The webinar focused on the human rights problems resulting from business activities with the illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The discussion among experts in the […]
I was fourteen years old when I got married to Bassem. At first, we lived with his family. My husband’s father and brother joined ISIS. ISIS members started to visit our house to try and persuade my husband to join them, but he refused. To avoid the pressure on my husband to join ISIS, we […]
PAX, together with Oxfam Novib, SOMO and The Rights Forum organized the first webinar of a two part series called Current Developments in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Last April it became clear that the new Israeli coalition agreement explicitly contained the possibility of an annexation of the West Bank. This webinar focused on […]
Wednesday, May 6 I haven’t spoken to Ahmed much in recent weeks. And of course the few times we did talk it was about corona. Corona here in the Netherlands, but also corona in Idlib. I didn’t dare bring up the fact that a few months ago he had fled head over heels from his […]
Lebanon is protesting again. Despite the lockdown measures that were implemented as part of the corona response, people are taking back to the streets. The revolution that started in October 2019 did not bring any positive changes and the corona crisis and subsequent loss of income and work for hundreds of thousands of people only […]
Monday, April 6 Even under the threat from the corona virus, life continues. Here in the Netherlands, but also in Azaz, where Ahmed lives after he fled Saraqeb with his family. His wife gave birth to a baby boy there a few days ago. Sa’ad is the couple´s third child, and their first son. I […]
People in Idlib are also following the news about how the corona virus is spreading across Europe. On Saturday I got an anxious message from Ahmed asking if we were OK in the Netherlands. Since Ahmed’s an expert in dealing with crises and threats, I thought I would ask him if he has any tips […]
Friday, March 6 The ceasefire that Erdogan and Putin agreed started went into effect at midnight. It includes a “safety corridor” to be established north and south of the M4 motorway that passes Saraqeb. “Hi Ahmed, has the ceasefire made any difference?” “I called some friends in Sarmin and Idlib city and they said there […]
PAX wants to promote learning at the individual, collective and organisational levels. To this end, we have worked for the past few years with Intrac, a well known and respected consultancy for ngo’s. Their mandate is “to strengthen the effectiveness of civil society to challenge poverty and inequality, empowering people to gain greater control over […]