CONTEXT
Post-Daesh Iraq is a country slowly trying to return to normalcy. There are still large numbers of people trying to return to their homes. The entire society is riven with conflict, trauma and sectarian divisions. Paying the highest price for all this are women and children. Weak state institutions are challenged daily by the many militias, affiliated with regional powers, that control infrastructure, checkpoints, as well as actual portions of territory. The Iraqi mosaic, from an element of millennial wealth, has sadly turned into a struggle for supremacy. Iraqi youth have been taking to the streets for years, demanding an end to sectarianism, corruption, and the dominance of arms. And organized civil society is constantly engaged in the long and complex work of rebuilding social ties and peacebuilding.

PROJECT

Another important support to Iraqi civil society, implemented through CCFD-Terre Solidaire funding, comes from the Civil Society Solidarity with Iraq: from protests to elections project. A project that aims to ensure systematic support for Iraqi civil society partners, with a focus on the Iraqi Social Forum and the Kurdistan Social Forum. An initiative to promote support for Defenders and Defenders of Human Rights in Iraq, following the escalation of violence against them, promoting peace and dialogue as an alternative to violence. Goals include supporting the End Cross Border Bombings in Iraqi Kurdistan (ECBB) campaign, which campaigns against Turkish bombings of unarmed civilians in Iraqi Kurdistan. Additional important work has been done by the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI) to ensure fairness and transparency during the Iraqi elections in October 2021. In this regard, ICSSI has collected and disseminated to inter-national media and institutions (including the EU monitoring delegation) a report gathering civil society's views and recommendations on the election process.

UPP IN IRAQ
Un Ponte Per (A Bridge To...) begins its story in Iraq back in 1991, alongside and in support of the civilian population who were victims of the Gulf War. Following the post-war emergency, it organizes the campaign to treat Iraqi boys and girls suffering from serious diseases in Italy, initiates school twinning between Italian and Iraqi schools, and launches campaigns to denounce and violate the embargo on the Iraqi population. After the 2003 war, following the burning and looting of the National Library and Historical Archives in Baghdad, Un Ponte Per set off with the program "The House of Books" to renovate its premises, restore manuscripts and train library staff. A commitment that continues to this day with the defense of minority cultural heritage and the preservation of Iraqi archaeological, cultural and environmental sites (such as the "Save the Tigris" water defense campaign). UPP has also been supporting Iraqi activists since 2004, out of whose synergy the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative was born in 2009. At the outbreak of the war in Syria, UPP became involved in Iraq in the work of welcoming and providing psychosocial support to the many people seeking refuge in the country. It is at the forefront of the humanitarian emergency caused by Daesh's (Islamic State) conquest of large portions of Iraq and the ensuing civil war. After the expulsion of Daesh from Iraq, Un Ponte Per inaugurated in the Nineveh Plain its "Peace Workshops," centers where Iraqi youths can engage in sports activities, attend trainings, and socialize with people from different ethnic/religious groups. UPP consistently carries out work to protect and access reproductive health for women and girls. Its peacebuilding work and support for war victims continues till today.