On the 20th June 2017 we presented the Peace Proposal to the Chamber of Deputies in Rome.
"We fled from our homes in Syria because we didn't want to kill or be killed. We have paid an enormous price for our freedom. We want to live with freedom and dignity, and we want to make a peaceful return to our homeland."
These are the words of our Syrian friend, Abu Rabia, moved from Lebanon to Italy a year ago, thanks to Humanitarian Corridors and the many people who have helped create a route that didn’t exist before.
Like many people that have lost everything and humanity is their only richness, our Syrian friends have decided to think big and they have written an Appeal for Peace in Syria.
Together, we listened to the desire of the many Syrian refugees who want to return to Syria, and we are proposing the creation of Safe Zones in Syria, into which no army or armed group would be allowed entry and asking for a peace where responsibilities are clear, which creates a new Syria for those who don't want violence.
The basis of the idea is simple: “why are the representatives of the forces destroying our country the only ones sat at the negotiating table? Why do we only have the possibility to escape and we are not allowed to put our lives, our ideas, our strength and our hopes for the creation of a peace proposal?”
On the 20th June 2017 we presented the Peace Proposal to the Chamber of Deputies in Rome.
On March 2017, we presented our Peace Proposal to Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
On November 2016, we took our first official step, in presenting the proposal to the Vice President of the European Union, Frans Timmermans, who in turn said he would like to include it in the EU's official proposal for peace in Syria.
Authorities, Institutional Representatives, Associations
refugees in northern Lebanon, gathered in organisations and associations, simple citizens and families, escaped from violence and death. Five years since the beginning of the war that has destroyed our country, we still live, millions of us, without a home or the opportunity to work, without medical assistance or education for our children; we do not have a future.
In our country there are more than 200 military groups that expelled us from our houses, made legitimate only by the power of violence. We still get killed, we are forced to fight, to live in fear, to escape and we are continuously humiliated and abused.
At the peace talks, only those who have economical and political interests in Syria participate and we do not consider them bearers of our requests.
We are the real victims of this war and the only right we have is to silently choose how to die. But in the thunderous sound of weapons, we claim the right to let the world hear our voice together with those who already support us and those who will join this appeal.
Promoted by: Operazione Colomba*, Non-violent Peace Corp of the “Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII” Association.
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* OPERAZIONE COLOMBA (www.operazionecolomba.it) has worked in Lebanon since September 2013, initially with exploratory trips throughout the country and since April 2014, with a stable presence at the refugee camp and in the village of Tel Abbas, 5 kilometres from the Syrian border. After coping with the intimidation and brutality of some local Lebanese, the refugees asked the volunteers of Operazione Colomba to live with them, because a civil and unarmed presence of international volunteers can provide a strong deterrent to the use of violence. For three years, the volunteers of Operazione Colomba have shared their life with the refugees in the camps of Lebanon. This experience allows the volunteers of Operazione Colomba to collect information and voice the requests of the Syrian and other refugees who escaped the war because they do not want to be forced to fight or be killed.
Syrian refugees drawing the logo on Operazione Colomba’s tent
Operazione Colomba’s tent in Tel Abbas refugee camp