Romania: Lifesavers Give Terminally Ill Children a Chance

Carmen Uscatu and Oana Gheorghiu. Illustration by BIRN

The “Give Life” association, led by activists Carmen Uscatu and Oana Gheorghiu, is close to completing the first paediatric oncology and radiotherapy hospital in Romania to be built exclusively from private donations from citizens and companies.

Work on the hospital started in 2018 and is near completion, which is scheduled to take place early in 2023.

“With the new building [the hospital’s second], we installed around 70 per cent of its furniture. We are almost done. We also erected a huge building where we put the thermal plant that will provide the new and old building with heating and hot water,” Uscatu told BIRN.

Oana Gheorghiu and Uscatu founded the “Give life” association in 2012 to help children with cancer, severe illnesses and trauma. The two are close to fulfilling their objective of building a medical centre that offers a multidisciplinary approach to treating child-patients in modern and safe conditions.

Uscatu told BIRN that a huge community of over 350,000 individual donors and over 7,000 companies had sponsored their hospital construction projects in Bucharest or the repair, equipping and modernisation of them in other cities, such as Brasov, Piatra Neamt, or Timișoara.

“Some of the sponsors, both individuals and companies, have done this [donated] more than once. With this message, we want to say that we have recurring campaigns where we ask people to stay with us and continue to help us,” she explains.

In the last decade, the association has collected over 43 million euros from donations, and the money has transparent traceability and receives a financial audit.

“We continue to make this pilot project reach its potential and have an impact. I have the energy to want to involve the authorities more because one hospital does not ‘make miracles’ in a country like Romania, with more than 18 million inhabitants,” she explains.

“Gives life” cannot replace the Health Ministry in a national strategy for the construction of hospitals, she says.

“It’s essential to consider an ongoing partnership between NGOs and the authorities or other hospitals. We have to think worldwide, because we are part of an international community and cannot reinvent the wheel when others are 20-30 years ahead,” she says.

“We must be open to Europe … We have to be open to any countries where there are functioning [medical] models,” she concludes.

A 2021 European Commission report said Romania’s five-year survival rates for treatable cancer are below the EU average.

The outlook for childhood leukaemia is very poor – the five-year survival rate is only 54 per cent, which is a full 21 percentage points lower than in any other EU country. The next lowest rate is in Lithuania, where 75 per cent of children with leukaemia survive at least five years after diagnosis.

In 2021, Romania ranked last in the EU in terms of its share of health expenditure in GDP. Romania allocates 5.2 per cent of its GDP to health, in last place in the EU, from this point of view. The situation of state hospitals is often deplorable.

In the ten years of its activity, “Give life” has had an impressive track record: eight hospitals saw adult and children’s oncology departments renovated and brought up to European standards with 20 sterile rooms built, which tripled transplant capacity in Romania. A sub-programme for the in-depth diagnosis of lymphatic cancer was established and two laboratories in Timișoara and at the Fundeni Clinical Institute, Bucharest, were created.

The NGO also dealt with the purchase of high-performance equipment and with a change of a ministerial order to facilitate the access of patients, who have no chance in Romania, to treatment outside the country.

Montenegro: Volunteer Rescuers Extend a Lifeline

Montenegro’s Mountain Rescue Service. Illustration by BIRN

Montenegro’s Mountain Rescue Service this year won praise from citizens for its voluntary work and rescue missions despite little help from the state.

Since the beginning of the year, the Mountain Rescue Service conducted more than 30 rescue missions, mainly due to uncontrolled hikes in mountain resorts. According to the Rescue Service, most of its missions are during the summer season, when foreign tourists flock to the mountains in the north of the country.

The Mt Durmitor and Prokletije national parks are popular with hikers, luring a large number of visitors during summer. Located in northwest Montenegro, Durmitor National Park is the largest in the country, covering 32,100 hectares. It is a mountain area featuring 48 separate peaks up to 2,523 meters.

The Prokletije mountains lie along the Albanian border, with three national parks – one in Montenegro and two in Albania. This grandiose mountain massif is jagged with numerous peaks over 2,000 meters above sea level.

The head of the Mountain Rescue Service, Zeljko Loncovic, said most of the incidents occur due to hikers’ carelessness.

“In the mountains you have to follow the rules, just like in traffic. In 90 per cent of cases, the causes of accidents are frivolity, carelessness and ignorance,” he told BIRN. “We cannot blame the mountain; you should adapt to it with knowledge and equipment,” he adds.

According to the Law on Protection and Rescue, local protection services are in charge of rescuing in emergency situations in mountains and canyons but also deal with wildfires, earthquakes and floods.

They can be supported by Mountain Rescue Service staff and by the Interior Ministry or by army officers and helicopters.

While local protection services are financed from the state budget, the Mountain Rescue Service is a voluntary organization. By law, there is no obligatory tourist insurance to finance rescue missions.

The service was established as nonprofit organization in 1963 and drew its initial core staff from Javorak, a local hiker club in the town of Niksic.

Since then, the Rescue Service participated in rescuing alpinists in the mountains, but also in the extraction of people injured in accidents in canyons and pits. Every winter, they transport patients from snow-covered areas in northern Montenegro.

With their headquarter in Niksic, the Rescue Service has outposts in the towns of Zabljak, Herceg Novi and Plav. At the moment, the Rescue Service has 60 members. According to procedures, only mountaineers with at least six years’ experience pass the test to become a “mountain rescuer”.

“When they join, mountain rescuers get an obligation and responsibility for the life of the injured, and the life of the team. There is interest among young people. We have one youngster who has undergone training and is already participating in actions,” Loncovic said.

“As I far as I know, the Rescue Service was awarded only once – by Municipality of Niksic. Since then, there were no awards or decorations – but we don’t do this for rewards,” he adds.

North Macedonia: Roma Education Champion

Ferzije Asanoska. Illustration by BIRN

Volunteering for a relatively unknown local human rights NGO, Sumnal, from the town of Bitola, in the southwest of the country, 24-year-old Ferzije Asanoska is not your typical high-profile figure, known and revered throughout the country.

But her tireless work for over seven years in getting Roma children from Bitola to enrol in school and continue their education has not gone unnoticed. In December, she received the town’s award for volunteer of 2022.

Her title as Roma Educational Mediator hardly describes the entire scope of her work. She is actually doing one of the hardest jobs, going out in the field, talking to often impoverished and marginalised Roma families, persuading them to let their kids go to school, helping them get all the papers they need and later motivating them and the children to keep going.

“A lot of Roma people are illiterate, poor and do not have correct residential addresses listed, so some say: ‘Why should my child go to school when we have nothing to eat at home?’ My role is to motivate them and explain that their children will have a better chance in life if they attend classes – that education can open all doors,” Asanoska told BIRN.

The children of Roma families who have tried their luck abroad but returned need help enrolling and starting or continuing their education. Those who meanwhile dropped out under the weight of social prejudice, segregation and poverty need to be motivated, along with their parents, to re-enrol.

Asanoska says she has found good partners in some of the local schools and in town authorities when it comes to helping find the families and deliver them the invitation for their child to enrol, and later get necessary paperwork done.

Things could be better when it comes to providing more material help for these children and their families.

Asanoska leads by her own example. She has finished studies at the Faculty of Economics in the nearby town of Prilep and, in parallel with her volunteer work, is pursuing a career.

But what makes her different from many others who have fled aboard in search for a better life in a richer country is that she sees her future in her hometown.

“I will never tire of helping children and of my volunteer work. Helping one child, persuading one family, means a great deal to me. I see my future here in Bitola –and will continue doing what I do in parallel with my professional career,” Asanoska says.

Greece: Journalists Uncovering Human Rights Violations

The journalistic team of Inside Story. Illustration by BIRN

For another year, press freedom in Greece suffered severe blows. Obstruction of the press from doing its job, arrests and state monitoring incidents follow cases of censorship and self-censorship of the press.

However, in all the darkness, something new has been born, and this is investigative journalism, which aims to hold the state and businesses accountable for their actions.

BIRN this year distinguished the independent journalistic team of Inside Story, an investigative media outlet based in Athens that does not chase clicks but real stories.

Inside Story aired in 2006 and is a subscription-based, ad-free medium. Its primary funders are its readers.

“We are not interested in serving any line or ideology. We are interested in factual research and primary reporting written in a way that readers will understand,” journalist Eliza Triantafillou told BIRN.

In January 2021, Triantafillou and her colleague, Tasos Telloglou, published reports by Citizen Lab, a laboratory at the University of Toronto, and Meta, the parent company of Facebook. These exposed the existence of an eavesdropping malware called Predator, created by a company called Cytrox in North Macedonia.

This first article led to a series of 10 investigations and to the revelation of the scandal of the surveillance of the Greek government – also known as Greek Watergate – through the National Intelligence Service and the use of the illegal software Predator.

The investigations for several months did not get the coverage they deserved. There was no mention of this in Greek newspapers and on television.

“That was creating frustration. Some colleagues in the mainstream media tried to push and write about the issue. Many colleagues supported us in our research, giving us some information or ideas about the matter,” says Triantafillou and adds; “The Predator scandal is of interest to many people. It would be of interest to even more if, for example, the national media reported on it from the beginning and as something that should not be happening.”

Triantafyllou underlines the support of readers, who, beyond giving a thumbs-up, financially supported the work of Inside Story by becoming subscribers.

“It is very important that people did not only give us a thumbs-up but also made an effort to contribute; we saw practical support. Our goal is to continue reporting on this and other issues. To see it through to the end, we feel we have some steps to take. We are moving in this direction – and it will show,” Triantafillou says.

Kosovo: Face of Women’s Rights Movement

Adelina Tershani. Photo by Klara Gordon

Adelina Tershani, an energetic and multifaceted young woman and activist from Kosovo this year became the unofficial face of the movement for women’s rights that took off this year, staging many protests, and causing ripples not only in Kosovo but also in neighbouring Albania.

During the wave of protests that took off this year, calling for more women’s rights and end to domestic violence and sexual abuse, action by the institutions and the removal of VAT on menstrual period products, she was often seen at the forefront of the column of protesters, holding a loudspeaker and chanting: “Down with the patriarchy”.

Protests and actions like this, done by many more likeminded progressive activists like Adelina, made a difference this year.

At the start of 2022 they started sharing experiences of assaults on girls and women, challenging traditional patriarchal mindsets and inspiring many women and girls from Kosovo and Albania to react.

“For me, it’s sufficient with my work in the movement to bring out of the patriarchal depths even only one woman in Kosovo. Only if we are well-organized can we reach the masses,” Tershani told BIRN.

Their activities in Kosovo caused a chain of similar protests in both countries, not only in the capitals.

“When I first started [activism], it was necessary to be in Pristina to be part of the feminist movement. This is not necessarily an obstacle today. The feminist movement in Kosovo is decentralised and this is the biggest achievement of the structures and unstructured groups as well as of activists, that you can today find them even in the deeper parts of Kosovo,” she said.

The campaigns have led to an increase in the budget allocation for shelters for domestic abuse victims in Kosovo. They have also collaborated in campaigns to scrap VAT on menstrual products.

Besides being a feminist activist and fighter for women’s rights, currently working at the Kosovo Women’s Network, an NGO, on women’s economic empowerment, Tershani is also a poet, an actor and a slam poetry performer.

She is known for a critical and feminist spirit in her writings. Criticism of the patriarchal mentality is the general theme of her writings. Tërshani is also involved in acting. She has played major roles in several productions put on by the group Lipjan’s Youth Theatre.

Turkey: Doctor Punished For Service to Human Rights

Sebnem Korur Fincanci. Illustration by BIRN

Sebnem Korur Fincanci, President of the Turkish Medical Association, has always been more than a medical doctor. She has been at the forefront in rights organisations and has fought against war crimes, torture and mistreatment.

“Korur Fincanci is a professor of forensic science and her expertise is renowned in the world, working as an expert in many international cases with an extensive research,” Ali Ihsan Okten, Deputy President of the TTB, told BIRN, adding that she also led the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey for many years before her post at the TTB.

However, her life-long struggle for human rights and the rights of medical workers has been punished by a court, influenced by autocratic regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Korur Fincanci’s house was stormed by police on October 26 at dawn and the prosecutor’s office also demanded that she should be removed from her position at the TTB.

Her imprisonment came after she was targeted by President Erdogan and his far-right ally, Devlet Bahceli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, MHP.

“There is no evidence that she should be in prison or even in police detention. The file against her is completely empty but anti-democratic policies brought her into this situation,” Okten said.

The reason was that Korur Fincanci had earlier said that independent delegations should carry out investigations into whether the Turkish military used chemical weapons against Kurdish militants in Iraq.

Okten told BIRN that the TTB had been under attack from the ruling parties for many years. “They tried to criminalise us before, too such as during the aftermath of the September 12, 1980 military coup, when the TTB opposed death sentences.

“The current regime dislikes the TTB because especially during the pandemic, we proved field information and scientific research showing that the government’s handling of the pandemic was a failure,” Okten said.

The TTB, led by Korur-Fincanci, revealed that the government manipulated the number of deaths and cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was a loud critic of the government’s vaccination policy and its policies towards medical workers, organising several nation-wide strikes.

Since the pandemic, there have been calls from the ruling parties for the TTB, the official representative of medical workers in Turkey, be to closed down and its administrators arrested.

Okten remains hopeful. “We believe that we will overcome this hardship, too,” he said, but warned: “This is not only about Korur-Fincanci and the TTB. The government will extend its pressure onto other professional organisations such as Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects.”

In addition to civil rights activism, Korur-Fincanci led Istanbul University’s forensic science department for years.

Among her international engagements, in 1996, on behalf of the United Nations, she participated in autopsy studies of corpses excavated from mass graves in the Kalesija region of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbia: Konstrakta – an Art Provocateur with Substance

Ana Djuric, also known as Konstrakta. Illustration by BIRN

A performance of Ana Djuric known as Konstrakta with her song “In corpore sano” (“In a healthy body”) at the 2022 Eurovision song contest dazzled both the domestic and international public, confusing them with her artsy associative lyrics and hypnotic, eerie, no-blink stare.

Djuric came fifth in the contest, but her influence exceeds the figure since her performance drew much attention in the country and worldwide.

Her song questioned our relations towards body and health, while scrubbing her hands onstage in a clear reference to Covid-19 pandemic that shook the world.

The complex lyrics with simple choreography seemed more a theatrical play than a musical performance, raising artistic standards in a contest known often for simple, catchy, kitschy sentiments.

A reference to Meghan Markle’s hair, with which Konstrakta tried to deconstruct media health obsessions, while at the same time millions of people do not have even basic health insurance, prompted the public to reflect on class privilege and inequalities.

The chorus, “An artist needs to be healthy”, (a reference to Marina Abramovic), also pointed to problematic relations with the Serbian state, but also in general, toward artists and their poor status in a profit-oriented utilitarian capitalist culture.

Konstrakta told BIRN that she thinks the main identification point was the “topic of vulnerability” in her songs. “I think it is the main thing. I believe tcollective care would bring us progress – that is the basic idea,” she said.

She says people often tell her on the street: “I like the fact that you are an ordinary woman.

“That feeling of ordinariness is perhaps something that makes people more understanding,” Konstrakta told BIRN.

Her style has been a mixture of elitist and popular forms, while the lyrics of “In corpore sano” became widely referenced by the public on social media and used in various parodies, sketches and reworks due to its “memeability and virability”.

Journalist and music critic Petar Peca Popovic saw Konstrakta as rising above existing genres and “offering a different universe” in 2022.

“In Corpore sano” was just one third of her project, “Triptih”, (Triptych), a 12-minute music video of three songs in which, beside the Eurovision entry, were “Nobl” (“Noble”) and “Mekano” (“Soft”), which both speaks about our anxious and contradictory modern lives. She later said that she ran as a Serbia’s Eurovision song contender just to promote her project, and had not expected such success.

“In ‘Triptych’, I resignedly state how I feel, almost ridiculous in this abandonment to oneself, on the uncertain terrain of health and old age, and living a ‘better’ life – which satisfies me. It would be easier for me if it wasn’t all about me and my responsibility and ability, as modern society likes to explain us with the thrown bone of ‘selfcare’,” Konstrakta explains.

“Triptych speaks in simple, non-elitist language,” she adds, noting that could be a part of the charm of its popularity.

Konstrakta has won support from people from all over the political spectrum, both liberals and nationalists, while being praised by the Serbian Church Patriarch Porfirije who she also met. Konstrakta herself revealed that she was “scared of the lack of negative criticism of what she does”.

Before pursuing a solo career in 2019, she was the lead vocalist of the indie pop band Zemlja gruva! which was founded in 2007, and known mostly by connoisseurs of pop music.

Croatia: Theologians Give Shelter and Hope to Homeless

Marijana Ivanic Vuga and Danijel Vuga. Illustration by BIRN

Marijana Ivanic Vuga, 42, and Danijel Vuga, 40, from a town more than 70 km from Zagreb, commuting daily to work, are the founders of the CSO House of Hope (Dom Nade), which runs a daycare centre for the homeless.

Two young theologians that met during studies at the Osijek Evangelical Seminary dreamed of pastoral work that became a reality once Danijel met a homeless man from Zagreb some ten years ago.

Their desire to help brought them many trials, some existential (they were volunteers for years) and others personal (they soon had children on their own that needed attention). But this dynamic couple whose altruistic values reflect their Christian beliefs did not quit despite the challenges.

“The prejudice is against the one who is homeless is dirty, with long hair and beard. There are people like that, of course, but most of them are actually decent and clean. They hide their poverty to avoid being stigmatized and isolated from the society,” says Marijana and adds that even those who lost their homes try not to show it. “When we meet behind closed doors, they allow themselves to tell their whole story, and then the tears come… theirs and mine.”

That is what makes this job challenging, adds Marijana, as she feels she has to be a psychologist and a housekeeper, a CSO manager and a hairdresser, as well as a nurse: “I treat fungi, cuts; bandage wounds, I’ve been a hairdresser, washing clothes, helping them dress up. There’s nothing I cannot do,” says the mother of two children.

Until last year, House of hope was the only place in Zagreb for 10 years where the homeless could take a shower, wash clothes but also get help in getting an ID card and health insurance, receive help in finding job as well as a place where they can receive comfort and understanding. The modest basement at Harambasiceva 20 is a place of hope for many.

According to the data of the Croatian Network for the Homeless, at least 2,000 people in the city have nothing and sleep on the streets and about 10,000 more have some kind of a shelter, or shanty, but no real income. The real numbers are believed to be much higher.

Running the Home is psychologically and emotionally hard. But that is not all: Marijana and Daniel are also burdened by insecurity due to the unstable funding of projects. Often, they feel exhausted by writing and running projects, which takes them away from working with people in need.

“If the Croatian model was replaced with the Slovenian one, this would make financing for CSOs more long term, for at least seven years, instead of a year, two or three. This model would be better both for the recipients as well as for the state. We would avoid launching new calls every year, and we would be able to make more long-term plans. This way, we are also losing experts, because we cannot keep them long term,” says Danijel.

The professional help they provide is extensive: social workers, psychologists, career counsellors, social mentors, experts in economic empowerment, psychiatrists; many experts are involved in their activities as they try to prepare the homeless to re-enter the labour market and life in general.

They provide workshops for IT skills as well as social entrepreneurship, encouraging the homeless to see what they can do to stand on their feet again. “Many of them are people with professions and skills; they had businesses, but often due to a private tragedy, they ended up homeless,” explains Marijana.

“Our reward is when they manage to get out of the vicious circle. Among the homeless there are those who just need a bit of help,” she adds. One of their users needed help to get a driver’s license and once he received it, went to Austria and started a new life.

“We help them try, and even if they don’t succeed the first time, we help them continue,” says Danijel adding that they would be the happiest if the House of Hope lost its purpose, although they are also aware that this might never happen.

The most vulnerable in terms of the risk of poverty are the elderly. But young people are at risk, too. Again, the fault is rarely their own.

“It is devastating that there are many young people who reach legal age and leave adoption homes or orphanages and find themselves homeless! I am in contact with colleagues who work with children and youth, and they recognize some of the names of our users as they came out of that system. They come to Zagreb and end up on the street, and the streets are terrible. They face alcohol, drugs, and prostitution … Homeless women are particularly stigmatized and much more vulnerable. And those who need help the most are reluctant to come to us because they are ashamed,” Marijana explains.

Their work is also risky. Some homeless are mentally challenged and have no medical documentation or therapy. Others were sentenced for serious and violent crimes, former veterans with PTSD, or drug, gambling, or alcohol addicts. But the House of Hope turns no one away. Marijana and Danijel have both received death threats and often face burn-out, but do not give up. „We believe in what we do,” this couple adds, “and although it’s hard when we feel threatened, we know it is their helplessness, illness, or addiction that is the problem,” says Danijel.

Albania: Symbol of Civic Resistance to Unchecked Urbanisation

Mother Liza. Illustration by BIRN

At a first glance, 77-year-old Lizë Marku from Albania’s capital, Tirana, is just another elderly woman.

But everyone in Albania this year learned her nickname, Mother Liza, when she took off against the city authorities, protesting their decision to demolish her old neighborhood in Tirana, called “5 Maji”, to make way for a new construction project.

She protested regularly against this project, deemed by many as non-transparent and shady – one of many in the ever-expanding Albanian capital, and she gained fame for being filmed confronting the police and becoming the symbol of the clash between the citizens and the police. She became the main figure of those protests, and was targeted by local politicians as well.

She also gave a testimony at a parliamentary commission in January last year. Among other things, she described the confrontation with the police.

“It was 1,300 policemen against 30 people. They came and broke into my house, came in my yard like criminals. I wanted to go in to get my clothes, but no, take my medicine, no, get my wallet, no! They dragged me out, four policemen with an old woman. It was the shame of God for the Albanian state,” she said during the session.

She also met the Prime Minister Edi Rama over the issue of the demolition of the houses, but there was no result from the meeting.

According to the media, locals had been protesting for several months against the Municipality of Tirana, and could not reach an agreement with it. They claimed that there was no transparency or consultations regarding the new project, despite their repeated calls to meet representatives from the institutions.

The government and the Municipality claimed that the existing houses did not have building permits.

The Office of the Ombudusman reacted, saying: “He first draws attention to the truncated transparency that has accompanied the compilation and execution of this decision, which has also caused a visible state of uncertainty, ambiguity and concern for citizens”.

Bosnia: Defender of Rights of Children of Wartime Rape

Ajna Jusic. Illustration by BIRN

A decade-long fight for the legal recognition of the children born as a result of war-time rape has seen a partial victory in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ajna Jusic, a leading face of the Forgotten Children of the War Association, is a heroine for Bosnia for this year for paving the way to their equality in law.

Her dedication resulted this year in amendments to the law, which finally recognised children born after wartime rape as a special category in the District of Brcko, a separate administrative unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Ajna, a child of the 1992-5 war herself, said: “From the perspective of children and mothers, we believe this is finally a kind of guarantee that we will not remain invisible.”

Prior to this change, no law recognised this category of person in Bosnia, meaning that they did not have the same rights as civilian victims of war.

“On the other hand, it is important to highlight that the transitional justice process could not be completed if a vulnerable category, such as children born as a result of rape is not recognized,” Jusic added.

Ajna’s work has been recognised locally and globally, and her work and dedication does not affect only her personal life, but she strives to help women and youth through her work.

She and the people leading the association are determined to make this law a reality in the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, too.

The government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the two entities in the country, has adopted a draft on the law of civilian victims of war, which regulates the status of children born after wartime rape.

There is no official data on the number of children born from wartime rape in Bosnia. No one has compiled an official record. But the United Nations has estimated that between 20,000 and 50,000 women were raped during the war in Bosnia.

Moldova: Confronting Old Soviet-era and LGBT Stereotypes

Leo Zbanke. Illustration by BIRN

Known as a conservative country regarding religious freedoms and gender identity, Moldova has been striving for years to rank itself among those democratic countries that offer rights to different sexual communities.

For Leo Zbanke, Zbanca, 36, this has become a big concern since he returned to Moldova in 2021 to try to reset preconceptions and stereotypes towards the LGBT+ community.

“I left Moldova in the 1990s when I was still a child and grew up in Russia. Starting my LGBT+ activism in 2013, after the first anti-gay law, I saw how the space for change was closing in the Russian Federation. Activism became an act of resistance and bravery rather than a real power to change things,” Leo Zbanca told BIRN.

He left Russia in 2015 and lived in different European countries, working as a trainer and specialist in narrative with various NGOs and vulnerable groups.

“One of the driving forces behind my decision to return to Moldova was a feeling that I could help make a difference in my country. With the arrival of a new president and a new pro-European government, this change feels now more possible than ever,” he added.

Leo found himself a place in Moldova. Since March 2022, he has been coordinator of a support group for transgender and gender non-conforming people and conducts training on SOGI [Sexual orientation and Gender Identity.]

“I am a coordinator of several projects focused on combating hate speech and prejudice towards the LGBT+ community, using audiovisual tools, and am a moderator of a Queer Cinema Club,” Leo says.

The activist told BIRN that he puts all his knowledge and skills into changing the mentalities and attitudes of society towards the community and towards empowering the community, especially the trans community, to be themselves and start raising their voices.

“The change of mentality is about happiness. Scientists have already proven that prejudice or other negative feelings towards a group or community leads to psychosomatic illness. Our happiness depends on how open we are to the diversity of this world,” he adds.

For the Moldovan LGBT community, which lives under enormous stress and fear, changing society’s mentality is crucial, stated Leo. This can prevent mental health issues, problems with adaptation to culture, suicide, and people fleeing the country, he stressed.

“Moldova is a small country and we cannot afford to lose citizens because of prejudices. Society must be changed, and it is entirely possible,” he says.

“The crucial role, in my opinion, is education on every level (formal, informal, non-formal ) – the stories we hear about the community from TV, radio, movies, influencers and politicians. Stories we hear at schools, church, and parents all shape our perceptions,” he adds.

Leo finds it shameful that Moldovan politicians are still trying to get political dividends by inciting hatred against the LGBT community.

“Moldova right now is in a challenging position. We didn’t eradicate the homophobia and transphobia we inherited from communist times. Simultaneously, we must battle the anti-LGBT narratives that have flourished in Europe in the last decade,” he says.

In his opinion, one answer to this threat is to focus on critical thinking education.

“Only this can help people see the facts and discern them from the disinformation that aims to divide us and create enemies of a group of people who are just living and loving, like anyone else,” he concludes.

Bulgaria: Extending Humanity to Refugees

Diana Dimova. Illustration by BIRN

Diana Dimova, head of Mission Wings, an NGO, from Stara Zagora, a town near Plovdiv – which had been helping both refugees from Asia and Ukraine, while also working on women’s empowerment and helping vulnerable families – was in the spotlight this year for her and her colleagues’ work.

In 2022, Bulgaria was a controversial point on the migrant route through the Balkans – there were arrests of people illegally entering the country, altercations between police and migrants, and most recently, reports of border police violence. Politicians have often listed the “unprecedented migrant pressure” as one of the major issues in the country.

Mission Wings, led by social worker Diana Dimova and based in Stara Zagora, is focused on empowerment and advocacy.

In 2022, it did charity events for Ukrainian refugees, a mentoring program in the small town of Harmanli for refugees from Southeast Asia and initiated workshops for women in a troubled financial state.

“Things seem to happen according to the capacity and capabilities of the activists and the organizations, but involvement by the state is missing in all of this,” Dimova told dnevnik.bg when her NGO started helping incoming Ukrainian refugees.

“As someone who has been working on the frontline with refugees for years, so far the government’s contributions have not been very clear, even to us who work in this sector.”

Mission Wings, along with another NGO, the Center for Legal Aid “Voice in Bulgaria”, are among organisations which helped the international joint investigation by Lighthouse Reports, Le Monde, Sky News, ARD, The Times and RFE Bulgaria on violence and shootings by Bulgarian police during pushbacks of migrants.

The reports, published on December 5, were denied by Bulgaria’s government.

Mission Wings were also one of the organisations involved in the demonstrations in Sofia in support of the protest movement in Iran.

On December 8, the organisation received one of the annual Human of the Year awards from the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

Mission Wings is also one of the NGOs demanding urgent amendments to the Law for Protection from Domestic Violence, mostly in terms of prevention of violence against women. For example, it wants victims to be given the option of protection programmes if she or he is in an intimate relationship that is not a marriage, and aggressors to be more seriously sanctioned.

The drafting of the amendments has been delayed by Bulgaria’s continuous political stalemate, however, and by the chaotic state of the parliament, worsened by the ousting of Kiril Petkov’s coalition in June.

Slovakia: LGBT Community Defender, after Murders Outside His Bar 

Roman Samotny. Illustration by BIRN

Once a boy from a small Slovak village coming to terms with his sexuality, Roman Samotny has for years known how important it is to encourage queer people not to live in fear and to live in truth, both reasons why he started Teplaren.

The bar became a safe haven for queer people in the capital Bratislava for years, but that all changed on an October night when a gunman shot two of his customers dead outside the bar.

Shattered by the news, Samotny could have simply closed the bar and avoided the media. Instead, the day after the attack, he decided to speak out about the horrors and hate that queer people in Slovakia have to endure every day.

“Many say that LGBT is an ideology. But I saw the blood of my loved ones on a pavement. I saw their shot bodies, not an ideology,” he said at the time, slamming politicians and the Catholic Church for their verbal attacks against the community.

After the attack, thousands took to the streets in support of the LGBT community, with Samotny there to read out the community’s demands for a better life in Slovakia, a country that still grants few rights to queer people.

And even though Teplaren remains closed, it has grown into a movement that organisations and venues around the country have joined by putting up rainbow stickers on their doors as a sign that they are safe spaces for queer people.

Asking people to nourish the message of Teplaren in their hearts as well, Samotny has said: “Each and every one of you can be Teplaren. Only together can we stop the hate, and love will win.”

Poland: Helpers of Ukrainian Refugees

There is hardly anyone living in Poland who has not at one time been involved in supporting Ukrainian refugees. Illustration by BIRN

According to the UNHCR, around 5 million Ukrainians have moved to Poland – whether to stay or move further West – since the war started in February.

There is hardly anyone living in Poland today who has not at one time been involved in supporting Ukrainian refugees: whether by hosting a refugee family, collecting clothes and food, helping Ukrainian families deal with paperwork, or aiding them in accessing education or the health system.

Poland’s inhabitants proved up to the task from the beginning: as soon as the war started and Ukrainians started showing up on the border, people spontaneously started driving there to pick up refugees and take them home.

Among those to offer quick help were Belarusians residing in Poland. Using their experience with helping compatriots flee the authoritarian regime of Aleksandr Lukashenko, Belarusian volunteers set up online databases bringing together hosts and refugees.

“So far, there was no need for big refugee camps to be built in Poland,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki famously wrote in a post published on March 7. “Poles have opened not only their hearts, but also the doors to their homes to fleeing refugees.”

Yet, arguably, the Polish state did not rise to the task of delivering systemic support to those Ukrainians who decided to stay in Poland. At the time of writing, Poland has ended free accommodation in refugee centres, while no significant solution for long-term housing of refugees has appeared.

Ukrainian children wanting to learn in Polish schools still have to rely mostly on the kindness of colleagues and teachers, with most schools unable to secure dedicated Ukrainian-speaking teaching staff.

Hungary: Teacher Sacrifices Job for Her Conscience

Katalin Torley. Illustration by BIRN

Katalin Torley, a teacher in a Budapest high school, was fired in October for participating in a civil disobedience movement. Since the ruling Fidesz party restricted teachers’ right to strike last spring, many, like Torley, have decided civil disobedience is the only way to make their voices heard.

But the government retaliated. “When I was told I was fired, I wept,” Torley told BIRN. “I was confused and deeply hurt, but at the same time I felt that we had finally triggered a reaction from the government; we managed to break the wall of silence.”

Torley had been teaching French in the same high school for 23 years. She has always been a teacher and wants to return to the classroom. She believes her dismissal was unlawful and disproportionate and is fighting her case in court. “I am not a martyr,” she says. “But Hungary’s education system is in a deep crisis. The country’s future is at stake. You can’t keep silent.”

Low salaries for teachers and a centralised education system prompted huge street protests in the autumn, unseen during the last decade of Fidesz government. Teachers, students and parents joined forces in a rare display of solidarity.

Torley says it was heart-warming to see the support of society. “I hope we can teach the younger generation that it is important to stand up for your values. Being a citizen is much more than voting every four years: you have to engage in public life and shape your future,” she says.

She does not regret anything. For now, she works for an education-related foundation and is encouraged by her family and two sons to continue her fight. But she is also a realist: “This government resists dialogue. Teachers will get some pay rise but modernisation and the democratisation of the education system is simply incompatible with the current regime.”

Czechia: Firefighters Who Battled Historic Inferno

Czechia’s firefighters this year battled the worst forest fires in the nation’s history. Illustration by BIRN

While many of their compatriots spent the summer sunning themselves in far-flung holiday spots to make up for two years of pandemic-limited travel, Czechia’s firefighters were sweating it out at home as they battled the worst forest fire in the nation’s history.

Breaking out on July 23, a wildfire in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park rapidly spread amid red hot temperatures and winds that blew the smoke over 90 kilometres to Prague. Around 1,600 hectares of the iconic pine forest, which grows amid sandstone cliffs, gorges and canyons on the north-west border with Germany, was affected. Total damages surpassed 1 billion koruna, or 41 million euros.

It took three weeks for a force of 6,300 professional and voluntary firefighters, army and police armed with 400 pieces of equipment, to extinguish the blaze. Alongside Czechia’s own emergency services, help came from Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.

“The fire in Hrensko was unprecedented in our country in terms of size, equipment used and deployment of firefighters and police officers,” said Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, noting “the extraordinary commitment of the emergency services”.

Fire-fighting aircraft buzzed the blaze while helicopters carried water from the nearby Elbe River to disperse it into the inferno. Hundreds of locals and tourists were evacuated as emergency services scrambled to preserve the Pravcicka Brana archway, one of Europe’s most striking rock formations. Despite the wind dictating an erratic course, there were no deaths. However, dozens of firefighters were injured, with falls and insect bites among the causes. On August 12, Rakusan declared the fire fully extinguished.

Vladimir Vlcek, director general of the Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic, praised his firefighters, stating that they had “pushed themselves to the limits, and some to the end of their strength, yet they persevered for many days, undaunted by the very complicated situation in the national park or the sweltering heat.”

Lamenting that he could not personally express his gratitude to everyone involved in fighting the blaze, Prime Minister Petr Fiala awarded medals to 60 representatives of the fire service, military, police and local government. He also promised to raise the budgets of the emergency services.