Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has suffered incessant air raids and drone strikes, disrupting daily life and endangering security.

Ahead of International Migration Day on December 18Elvira explains how art and the quiet power of creativity helped her get through three tumultuous years.

As kyiv bears the weight of war, in the showroom of Crimean Tatar ceramicist Elvira Demerdzhi, her ceramics offer a fragile refuge and reminder of home.

Crimean roots

Elvira’s story begins long before she shapes her first piece of clay. Her mother, pregnant with her, returned to Crimea from Uzbekistan in 1989 as Crimean Tatars returned home after decades of exile.

Her grandmother, deported at the age of nine in 1944, is the only survivor of her family.

Elvira Demerdzhi produces vessels inspired by traditional Crimean Tatar ceramics.

Elvira’s great-grandfather, who fought against Nazi Germany at the time, was later exiled and reunited with her years later.

The family rebuilt their lives in Crimea, where Elvira grew up, free to roam the southern coast from which she had once been torn away.

Before turning to ceramics, Elvira worked for twelve years as a professional dancer and performer.

Russian annexation of Crimea

After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, she lost her home and her displacement pushed her toward new forms of expression. Drawn to something more stable, she enrolled in a private ceramics workshop in kyiv and set out to learn everything she could, including how to run a business.

Clay has become both a craft and a form of self-discovery. “When I was displaced after the annexation, I began to study the lands of the Crimean Tatars and realized how little we knew about our homelands. »

For Elvira, each piece is anchored in the places she carries within her, reflecting the landscapes and memories of her childhood and her identity.

His workshop, “Aqyar Ceramics,” is named after the Crimean Tatar city of his hometown, Sevastopol. While traditional Crimean Tatar pottery is known for its colorful floral ornaments, Elvira chose a modern, minimalist approach. She works mainly with stone clay.

Elvira Demerdzhi sells her work through her brand Aqyar Ceramics.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Elvira sought temporary refuge in the Netherlands. She could have stayed, but returning to kyiv seemed necessary because it was her home.

In October 2025 alone, Russia launched 269 missiles at Ukraine, the highest number recorded in the first ten months of the year, according to official figures. After such intense bombing periods, sales often drop sharply.

IOM Business Support

“Crafts need stability and, for now, I can only dream of having that for my business,” said Elvira.

Even so, some days bring small signs of progress.

Military families attend his master classes, appreciating the concentration and calm that clay requires. Customers are looking for meaningful gifts. Restaurants and hotels place orders for handmade tableware.

This year, Elvira received a business grant from International Organization for Migration (IOM), which allowed him to purchase additional equipment and materials. With the grandmother, she was able to collaborate with other ceramicists and take on large orders.

Elvira Demerdzhi offers dishes that reflect her Crimean Tatar roots.

Between 2022 and 2025, IOM helped more than 1,800 Ukrainian micro and small businesses stay afloat despite the pressures of a war economy.

Rebuilding her business is only part of Elvira’s life. She is also raising her six-year-old son, hoping to pass on their Crimean Tatar heritage when he is ready.

“He knows where he comes from, but I want to protect him a little longer,” she said.

Between Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia, the cultural year 2025 showed a creative, plural and very lively Belgium – but also more attentive to questions of financing, access and cohesion.

Summary. In 2025, Belgian culture continued to do what it does best: mix languages, scenes and audiences. Brussels has played the heritage and design card (with a strong return of art deco), while remaining a crossroads for contemporary art, comics and cinema. The major festivals have confirmed the country’s place on the European map, from Boom to Dour and Kiewit. But the year was also marked by very concrete debates: subsidies, political stability and public access to an offer that is intended to be “for everyone”.

Brussels, cultural showcase and urban laboratory

In the capital, 2025 has put heritage back at the center of the conversation. The city is told in geometric lines, gilding, glass and modernity: the “art deco year” has multiplied the meetings, with exhibitions and tours which place Brussels in the European history of the style of the 1920s and 1930s. The BELvue museum, for example, highlighted art deco both as a luxury… and as a production that had become accessible to a rapidly changing middle class.

Brussels also continued to do what it has been doing “at home” for a long time: juxtaposing the very institutional and the very popular. A weekend of free jazz on the squares, a large contemporary art fair at Brussels Expo, and — a few metro stations away — smaller venues where new formats are tested, from performance to stand-up, from documentary to hybrid concert.

In this landscape, large houses remain landmarks. At BOZAR, the exhibition Khoros by Berlinde De Bruyckere (presented from February 21 to August 31, 2025) illustrated a strong trend: Belgian artists visible internationally, but also shown “at home”, in a program which assumes the dialogue between contemporary, art history and broad audiences.

Contemporary art: Brussels confirms its place

On the market and the stage, Brussels has continued its transformation: less “city of passage” than before, more a rear base for galleries, artists and collectors. The fair Art Brussels has, in 2025, insisted on discovery and the unprecedented, with a strong international presence, while maintaining a Belgian anchorage. The recipe works because it marries the local DNA: a city where we go from French to Dutch (and English) without the creation apologizing for being multiple.

Living scenes: when Brussels “becomes a school”

The performing arts also set the tone. Kunstenfestivaldesarts celebrated its 30th^e edition from May 9 to 31, 2025, recalling that Brussels is not only an administrative capital: it is a city of theater, dance and performance, where the international is experienced on a daily basis.

And when the end of May comes, the music comes outside. THE Brussels Jazz Weekend (from May 23 to 25, 2025) has maintained its formula: free concerts, large squares and small stages, mixing of generations — a simple way of making culture “practical,” without unnecessary barriers.

A summer of festivals: from Boom to Dour, from Kiewit to… everywhere

Belgium confirmed in 2025 that it remains a country of festivals — in the broad sense, and not just for those in the know. Summer is a cultural geography in itself: we cross provinces as we cross styles.

• Tomorrowland at Boom (two weekends, July 18 to 20 and July 25 to 27, 2025) recalled its power of global attraction. The edition was marked by a spectacular event: the fire which destroyed the main stage a few days before the opening, without causing any injuries, and the continuation of the festival with adapted solutions.
• Dour Festival (from July 16 to 20, 2025) continued to defend a “big gap” programming, capable of aligning electronic music, rap, rock and experiments, with a very Belgian identity: open, without snobbery.
• Pukkelpop in Kiewit (Hasselt), from August 14 to 17, 2025, continued its tradition: diversity of stages, big names and discoveries, and logistics designed for large crowds — including via event trains.

Alongside these behemoths, Belgian culture 2025 has also been told through “neighborhood” and diaspora festivals, which make a clear difference in inclusion and representation. In Brussels, for example, the Afrodisiac Festival (Bois de la Cambre) highlighted the creativity of the African diaspora, between music, gastronomy and workshops, in a city where culture is also written with communities.

Cinema and comics: two Belgian signatures that never go out of fashion

Belgium 2025 is also a cultural identity that comes through images: on the big screen and in the bubbles. THE Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF) was held from June 20 to 28, 2025, confirming Brussels’ place as a showcase for European and French-speaking cinema, but also as a place for public debates around contemporary stories.

In Ghent, Film Fest Gent (from October 8 to 19, 2025) announced a structuring novelty: the introduction of Flanders Film Days ahead of the festival, a sign of a sector that wants to combine creation, industry and international visibility. The 2025 list confirmed the attention paid to social issues, with a Grand Prize awarded to The Voice of Hind Rajab (Kaouther Ben Hania), according to the festival.

And then, obviously, there are comics — a shared national pride, from Brussels to Charleroi, from Liège to the coast. THE BD Comic Strip Festival has, in 2025, brought the public together around exhibitions, meetings and prizes, reminding us that comics are not just a heritage: it is also a creative industry and a common language between generations.

The crux of the matter: budgets, stability, access

This picture would be incomplete without the question that arises everywhere in Europe – and “a fortiori” in Belgium: how do we finance culture, and with what priorities?

In 2025, several signals showed increasing nervousness. In Flanders, the decision on the allocation of socio-cultural subsidies (for continuing education and community life organizations) was postponed, fueling a public debate on the role and legitimacy of this funding. In Brussels, the long regional political impasse has also weighed on the ecosystem, creating uncertainty over certain allocations and the continuity of projects. In a federal country, culture depends a lot on the levels of power: when the machine seizes up, the structures — especially the smallest — quickly feel it.

For cultural actors, the challenge is twofold: guaranteeing ambitious creation, and maintaining real accessibility (price, mobility, dissemination, mediation). In short: prevent culture from becoming a luxury. As such, free or very affordable formats (open-air jazz, heritage trails, neighborhood festivals) remain a Belgian strength in 2025 — and a real social choice.

A “Belgian style” Belgian culture: plural, close, and not always in agreement

Belgian culture, in 2025, cannot be reduced to a postcard image. It is made of compromises, frictions, translations and cohabitations. It’s sometimes complicated, but it’s also an asset: you can live twenty minutes from a major exhibition, an electro scene, a theater festival or a comic book meeting. And, “once”, that is perhaps the true Belgian singularity: a cultural density which forces you to choose… even when you would really like to do everything in a single week (or even over seventy-two hours).

KINGNEWSWIRE // PRESS RELEASE // Scientology-related European Community Initiatives mark final quarter of 2025 with clean-up operations, drug prevention actions and human rights education programs

The report highlights the local activities of volunteers in Italy, France, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Switzerland between October and December 2025.

BRUSSELS, Belgium — December 17, 2025 — During the last quarter of 2025, volunteer groups linked to the Church of Scientology and its long-standing initiatives for social betterment reported on a series of community projects across Europeranging from environmental cleanup to awareness-raising on evidence-based drug prevention to human rights education activities aimed at fostering civic participation and social cohesion.

Community cleaning and hands-on civic service

In the Czech Republic, Volunteer Ministers associated with the Church of Scientology reported on more than 40 community activities during the month of October in Prague, Brno, Plzeň and Pelhřimov, combining the restoration of public spaces and support for local charities. Reported efforts included weekly volunteer shifts and a larger-scale cleanup in Brno that organizers said helpedeliminate a significant amount of waste and restore green spaces neglected; volunteers also described collecting and delivering clothing donations to a Catholic charity in a practical cooperation meeting local needs.

In Turin, Italy, organizers described the weekly Sunday cleanups around the former Dora station as a sustainable neighborhood initiative that has spread to several northern neighborhoods (including Borgo Vittoria and Barriera di Milano). The activity was coordinated by the civic association Procivicos and presented as combining environmental action and community values, with reference to The Way to Happinessa secular moral code written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Switzerland also features in the quarter’s activity reports, notably with community initiatives linked to the campaign The Way to Happiness and at related local events, where volunteers reported promoting civic responsibility and respectful behavior as part of everyday community improvement.

Drug prevention education and local awareness

In France, Drug-Free World volunteers reported an intensification of their awareness-raising activities during the month of October, describing their engagement with parents, educators, traders and healthcare professionals in several regions. Reported activities include the distribution of more than a thousand educational brochures through local businesses in Brittany, broader outreach in the west of France (including among pharmacists and municipal workers), and additional activities in the Loire and Rhône-Alpes regions. The organizers also describedsignificant distribution efforts in Reims, as well as awareness-raising actions in Paris, Bordeaux, Agen, Toulouse, Nice, Belfort and Marseille, often using displays in store windows and conversations in the street in order to make prevention materials accessible to the public.

In Denmark, a youth-led awareness initiative said it had mobilized more than 500 traders in Copenhagen to display and distribute drug education leaflets, with teams of volunteers aged 10 to 20 years old. The same report linked these efforts to broader trends identified in a 2025 publication from the Danish Drug Research Center, which found a decline in the proportion of young people aged 15 to 25 who had used cannabis (from 44.0% in 2014 to 31.6% in 2025), as well as other reductions in reported substance use over time.

In Lugano, Switzerland, organizers also reported public visibility in drug prevention linked to a major local running event in October, taking the opportunity to raise awareness among families and participants about prevention and informed choices.

Education and dialogue on human rights

In Milan, a gathering on human rights organized by the association Diritti Umani and Tolleranza at the Church of Scientology in Milan brought together representatives of the community, including members of the communities Latin American and African from northern Italyfor training and dialogue around the Universal Declaration of human rights (DUDH). Organizers said participants completed a structured course based on the United for Human Rights educational program, intended for use in schools, youth settings and neighborhood initiatives.

At the international level, the Palais des Nations in Geneva hosted the conference “Human Rights and Peace – Better Together”, promoted by theOrganized by the Directors of the Society and the Tolleranza (an NGO which has had consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council since 2017) and organized around the Human Rights Day. The program highlighted the role of education and cross-sectoral cooperation in strengthening social inclusion and preventing discrimination, with sessions dedicated to freedom of thought, conscience and belief, as well as the practical application of human rights instruments in public life.

More broadly, across Europe, Scientology-related human rights initiatives have described the continued dissemination of educational materials on the UDHR through partner programs such as Youth for Human Rights, positioning human rights knowledge as a tool for prevention against discrimination and fragmentation social.

Ivan Arjona-Pelado, Representative of the Church of Scientology to the EU, OSCE, Council of Europe and UN, offered the following commentary for use in this quarterly summary:

“European values ​​are strengthened when citizens choose to take responsibility in concrete ways, by keeping public spaces clean, sharing evidence-based prevention tools and teaching the next generation that rights and dignity apply to all. Social cohesion is strengthened through coherent local action. »

Context: the social programs behind the activities

The initiatives mentioned in this quarterly summary build on long-standing campaigns supported by Scientologists and partner associations, including: drug prevention education (using the material “The Truth About Drugs”), human rights education based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through United for Human Rights And Youth for Human RightsScientology Volunteer Ministers during natural disasters, and community civic and ethical initiatives related to The Way to Happiness. These programs are presented by organizers as secular educational tools used in public settings (schools, community groups and neighborhood initiatives), alongside local volunteering and dialogue efforts.

The Church of Scientology, its missions, groups and members are present throughout the European continent, and its recognition as a charitable and authentic religion continues to grow. Throughout Europe, Scientologists and their associated civic partners participate in education, prevention and community improvement efforts, including through drug prevention information, human rights education, values ​​andservice activities local activities led by volunteers.

The high-level meeting marked the conclusion of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20), a process launched in the early 2000s to guide global cooperation on digital development, access and inclusion, at a time when the Internet was just beginning to become an essential part of daily life.

Two decades later, delegates said the challenge was no longer simply getting people online, but ensuring digital technologies – including AI – were governed in a way that protected human rights, built trust and closed widening digital divides.

Why the summit is important

The WSIS was established in 2003 to help countries work together on the opportunities and risks posed by information and communications technologies, or ICTs.

It brought together governments, businesses, civil society and technical experts – a multi-stakeholder approach that remains at the heart of digital governance today.

At this year’s review, participants reflected on the extent to which digital tools now shape the economy, education, healthcare and daily life, while warning that millions remain excluded.

An overview of the General Assembly meeting on the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society.

Digital divides are widening

In her speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday, its president, Annalena Baerbock, said that internet access has become essential – from telemedicine in remote villages to online education and digital financial services – but that progress is slow.

While global internet access affects about two-thirds of the world’s population, she noted that in developing countries it is much lower and women and girls continue to be disproportionately left behind.

“Two decades later, our shared vision of a human-centered, inclusive and development-oriented information society remains unrealized,” she said.

She warned that access alone was not enough, highlighting the need for responsible governance of emerging technologies such as AI, especially as innovation often moves faster than regulation.

New priorities

The meeting concluded with the adoption of an outcome document reaffirming countries’ commitment to a people-centered digital future based on human rights and the principles of United Nations Charter.

The text calls for faster action to close the digital divide, increased investment in digital infrastructure and skills, and more predictable policy environments to support digital development. It also highlights the importance of reliable data and AI governance, building on commitments already made under the Global digital compact.

Member States encouraged stronger international partnerships on AI capacity building, particularly for developing countries, including training programs, access to resources and support for small businesses.

The document also notes plans to create an independent international scientific panel on AI and launch a global dialogue on AI governance in 2026.

Delegates at a WSIS high-level meeting in Geneva in 2016.

People in the center

Throughout the process, speakers emphasized that governments cannot shape the digital future alone. The result strengthens the approach that brings together governments, industry, civil society and the world of technology.

International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin said WSIS was born from the belief that digital innovation must reflect human needs, while the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Associate Administrator Haoliang Xu described the review as a time to both recognize progress and chart a path forward.

This human-centered message has also spread beyond the trading floor.

Creative and inclusive: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Talk to UN News On the sidelines of the meeting, actor and filmmaker Joseph Gordon-Levitt reflected on the human side of digital transformation, focusing on creativity, inclusion and shared responsibility to shape healthier digital spaces as technology becomes increasingly integrated into daily life.

“What inspires me about the UN and the community I have met here is that, although it is an uphill battle – a David and Goliath dynamic – people are trying to work not just for a dollar, but to help, to make the world a better place, often to support the most vulnerable in the Global South,” he said.

Speaking has UN News During a visit to U.N. headquarters in New York, Gwyn Lewis, acting resident and U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, said global attention had shifted elsewhere even as conditions inside the country continued to deteriorate.

“The crisis in Myanmar is almost invisible,” she said. “There is definitely a feeling in the country that this has been forgotten.»

His comments come as the United Nations and its humanitarian partners warn that Myanmar’s needs will continue to rise in 2026, with limited resources forcing painful choices about who can be helped.

A crisis that has been brewing for years

Since the military takeover in 2021, Myanmar has been plagued by growing armed conflict, repeated natural disasters and economic collapse. Fighting and disasters have already displaced around 3.6 million people, and this figure is expected to rise to around four million next year.

Earlier this month, the UN released its Response plan and humanitarian needs 2026estimating that more than 16 million people – including five million children – will need life-saving assistance and protection in 2026.

Lewis said many families have been forced to leave their homes not only because of the fighting, but also because of a powerful earthquake earlier this year and severe monsoon flooding, leaving people in overcrowded and unsanitary shelters with limited access to food, clean water and health care.

“The scale, severity and complexity of the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar are very, very high,” she said.

Children walk through a flooded displacement camp near the city of Mandalay, north-central Myanmar, after heavy monsoon rains (April 2025).

Hunger and difficult choices

Food insecurity is one of the most pressing concerns. The United Nations World Food Program (PAM) has warned that more than 12 million people in Myanmar will face acute hunger in 2026, and around one million are expected to reach emergency levels requiring immediate assistance.

More than 400,000 young children and mothers already suffer from acute malnutrition and survive on a nutrient-poor diet.

“Conflict and deprivation converge to deprive people of basic means of survival, but the world is not paying attention.“, said Michael Dunford, WFP Country Director.

Financing gaps

The lack of funding is making the crisis worse. By 2025, only about a quarter of the funds required under the humanitarian plan have been received, leaving millions of people without assistance. As a result, humanitarian partners plan to target 4.9 million of the most vulnerable people in 2026, compared to 6.7 million targeted this year.

“We weren’t able to deliver food to everyone we wanted to,” Ms Lewis said. “Families were forced to make impossible choices. »

Access blocked by conflict

Beyond financing, access remains a major challenge.

Ms Lewis warned that Myanmar’s fragmented conflict – involving the military and many armed ethnic groups – often prevents aid workers from reaching communities in need.

Active fighting, checkpoints, road closures and administrative delays regularly slow or block humanitarian deliveries, particularly in remote and frontline areas. Political tensions and upcoming elections could further restrict access.

Families affected by the earthquake receive food aid at a WFP distribution site in the Sagaing region.

A call not to look away

Despite dwindling resources and growing insecurity, humanitarian partners reached around five million people in the first nine months of 2025, although their assistance is often limited in depth and frequency.

Ms Lewis stressed that much more needed to be done to prevent further suffering.

“Behind each number is a person trying to survive a crisis they did not choose,” she said. “We simply cannot allow this to happen again next year.»

Calling on donors and governments to refocus their attention on Myanmar, she urged the international community not to look away.

“The suffering is very deep…and the people of Myanmar deserve to be heard and seen.»

Current estimates place the total damage and losses at between $8 billion and $15 billion, or almost a quarter of Jamaica’s gross domestic product (GDP), said Dennis Zulu, United Nations resident coordinator for Jamaica, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The hurricane affected more than 626,000 people and left 45,000 dead, highlighting its heavy human toll.

Despite notable progress in recovery efforts, 90 emergency shelters are still operational, hosting nearly 950 people who have not yet returned home.

Communities left exposed

Entire communities are still totally exposed, with at least 120,000 buildings – mostly in southwest Jamaica – having lost their roofs, Mr Zulu reported.

Hurricane Melissa triggered “prolonged” and “cascading” disruptions to essential services, the resident coordinator added.

“Western parishes remained without electricity for weeks. »

In addition, many children are out of school due to the extensive damage caused to educational institutions.

About 450 schools, nearly two-thirds of all institutions nationwide, reported significant impacts, including roof loss, structural failure and other damage.

An unprecedented scale of destruction

The tourism industry and agricultural production – once cornerstones of Jamaica’s economy and main sources of employment – ​​have suffered significant damage, putting thousands of jobs and livelihoods at risk, further compounding the pressure.

“This scale of destruction is not only unprecedented, but it has also reversed hard-won development gains in a country that was firmly on a positive social and economic trajectory,” Mr. Zulu stressed.

Despite these challenges, the United Nations continues to work closely with the Jamaican Government, national institutions, civil society and international partners, to provide lifesaving assistance to the most vulnerable communities.

Immediate priorities for recovery:

• Restore health services at safe and fully functional operating levels.
• Support the education sectorespecially as schools prepare to reopen.
• Help restore essential community services for areas still without access.
• Contribute to repair and reconstruction homes, roads and critical infrastructure.
• Restoring livelihoods through targeted support to small farmers, fishermen and micro and small businesses
• Strengthening the agricultural sector to improve food production, food security and rural employment.
• Supporting the tourism sector as a key employer and source of foreign exchange to save jobs and accelerate the recovery.
• Ensure recovery efforts are inclusive, climate resilient and risk-informedenabling Jamaica to build back stronger and better than before.