Bringing hope and joy: superheroes for children with cancer in Kosovo

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Superheroes like Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Super Mario, Superwoman, Captain America, Bumble Bees and the Flash became a powerful symbol of renewal to children on Friday who are battling grave cancer illnesses in Kosovo.

As the year draws to a close, many families eagerly anticipate the joy and togetherness of New Year’s festivities. Yet, for seven children, part of the 49 cancer patients admitted this year, battling leukemia and other types of cancer in a hospital ward in the capital Pristina, this season comes with uncertainty, fear, and hardship.

However, a remarkable initiative involving “superheroes” clad in unique costumes brought unexpected joy — not only to the children but also, perhaps even more deeply, to their parents.

“That is a very nice initiative which enjoys us so much,” said mother Blerta Sahiti.

The hospital setting, often associated with clinical sterility and emotional struggles, transformed into a place of wonder and laughter when volunteers dressed as beloved superheroes climbed down in ropes to take gifts to the children.

Their mission was simple: to bring joy, hope, and a moment of respite to the children and their families.

“The children love such personalities. They dream of them every day,” said Rufadie Macastena Maxhuni, a doctor at the ward. “That is such a great joy.”

Each superhero wore distinct costumes, adding a personalized touch to their appearances. They were not just characters from comic books but symbols of courage, strength, and resilience — the very traits these young fighters exhibit every day.

“You can hardly describe with words these special special feeling (we receive),” said Berat Kajtazi, who has played Captain America in the last four years.

For the children, the arrival of these heroes meant stepping into a world beyond IV drips, chemotherapy sessions, and endless tests. Their faces lit up with delight as they received thoughtfully chosen gifts and shared hugs with their favorite characters.

—-

Semini reported from Tirana, Albania

A patient with his mother walks back to his room after Kosovo alpinists disguised as super-heroes brought gifts in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Children dressed as superheroes watch Kosovo alpinists disguised as super-heroes of modern times delivering New Year's gifts to children patients in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 20124. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

A mother holds her child from a hospital balcony to see Kosovo alpinists disguised as super-heroes of modern times descending with ropes from a hospital roof offering gifts to little children in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Children dressed as superheroes watch Kosovo alpinists disguised as super-heroes of modern times delivering New Year's gifts to children patients in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

A child dressed as a superhero poses with a Kosovo alpinist disguised as super-heroes of modern times delivering New Year's gifts to children patients in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 20124. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovo alpinists disguised as super-heroes of modern times delivers New Year's gifts and makes a love sign with a patient wearing a mask in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Kosovo alpinists disguised as super-heroes of modern times deliver New Year's gifts to kindergarden children and patients in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

A child dressed as a superhero poses with a Kosovo alpinist disguised as super-heroes of modern times delivering New Year's gifts to children patients in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 20124. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Children dressed as superheroes greet Kosovo alpinists disguised as super-heroes of modern times delivering New Year's gifts to children patients in Pristina hospital on Friday, Dec. 13, 20124. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

ROME (AP) — The Council of Europe's anti-torture committee on Friday released a report criticizing Italy’s treatment of migrants in local detention centers, citing cases of physical ill-treatment, excessive force and the use of psychotropic drugs on detainees.

The report by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) follows an April visit to four migrant detention and repatriation centers in Milan, Gradisca, Potenza and Rome.

Under Italian law, these centers are aimed at hosting migrants who try to enter the country without a visa, are not entitled to apply for asylum and are deemed “socially dangerous” by law enforcement.

The report details instances of “interventions" in the detention facilities, known as CPRs, and identifies shortcomings including “the absence of any rigorous and independent monitoring of such interventions and the lack of an accurate recording of injuries" sustained by detainees.

Italy has in the past defended the role of these centers as a deterrent to surging illegal migration, noting that some “prison elements” are necessary to prevent escapes from these facilities.

The far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni has also tried to export the Italian model abroad, sealing a contentious agreement with Albania to build and run two migrant holding centers in the eastern country.

The deal, however, has faced legal hurdles and has been suspended by Italian magistrates in its early stages.

In its report Friday, the CPT was also critical of the “widespread practice" of administering unprescribed psychotropic drugs to detainees in Potenza, one of the four centers visited.

The report also highlights “the prolonged handcuffing of persons apprehended on the territory during their transfer to a (holding facility).”

In its report, the anti-torture watchdog recommended Italy to remove the “carceral elements” from the centers and to ensure their proper maintenance, notably the sanitary facilities.

It also showed the critical lack of activities offered to migrants held in the centers, with minimal efforts to offer them “a few activities of a recreational nature.”

The report concludes that the committee's findings, “notably in relation to the very poor material conditions, the absence of a regime of activities, the disproportionate security approach, the variable quality of health care provision and the lack of transparency of the management of CPRs by private contractors,” call into question the application of such a model by Italy in an extra-territorial setting, such as in Albania.

The February death of a young detainee at Rome’s Ponte Galeria center brought renewed attention to the harsh conditions inside these de facto jails for migrants, which have been condemned by lawyers and activists as “black holes” of human rights violations.

From 2019 to 2024, at least 13 people had died — five by suicide — inside Italy’s detention centers, according to activists and aid groups. Hundreds of suicide attempts and self-harm incidents have also been reported.

The Italian government believes the detention centers, which were established in 1999, are essential to reduce the number of migrants risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean and reach Europe.

In 2023, the government extended the maximum detention period from 90 days to 18 months.

In response to Friday's report, Italian authorities indicated that the described cases of physical ill-treatment “have not been the subject of criminal investigations and that several inspections have been carried out by the health authorities at the Potenza CPR in relation to the practice of allegedly widespread over-medication of detained persons.”

In this image made available on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, by CompassCollective, rescuers attend to an 11-year-old girl from Sierra Leone who was found floating in the Mediterranean Sea off Italy's southernmost Lampedusa island, and is believed to be the only survivor of a shipwrecked migrant boat that had departed from the port of Sfax in Tunisia. (AP Photo/CompassCollective, HO)

A woman, one of some 258 people, including Syrians, Egyptians, Bangladeshi, and South Sudanese, saved from the sea in two different rescue operations on Friday is disembarked in Salerno, southern Italy, from the Doctors Without Borders search and rescue ship Geo Barents Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Paolo Santalucia, File)

FILE - Detainees gather in an open area of the Ponte Galeria center, one of the facilities created in Italy to hold migrants ahead of their repatriation, as they are considered ineligible for refugee status or international protection, in Rome, Italy, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

A volunteer walks in an open area of the Ponte Galeria center, one of the facilities created in Italy to detain migrants ahead of their repatriation, as they are considered ineligible for refugee status or international protection, in Rome, Italy, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)