We attended a session on 24 November with Charles Farr, Director General for the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, who discussed the Prevent and Channel programmes and took questions from the audience. Both Muslim and Jewish members of the audience expressed concern regarding rising levels of hate crime in the UK and asked for more Government work on that.
We held a 'Voices from Syria' presentation at the University of Liverpool on Monday 23 November 2015. We presented to a very engaging audience and clarified the Syrian conflict through personal narratives.
Thank you to Liverpool's Amnesty International Student Group who organised the event.
In light of the Paris attacks, we issued a briefing to MP’s to remind them that Assad is the root cause of the Syrian conflict and that his actions should not be overshadowed by those of ISIS. We also urged MP’s to adopt a comprehensive approach to Syrian policy, with civilian protection at its heart.
Jeff Smith MP published a blog post on 19 November on the Parliamentary event at which he hosted us to launch our policy document. Jeff stressed in his post that it is important for policy makers to listen to Syrian voices when formulating any policy on Syria. We hope to continue working with Jeff to bring our voices to Parliament and to influence UK policy on Syria.
A number of Syrian groups across the country issued a joint statement in The Guardian on 15 November condemning the recent Paris attacks yet reminding of the ever-increasing threat that the Assad regime's actions have upon the rest of the world.
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