We attended a conference on Community Action and Social Power on 19 May 2016, where we met a delegation of social workers, youth workers and community workers from Sweden. We were able to share best practice to address the challenges faced by refugees and also to learn best practices from Sweden that we can implement here.
British Syrian organisations released a statement on 19 May regarding the recent statement by the ISSG calling on the World Food Programme (WFP) ‘to immediately carry out a program for air bridges and air drops for all areas in need’ if by 1 June there has been no progress on the humanitarian situation in Syri
Rethink Rebuild Society helped with the writing and dissemination of the following open letter by British Syrian activist Farah Alfarhan. Farah lived for 27 years in Aleppo and was detained by the Assad regime and endured torture for 35 days while in detention. Her open letter urged Prime Minister David Cameron to take action on Syria.
A group of Syrian community of Manchester attended a social gathering organised by the Syrian community in Nottingham on Saturday 14 May 2016. About 20 families attended the lovely event and were amused by the different activities included in the programme.
As part of a group of Syrian community and advocacy organisations in the UK, we submitted a letter to the UK Ambassador to the UK on 15 May expressing gratitude for Canada's stance on accepting Syrian refugees, and also expressing solidarity with the Canadian people in light of the wildfire disaster in the province of Alberta.
We issued a press release on 14 May to highlight the dire situation in Daraya, whereby the Assad regime continues to violate the ceasefire despite the complete adherence of the city to this ceasefire. Through the press release, we were able to put activists on the ground in touch with Channel 4 to produce the below report.
A group from the Syrian community of Manchester attended the fundraising event for the British Muslim Heritage Centre held at the centre's Marquee on Friday 6 May 2016.
The well attended event included presentations abut the BMHC and its contribution for the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.
A group of Syrian civil society organisations submitted a letter to President Obama on 6 May calling upon him to take urgent action towards the situation in Aleppo. We stressed 'that peace cannot be brokered while innocent civilians are being slaughtered' and implored him to 'take the measures needed to protect civilians from indiscriminate aerial strikes across Syria'.
We were at the 'Stories of Conflict, Migration and Place' event on Wednesday 4th May hosted by Community Arts North West and Platforma. We attended a very useful workshop on how to write scripts to make effective videos. We also saw a series of short videos in the morning that people had caught on their mobiles, showing different stories from the Syrian conflict.
