On 24 February, our Advocacy and Policy Coordinator gave a presentation on Syria and the responsibility to protect to Juris North, an academic discussion group based in Manchester Metropolitan University.
A group of Syrian women met on 24 February to discuss community initiatives that they are planning. They have already started a project to collect clothes for Syria, and another one to help new Syrians integrate into their new communities. This group is now working on building a database of Syrians in Manchester and scoping out the needs of this group.
Our monthly seminar for February 2016 was titled 'How to Make our Voices Heard' and was delivered by our Advocacy Coordinator Yasmine Nahlawi. Yasmine went through a number of cases which illustrated how collective and effective action works in reality, highlighting that advocacy and lobbying needs to be planned, organised, and persistent.
On 21 February, our Refugee Support Coordinator Amaf Yousef participated in a walk held by Rural Refugee Support Network in Petersfield, which gathered donations to support the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the area.
Rethink Rebuild Society was one of the organisations interviewed in an article in 'The World Weekly' examining the issue of civilian protection.
Clare Politics, Cambridge University Amnesty International and POLIS organised a seminar at the University of Cambridge under the title: "Syria is not a civil war: a personal experience" on Tuesday 16 February 2016.
We contributed an article on Syria to the Liberal Democrats' February 2016 publication of the Inter-Lib. This article was effectively a summary of the presentation we gave in the Lib-Dem conference of 9 January 2016, in which we stressed that civilian protection lies at the heart of any solution to Syria.
Our Refugee Support Coordinator Amaf Yousef participated as a speaker at "Resettling Syrian Refugees : Delivering a multi-agency Resettlement programme in the East Midlands" held in BioCity, Nottingham on 11 February.
Rethink Rebuild Society attended an evidence session on the UK military policy in Syria organised by the APPG Friends of Syria on Tuesday 9th February 2016.
We had the honour of meeting with members of the High Negotiations Committee, including Riad Hijab, George Sabra, and Salem al-Meslet on 9 February 2016. We listened to their impressions on the developments in Syria and presented them with our policy document and with our statement of support for them when they were negotiating in Geneva.
Rethink Rebuild Society
First Floor
Discovery House
Crossley Road
Manchester
SK4 5BH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 161 222 9779
Mobile: +44 7730 194083