Parliament will be voting on WEDNESDAY 2 DECEMBER on whether to join the US-led Coalition. We need to act NOW to let our MPs know that an ISIL-only approach is flawed and will do nothing to help the situation in Syria, nor to combat terrorism.
On 30 November, Prime Minister David Cameron made the case for carrying out UK airstrikes in Syria. Rethink Rebuild issued a briefing countering some of Cameron’s points, which were flawed and will risk worsening the situation in Syria. We believe that civilian protection needs to be the primary focus of any policy towards Syria.
On 29 November 2015, in collaboration with Active Care Solution (ACS) we held an event in our multi-facility room to provide information on the process of fostering children in the UK. RR explained in a short talk why Syrians are fleeing Syria. Then Kauthar Tai gave a short talk to a full house about fostering and adoption in Islam.
On 28 November our Refugee Support Coordinator attended a workshop with CitizensUK as they are preparing leaders from all around the UK to campaign for increasing the number of resettled Syrian refugees to reach 50,000 by 2020.
Dear David Cameron,
As Syrians residents in the UK we have watched the rise of ISIL with greater horror than many others in the world. That is because it is our people in Syria who are on the front lines of ISIL’s brutality. It is in the central square of our beloved city Raqqa that ISIL displays the severed heads of Syrian civilians and claims its capital.
Rethink Rebuild was interviewed by Sam Walker of BBC Radio Manchester on 27 November. We made the point that targeting ISIL specifically is not a sustainable solution because even if ISIS is wiped out, more radicalised groups will simply take its place. We argued for a more comprehensive approach to the Syria crisis.
Rethink Rebuild was honoured to speak at a fundraising event on 26 November hosted by the Malaysian Society for Syria. Over 100 people turned up to hear us talk about the situation in Syria. We would like to offer our thanks to the society for letting us attend and for raising vital funds for such an important cause.
A BBC 5 Live interview on 26 November interviewed a number of people with contrasting views on the government decision to bomb Syria. Rethink Rebuild made their case that bombing ISIS is not a means of achieving a comprehensive solution to the conflict in Syria.
Please write to your MP by clicking on the link below and copying and pasting the following text into the relevant area. Then kindly share with all your contacts on social media!
Re: In support of no-bombing zone over Syria
Dear MP,
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.