Under siege: Humanitarian access in Syria
Tuesday 12th December, 3 to 4pm, Room R, Portcullis House
The APPG Friends of Syria is hosting a discussion on humanitarian access with journalist Emma Beals, Paul Musiol of PAX, and Emanuela-Chiara Gillard of the Oxford Institute of Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict.
Despite hopes of an end to the conflict with the defeat of ISIS in Syria’s east, the war continues in western Syria with ongoing use of siege against civilians, including daily air and artillery attacks against populated areas, while civilians in other areas not under full siege continue to experience extreme hardship, loss of shelter, malnutrition, and extreme shortage of health care.
Emma Beals has reported on the Syrian conflict, and on the Assad regime’s use of sieges and its manipulation of aid, in articles for The Guardian, The Daily Beast, USA Today, and Fox News, amongst others.
Paul Musiol represents the Dutch peace organisation PAX in the UK. Since 2015, PAX and The Syria Institute have monitored the situation in besieged areas of Syria through the Siege Watch project. The next Siege Watch report is due to be published on 14 December 2017.
Emanuela-Chiara Gillard is engaged in research for the Norwegian Refugee Council. NRC runs aid programmes in Syria and in the region, working in education, food security, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene.
RSVP to secretariat@appgfriendsofsyria.org
Below: UN humanitarian adviser for Syria Jan Egeland called on November 30th for the medical evacuation of 500 people, including 167 children, from the besieged Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta. Photo via the Syrian American Medical Society.
