The Aftermath of Syria-Turkey Earthquake: A Discussion with the White Helmets

The Aftermath of Syria-Turkey Earthquake: A Conversation with the White Helmets

The Syrian British Consortium (SBC) is pleased to invite you to an in-person discussion about the multilayered impacts of Syria-Turkey earthquake: the dynamics of the local response in Syria; the geopolitical restrictions on international aid; the contested role of the UN aid operations; Syrians’ demands of accountability; and how the White Helmets (Syrian Civil Defence) have been responding to the accumulating needs of local communities.

Date/Time: Tuesday, 4 April. From 17:30 – 19:00

Location:

Wolfson Lecture Theatre (WLT)Paul Webley Wing, Senate House, SOAS 10 Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London, WC1H 0XG

Meet our panel:

Ra’ed Saleh (speaker): the head of the Syrian Civil Defence (also known as The White Helmets). The Syrian Civil Defence is a volunteer organization created in 2013, and made of former bakers, teachers, electricians and other “ordinary” Syrians who now work together to save the lives of those wounded during attacks. There are more than 2,700 rescue workers who make up The White Helmets, who have so far saved thousands of lives from the rubble of air-strikes in the opposition-held areas of Syria.

Mohammad Katoub (speaker): an advocacy expert whose experience focuses on humanitarian policies, civil society empowerment and protection of aid workers in Syria and neighboring countries. He is a Research Fellow at the Syrian Impact Study at the Center of Global Health and a fellow at the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Mohamad’s work focuses on documenting attacks on the health sector and fighting impunity for the usage of chemical weapons. Mohamad works as a project manager at IMPACT for Research and Development.

Kholoud Helmi (facilitator): a gender and media expert and the co-founder and board member of Enab Baladi newspaper established in 2011. Kholoud holds an MA in media and development from SOAS, university of London, and is a Chevening scholar. She was the 2015 winner of the Anna Politkovskaya Award for reporting about the Syrian events, and the 2017 winner of the International Association’s Courage Under Fire Award for the documentary Cries From Syria. In 2016, Marie Claire magazine called her ‘the bravest woman in the world’. Kholoud is also a volunteer advocate with the Syrian British Consortium (SBC).