Event hosted by the Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice (Nottingham Trent University) and Nottingham International Law and Security Centre (University of Nottingham).
The conflict in Syria is generally seen as having started towards the end of the Arab Spring in 2011 and continues to date with few signs of ending. It has involved the Syrian government, rebels, insurgents and terrorists groups, as well as Russia, the United States, Turkey, Iran, the United Kingdom, France and other states. It has cost up to half a million lives; has led to over 12 million refugees and displaced persons, fuelling a refugee crisis in neighbouring countries and in Europe; and has destroyed Syrian infrastructure. It is one of the most devastating conflicts of our time, with allegations of chemical attacks on civilians and other war crimes, yet it appears as if the international community is incapable of doing anything to stop or even alleviate this bitterest of wars that clearly involves the violation of humanity's most basic norms.
This symposium on Syria aims to provide an inter-disciplinary forum for informed discussion and to increase the level of knowledge and debate on this important, pressing and relevant subject.
Registration - 9.30am
Session 1: Syria in Context - 10am
Panel discussing the historical and political context of Syria as a state and the global con-text for the ongoing conflict:
- Aidan Hehir (University of Westminster)
- Janka Skrzypek (Nottingham Trent University)
- Shaza Alsalmoni (Syrian Legal Development Programme)
Session 2: International Action and Responses to the Conflict - 12 noon
Panel discussing the military considerations, collective security failures, IHL failures and interventions:
- Nigel White (University of Nottingham)
- Yasmine Nahlawi (Rethink Rebuild Society)
- Richard Jones (Nottingham Trent University)
Film Screening: 'Syria's Disappeared' (director Sara Afshar) - 2.30pm
Shown in collaboration with the Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham
Session 3: The Impact of International and National Action - 4pm
Panel discussing the issues raised by the documentary, the humanitarian considerations of the conflict and the obligations of the international community:
- Helen O'Nions (Nottingham Trent University)
- Lydia Davies-Bright (Nottingham Trent University)
- Ben Hudson (University of Lincoln)
Roundtable concluding discussion (5.30pm) on:
- Prospects for the end of the conflict
- The wider humanitarian obligation post-conflict
End - 6.30pm