A UK strategy for Syria: Caabu Parliamentary panel discussion

Join Caabu for a panel discussion on Syria on 4 November 2015: A UK strategy for Syria?

With the further escalation of fighting in Syria and deteriorating humanitarian situation, this panel will examine options for UK policy, including the pros and cons of bombing ISIS in Syria. Join Mustafa Haid, Professor Mary Kaldor, Dr Chris Phillips and Chris Doyle for this panel discussion.

Please email Joseph Willits (willitsj@caabu.org) to confirm your attendance.

When: Wednesday 4 November, 09:00 - 10:30

Where: Macmillan Room, Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament  (marked 4 on this map - please allow 20 minutes to get through security).

Chair: Rt. Hon. David Jones MP

About the speakers:

Mustafa Haid is the Chairperson of Dawlaty Foundation, a Syrian non profit foundation which works with non violent activists on capacity building towards democratic transition and transitional justice in Syria. He has been an advocate of human rights in Syria since 2000 and was placed under a travel ban by the Syrian regime between 2007 until 2011 because of his human rights work. 

Haid worked as Syria consultant For Human Rights Watch and for the UN office of The Special Adviser on The Prevention of Genocide and Responsibility to Protect (R2P) from 2011 to 2012.  He has written and edited many articles, research papers and books on issues related to transitional justice, the Syrian uprising and human rights. He is also an advocate of accountability in Syria and has participated in many advocacy campaigns since 2011. Haid is a spokesperson of Planet Syria Campaign, a coalition of 100 groups and NGOs inside and outside Syria. He holds an MA in conflict resolution from King's College London.

Professor Mary Kaldor is Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit at the London School of Economics. She is the author of many books, including The Ultimate Weapon is No Weapon: Human Security and the Changing Rules of War and Peace, New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era and Global Civil Society: An Answer to War. Professor Kaldor was a founding member of the European Nuclear Disarmament and of the Helsinki Citizen's Assembly. She is also convenor of the Human Security Study Group, which reported to Javier Solana, and now Cathy Ashton.

Dr Chris Phillips is a Lecturer at the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary, University of London. He joined the School in January 2012, having previously worked as deputy editor for Syria and Jordan at the Economist Intelligence Unit. Before then he did his PhD and Masters in International Relations at the London School of Economics, and BA at Cambridge. He is currently an associate fellow at the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, working primarily on the Syria conflict and its impact on neighbouring states and the wider Middle East.

Chris lived in Syria for two years, in Aleppo, Damascus and Lattakia, and much of his research focuses on that country. Since the beginning of the uprising there in 2011, he has regularly consulted various government agencies and NGOS, and have made numerous media appearances on outlets including BBC Newsnight, Radio 4's Today Programme, BBC News, Al-Jazeera, Sky News and Channel 4 News. He blogs at www.cjophillips.com and tweets at @cjophillips, mostly commenting on Syria, the Middle East.

Chris Doyle is the director of Caabu (the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding). He has worked with the Council since 1993 after graduating with a first class honors degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Exeter University. As the lead spokesperson for Caabu and as an acknowledged expert on the region, Chris is a frequent commentator on TV and Radio with numerous articles published in the British and international media including this in the Independent on Sunday on 25 October. He has travelled to nearly every country in the Middle East. He has organised and accompanied numerous British Parliamentary delegations to Arab countries. He is a particular expert on Syria which he first visited in 1990.  

If you would like to attend this meeting please RSVP to Joseph Willits (willitsj@caabu.org).

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