MENA ROUNDTABLE SERIES 1/2017 “CRISIS IN SYRIA: WHEN WILL IT END?”

Speaker:
AHMAD SANI ARABY
Vice President, Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organization (MAPIM)
MAHAMAD NOUR RAJAB
Syrian Citizen in Malaysia
CHRIS LAU
Freelance Journalist

27th APRIL 2017
9.00 am – 12.00 pm
Majlis Room, Level 5, Chancellory Building
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

The Syria crisis has reached its sixth anniversary in Mac 2017. It was all began in March 2011, after 15 boys were detained and tortured for having written graffiti in support of the Arab Spring. Peaceful protests then erupted on the streets. Without warning, security forces opened fire, killing hundreds of demonstrators, imprisoning many more, and took control of the surrounding area. The peaceful protest demonstrations have turned into a war without a full stop.
Since the crisis, more than 450,000 Syrians had died in the war and more than a million were injured. In early 2017, the United Nation (UN) identified 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, of which more than 6 million are internally displaced within Syria, and over 4.8 million are refugees outside of Syria. Malaysia also took part and lent a helping hand to alleviate the situation of the Syrian’s citizens. Malaysia has committed to take several thousand Syrians who have fled from the violence in their country.
It is against this backdrop that the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS) under the Centre for West Asian Studies (iKRAB) is organizing a roundtable forum to discuss, shared knowledge and experiences on the issues of the Syrian crisis.