̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Syria

Displaced lives: Investigating Europe's handling of the refugee crisis and giving voice to asylum-seeking migrants

ta385 — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 08:00:00 +0000

For the last three years, the RESPOND project has been investigating migration governance in 11 countries by foregrounding the insights of asylum-seeking migrants. Now principal investigator Dr Naures Atto has launched a digital exhibition featuring work by migrant artists.

Syrian refugee health workers can help Europe cope with COVID-19

fpjl2 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 11:35:56 +0000

̽��ֱ��researchers argue that investing in the training of refugee doctors is a very effective way to help fill gaps in care provision left exposed by the COVID-19 crisis – taking far less time and money than it does to train a doctor from scratch.

By converting already-skilled people to medical work in the areas where they now live – often regions of European countries in short supply of doctors, nurses, dentists, and so on – it will help move the refugees out of poverty while bolstering the local health services of their adopted homes.

A new short film made by Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement and the Syria Public Health Network (SPHN) follows three refugees in the UK, Germany and Turkey as they set about retraining while discussing their lives new and old, and experiences of escaping war-torn Syria.

̽��ֱ��film was produced by Dr Adam Coutts from Cambridge’s Department of Sociology, a cofounder of SPHN, which aims to address policy challenges arising in the humanitarian health response. SPHN provides advocacy, policy briefs and evidence reviews to donors, NGOs and UN agencies.

“Syrian healthcare workers, as with many other displaced professionals, are a well-educated and highly skilled workforce. Their experiences have important policy, economic, humanitarian and academic implications,” said Coutts.

“Thousands of qualified health professionals in Syria have left the country since 2011 due to military attacks on clinics and hospitals. These essential workers now find themselves excluded from formal job opportunities and sliding into poverty in host communities in the Middle East and Europe.”

“They have already been through enough trauma in escaping a war zone. In the policy to build, build, build it is a great waste to not use their skills!” Coutts said.

One of the refugee medics featured in the film, Ba’raa Krebeh, who fled Homs, Syria in 2019, but now lives in Grimsby, UK. “After I got my status I started to look for any opportunity or organisation that could help refugee doctors,” said Krebeh.

He has been assisted by the Lincolnshire Refugee Doctor Project, who helped the 29-year-old medic with housing and support for courses and exams. Krebeh is now working to pass his English test, which he hopes to do in the next couple of months, then will aim to take medical exams and get a hospital placement.

When asked about his future, Krebeh said: “I think I will be here, practising in a hospital in Grimsby.” He hopes to be working as a surgeon in five years’ time.

“Much more investment and policy attention needs to be given for services such as the Lincolnshire NGO that support refugee doctors and speed up the process of recertification and recruitment,” said Dr Aula Abbara a consultant in infectious diseases at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust who also co-chairs the Syria Public Health Network.

“These doctors are usually among the top academic achievers in their cohorts. They may be able to work in specialties where we have shortage in the UK. It’s the same in countries like Germany, where there is a shortfall of thousands of doctors and nurses at present – one expected to become even greater as the population ages,” said Abbara.

“It really is in our interest that we support refugee doctors to enter our workforce. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis we are in desperate need of their knowledge and skills.”

Coutts points out that the ongoing exodus of highly skilled workers from Syria, Iraq and North Africa – characteristic of protracted crises in middle-income, largely urban settings – affects the ability of aid organisations and governments to deliver humanitarian assistance.

“Available evidence on post-conflict reconstruction shows that rebuilding the health workforce is one of the top priorities,” said Coutts. “Employing refugee health workers can help to provide a foundation for the rebuilding of a destroyed health system’.

̽��ֱ��World Health Organisation estimates a shortfall of 18 million health workers to accelerate universal health coverage by 2030, particularly in low to middle income countries.

Coutts and colleagues argue that displaced healthcare professionals present major opportunities for host communities in the Middle East and the economies of Europe, by strengthening health and welfare systems in the Middle East, Europe and the UK.

Added Coutts: “Our film shows success stories, but these are few. With more support like the Lincolnshire programme many others could return to their vocations quickly and effectively. We think the integration of refugee doctors should be a political priority in countries such as the UK. Health services in the UK and across Europe needs these people.”

Employing displaced Syrian healthcare workers is a 'win-win' for both host communities and refugees as it would strengthen national health services and allow highly-skilled medics to “get on with their lives, rather than just get by”, according to a network of UK academics.

We think the integration of refugee doctors should be a political priority in countries such as the UK. Health services in the UK and across Europe needs these people

Adam Coutts

UC Syrian doctors V9 6

Adam Coutts

A still from the film of Syrian doctors at work

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Syrian higher education system facing 'complete breakdown' after eight years of war – study

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 09:07:36 +0000

̽��ֱ��findings, which draw on interviews conducted remotely through secure apps with academics and students still active in Syria, paint a devastating picture of the impact of the war on all aspects of university life. Consequences range from the destruction of facilities and terrorising presence of security forces on campus to the forced displacement of students and faculty members and near disappearance of research.

Syrian Higher Education post-2011: Immediate and Future Challenges, published today, was commissioned by the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara), a British charity that helps academics in danger or forced exile, and authored by Professor Colleen McLaughlin with Jo-Anne Dillabough, Olena Fimyar, Zeina Al-Azmeh and Mona Jebril of the Faculty of Education at Cambridge.

A second complementary study out today, ̽��ֱ��State of Higher Education in Syria pre-2011, also led by Professor McLaughlin and commissioned jointly by Cara and the British Council, provides an overview of the sector before the outbreak of war.

̽��ֱ��conflict in Syria has generated the 21st century’s worst humanitarian crisis, with as many as 300,000 Syrians killed and half the population displaced since it began in 2011. Previously, Syria boasted one of the Middle East’s largest and most well-established higher education systems. Not only has the war decimated the university system within the country, but the refugees who have fled are estimated to include 2,000 university professionals and at least 100,000 university-qualified students.

̽��ֱ��new report identifies three clear and damaging trends in the Syrian higher education system, many elements of which existed prior to 2011 but all exacerbated by the conflict. Most fundamental is the heightened politicisation of the sector through a variety of means, many involving violence. 'These include corrupt governance structures, the militarisation of students and university practices, and a much stronger security apparatus leading to the fragmentation and/or complete breakdown of HE,' the study says.

Human rights violations including detention, patronage, disappearances, displacement and murder are changing the demographic make-up of higher education, it adds, and have led to the social distrust of HE institutions as capable of educating students into the future and the targeting of academics as a particular threat.

One academic interviewed for the study said: “In 2012 I heard from my colleagues in our laboratory that there were soldiers who came to our university, broke down the doors, destroyed everything and hit everybody there because they had protested against the regime". Another recalled: “One of the professors was dragged away by two security officials in front of the students. That professor was taken to prison and charged because of his political views.”

̽��ֱ��general atmosphere within universities was of pervasive fear, in which ‘anyone working at the university is stopped from communicating with anyone outside,’ a third interviewee reported.

Meanwhile, political realignment has become a major obstacle to broad forms of internationalisation and collaboration – the lifeblood of higher education. Regime-controlled universities have had to curtail their links with Western universities, the researchers found, while reinforcing collaboration with countries supportive of the regime, including Russia, Iran and China.

A second trend identified by researchers was the academic impact of the civil war, including curriculum stagnation and the disappearance of research. “ ̽��ֱ��conflict has resulted in massive losses of both HE expertise and HE infrastructure,” says the study, with already-limited university funding diverted towards the conflict and public spending on higher education per head well below the OECD average.

Government control over the content and delivery of curricula has increased in areas controlled by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and there is more dependence on rote learning and outdated textbooks. Teaching quality has fallen as experienced qualified staff are lost and replaced by untrained recent graduates, and reports of bribery, cheating and false certification are rife, with corruption “threatening the integrity of HE”.

Research, already limited pre-2011, has “all but disappeared”, driven out by lack of funding and the near-impossibility of field research, the study says.

̽��ֱ��third and final trend highlighted in the report is the impact of the conflict on students’ experiences. While access has increased as admission requirements have been lowered to counter lower applications post-2011, attrition rates have “soared” because of personal safety fears, poverty, fear of detention and internal displacement. Education quality has diminished as funding falls, with staff often unavailable and buildings unusable, coupled with disruption to water and power.

In a series of recommendations, the report calls for action from the United Nations, NGOs and the broader international community to depoliticise Syrian higher education and develop and implement “high standards of academic freedom and associated forms of accountability”. While it is important that university students and staff should be kept safe, national security personnel should be withdrawn from campuses and replaced with civilian security personnel trained in conflict reduction and peace-building approaches, the study says.

International partnerships with other Middle Eastern, Western and European universities should be developed. “Standards of transparency, autonomy, freedom and cultural and political pluralism … will be crucial to any post-conflict Syrian HE sector,” researchers conclude.

̽��ֱ��report’s findings were drawn from existing academic research and “grey” literature such as news and NGO reports, together with 117 remote interviews with university staff and students still in Syria conducted by compatriot academics in exile, focus group discussions and personal testimonies from 19 Syrian academics living in exile in Turkey.

Professor McLaughlin said: “ ̽��ֱ��key researchers here were the Syrian displaced academics CARA was working with. This collaborative research project was challenging to undertake given the context. ̽��ֱ��results are important, and so is this way of collaborating. CARA’s work to support Syrian displaced academics is vital and we need to remember and honour their work as well as continue to support research into the reality of Syrian higher education.”

Stephen Wordsworth, Executive Director of Cara, said: “Cara’s regionally-based Syria Programme provides opportunities for Syrian academics in exile to work collaboratively with their counterparts in UK universities and elsewhere, to maintain and develop their skills and experience in preparation for the day when they can return home to help re-build the system of higher education in that country.

“A separate Syria Programme Report examined the state of higher education in Syria before 2011; today’s new study shows very clearly the damage that has been inflicted since then, and what needs to be done to start to put things right again. We are immensely grateful to all the Syrian academics who contributed, and to Colleen and her team for their inspirational leadership of the project.”

̽��ֱ��conflict in Syria has left the country’s higher education system “fragmented and broken”, with universities suffering politicisation, militarisation and human rights violations including disappearances and murder, according to researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and Syrian academics in exile.

One of the professors was dragged away by two security officials in front of the students. That professor was taken to prison and charged because of his political views

Syrian academic

Freedom House on Flickr

Syria

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Syria airstrikes add another ‘exception’ to beleaguered parliamentary convention, say experts

fpjl2 — Mon, 30 Apr 2018 08:46:57 +0000

̽��ֱ��recent intervention in Syria may add airstrikes to the expanding list of exceptions to the convention established to provide democratic oversight of UK military action through a parliamentary vote, say experts in international and constitutional law.

During research for a new book, launched today, the legal academics found that, in addition to broadly-defined ‘emergency’ or ‘secrecy’ exceptions, two specific types of military activity – the deployment of embedded Special Forces and unmanned drone strikes – had already been exempted from the convention.

Now, by unilaterally authorising the recent intervention in Syria, and justifying the action using language that further narrows the convention’s purview, the current government may have created a further exception for airstrikes – a cornerstone of modern warfare.

Drs Veronika Fikfak and Hayley J. Hooper, who conducted the research for their book at Cambridge’s Faculty of Law, say that “if the War Powers Convention continues to exist, we question whether it exists in any meaningful sense”.

They argue that increasing exemptions from the convention, combined with a flourishing “information asymmetry” between government and parliament, creates a real risk of another ‘Iraq moment’ in the near future.

̽��ֱ��book Parliament’s Secret War traces the last century of Westminster decision-making during the build up to hostilities, with a focus on the legal debates following the establishment of the War Power Convention in the wake of the Iraq war.

Published by Bloomsbury, the book will be launched at Homerton College, Cambridge, this evening (30 April) with a Q and A session with both authors as part of the College’s 250 anniversary series of events.

“ ̽��ֱ��idea that the War Powers Convention gives parliament political control over whether the UK goes to war has now been hollowed out to the point where any claim that elected MPs have a say on military action is essentially a deception of British civil society,” says Fikfak, a Fellow of Homerton College.

“ ̽��ֱ��War Powers Convention initially looked like it might level the playing field between parliament and government. However, our analysis reveals repeated exceptions created by successive governments even prior to the recent unilateral strikes in Syria.”

̽��ֱ��convention has its origins in the House of Commons vote sanctioning the Iraq invasion in 2003, although some argue this was a fait accompli given the thousands of troops already in the region.

Nevertheless, a convention requiring parliamentary support for armed conflict was solidified through a series of votes in the years following Iraq – most significantly with 2013’s decisive vote on Syria, when the government was defeated.

Heralded by the media as a milestone in British democracy, the convention sees a “yes or no vote” put to MPs, rather than the government of the day invoking Royal Prerogative: the traditional legal right to declare war in the name of the Crown.

Plans to enshrine the convention in law were shelved in 2016, although Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has renewed discussions of a possible War Power Act since the recent Syria airstrikes.

̽��ֱ��convention has, however, been a fixture of the Cabinet Manual – an official guide to the UK’s uncodified constitution – since 2011, with successive Defence Ministers recommitting to it both in principle and, to some extent, in practice.

Yet the recent circumvention of this potential check on power is arguably only the latest, as the convention has already been subject to “a myriad of exceptions” controlled by government – explored in depth by the new book.

For example, in 2015 a British member of Da’esh was killed by drones in Syria, despite parliament making it clear on two previous occasions that it did not support use of force in Syrian territory.

Justified by the then government as a ‘new departure’, and couched in language of ‘immediacy’ and ‘direct threat’, this was interpreted “generously” by the Joint Committee on Human Rights as an ‘emergency’ that didn’t breach convention – a precedent for the exception of drone warfare.

Also in 2015, British military took part in ground raids on Syrian territory with US forces. ̽��ֱ��government response was to state that the convention apparently “does not apply [to those] embedded in the armed forces of other nations”, despite the non-emergency situation.

̽��ֱ��researchers argue that undermining of the convention is compounded by “selective disclosure” of vital information to parliament, often under the guise of state secrecy. This was the current government’s primary justification for disregarding the convention with the recent Syrian strikes.

“In the wake of Iraq, the position that ‘Whitehall knows best’ is constitutionally untenable,” says Hooper, now a Fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford. “Sources of intelligence should never be revealed, but reports of the Joint Intelligence Committee could be considered by parliamentarians in secure premises.”

̽��ֱ��researchers argue that the nature of war has changed, now limited for the most part to drone and air strikes. “To exclude the majority of military interventions from parliamentary scrutiny risks undermining the accountability of government,” says Hooper.

Adds Fikfak: “In addition to the non-application of the convention to Special Forces deployments, the embedding of British forces in foreign countries’ armies, and the use of drones, there is now room for significant doubt as to whether the War Powers Convention applies to air strikes.”

A new book launching in Cambridge today explores the parliamentary convention intended to allow MPs a vote on military action. ̽��ֱ��authors say that the intervention in Syria provides just the latest of several ‘exceptions’ – chipping away further at a convention that may no longer meaningfully exist.

Our analysis reveals repeated exceptions created by successive governments even prior to the recent unilateral strikes in Syria

Veronika Fikfak

Justine Rho/RAF Mildenhall

Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 receives fuel

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Targeting of Syrian healthcare as ‘weapon of war’ sets dangerous precedent, say researchers

fpjl2 — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 11:42:36 +0000

̽��ֱ��strategy of using people’s need for healthcare against them by violently denying access sets a dangerous precedent that the global health community must urgently address, say an international team of researchers.

̽��ֱ��authors of a new report published today (15 March) in ̽��ֱ��Lancet – marking six years since the conflict began – have “triangulated” various data sources to provide new estimates for the number of medical personnel killed so far: 814 from March 2011 to February 2017.

However, they also say this is likely to be a “gross underestimate” due to limitations of evidence-gathering and corroboration in the conflict areas.

There were 199 attacks on health facilities in 2016 alone – an increase from 91 in 2012, when the Syrian government effectively criminalised medical aid for the opposition. ̽��ֱ��government and its allies, including Russia, have been responsible for at least 94% of attacks, say the experts – threatening the foundation of medical neutrality.

Besieged areas are denied medicine, and remaining medics are delivering what care they can in brutal conditions. Despite explicit protections under International Humanitarian Law, attacks on health workers have included imprisonment, abduction, torture and execution.

̽��ֱ��authors of the latest report, including researchers from Cambridge’s departments of sociology and politics, say the conflict has exposed serious shortcomings in global governance.

They call for the systematic documentation of attacks on health workers and, critically, the perpetrators via the WHO, allowing for greater accountability. UN policies and practices should also be reviewed and strengthened, including operational capacity to deliver support to health workers across conflict lines.

̽��ֱ��research team also calls for global solidarity with health workers in the Syrian conflict, including support to increase awareness among donors and politicians.

“Syria has become one of the most dangerous places on earth to be a healthcare worker,” says Dr Adam Coutts, report co-author from Cambridge’s Department of Sociology.

“Thousands of health workers have left and relocated to neighbouring countries and further afield such as Europe. This poses significant challenges for current healthcare provision in Syria but also for future health system rebuilding in a post conflict situation.”

Between 2011 and 2015, it is estimated that 15000 doctors, or half of the pre-war numbers, left the country. In Eastern Aleppo, approximately 1 doctor remained for every 7000 residents, compared with 1 in 800 in 2010.

̽��ֱ��exodus of older, experienced doctors has left critical gaps. Younger, less experienced physicians – many of whom are students with no experience in trauma management or emergency medicine – have become indispensable. However, this increases risk for patients and warns of a serious shortage of skilled doctors in future.

In non-government controlled areas, the few health workers left face massive numbers of trauma victims, shortages of medicines, epidemics of infectious disease and chemical attacks. In areas under siege, surgical supplies and essential medicines are seldom allowed in, patients rarely evacuated, and public health measures such as water chlorination and measles vaccination are sometimes blocked.

̽��ֱ��bulk of Syria’s remaining health workers are in government-controlled areas, where they also face mortar attacks from rebel areas and travel restrictions. Some report being forced to breach ethical principles under pressure.

Sophie Roborgh, one of the report’s authors from the Department of Politics and International Studies, conducts research on violence against health workers and medical infrastructure in conflict, and how health workers deal with it – professionally and personally.

“Healthcare workers that remain have been forced to adjust their entire lives around the threats and pressures they face,” she says. “There is such a shortage of staff that some physicians and other medical staff actually live full-time in hospitals.

“One medic showed me pictures on his phone of his colleague’s young children, who spend much time with their father, helping to mop up blood in operation rooms. Another told me how he celebrated his wedding in the hospital.

“We are trying to uncover which measures of support for these health workers are actually effective, in the hope that we can eventually move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to a more specific, evidence-based model for conflict situations.”

Coutts says that practical policy options to assist displaced Syrian healthcare workers require evidence of where they are and what skills and training capacities they have. This information is not currently available and is badly needed.

“It is vital that the international community design policies and interventions to help displaced healthcare workers find and sustain employment in neighbouring host countries,” says Coutts.

“Due to visa and right-to-work issues, Syrian doctors and allied health professionals are unable to practice in countries such as Lebanon and Jordan. This is currently an untapped and essential workforce that could be used to support the already overstretched humanitarian response and public services in host communities.”

As new estimates of death toll for health workers are published, experts say the deliberate and systematic attacks on the healthcare infrastructure in Syria – primarily by government forces – expose shortcomings in international responses to health needs in conflict.

It is vital that the international community design policies and interventions to help displaced healthcare workers find and sustain employment in neighbouring host countries

Adam Coutts

European Commission DG ECHO

Syrian refugee in a hospital in Lebanon

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Sixth formers see the future in ancient Egypt & Mesopotamia

ta385 — Fri, 27 May 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Fifty students from 24 schools from across the UK attended the inaugural, all-day conference at ̽��ֱ��British Museum in London.

̽��ֱ��students heard experts from the Museum as well as the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Liverpool, Cardiff, Swansea, UCL, Durham and SOAS. Participants also joined special tours of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian sections of ̽��ֱ��British Museum, led by specialists from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Egypt and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, ancient Sumer, Assyria and Babylon) have produced some of the most fascinating discoveries about the ancient world. Today it is possible to learn the languages, study the artefacts, and reconstruct the most varied aspects of these ancient civilisations in astonishing detail.

Recent events, notably the desecration of monuments in the ancient city of Palmyra, in modern-day Syria, have underlined the relevance and fragility of this cultural heritage in the 21st century.

Martin Worthington, Lecturer in Assyriology at Cambridge, said: “These subjects are not offered at A-Level and few sixth formers are aware that they even exist as university subjects. We wanted to show them what makes studying Egypt and Mesopotamia so intellectually and culturally exciting, highlight the various degree courses which are available to them, and explain what admissions tutors are looking for.”

̽��ֱ��programme included talks about careers, information on admissions, and the opportunity to meet current students and academic staff from many of the institutions in the UK that teach these subjects.

Highlights of the day included Kate Spence, Senior Lecturer in Egyptian Archaeology at Cambridge, talking about ‘Egypt in Nubia: cultures in collision’; Richard Parkinson, Professor of Egyptology at Oxford, sharing his passion for reading ancient Egyptian texts; and Paul Nicholson, Professor in Archaeology at Cardiff exploring ‘ ̽��ֱ��Catacombs of Anubis at North Saqqara’.

Adam Agowun, 17, a student at Parmiter’s School in Hertfordshire said: "I loved seeing everything and hearing the various talks. It has reaffirmed everything that I've hoped for. I am going to study Egyptology."

Cambridge, which organised the event, is one of the few universities in the country to teach Egyptology and Assyriology. From October 2017, these subjects will be included in the ̽��ֱ��’s new Single Honours degree in Archaeology. Professor Cyprian Broodbank, Head of Cambridge’s Division of Archaeology, said “ ̽��ֱ��subject embraces a wide range of approaches spanning the sciences and humanities and it’s a superb medium for training the flexible, innovative minds that our society needs.”

After the event, 93 per cent of respondents said the day had made them more likely to study Egypt and Mesopotamia at university.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ��’s archaeologists recently teamed up with ̽��ֱ��British Museum to inspire sixth formers to consider studying Egyptology and Assyriology, subjects which very few have the opportunity to study at school.

We wanted to show what makes studying Egypt and Mesopotamia so intellectually and culturally exciting

Martin Worthington, Lecturer in Assyriology

Dr Martin Worthington reads a Neo-Assyrian royal inscription in the British Museum

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Syrian aid: lack of evidence for ‘interventions that work’, say researchers

fpjl2 — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 11:44:33 +0000

In the fifth year of the Syrian refugee crisis, donors and humanitarian agencies still remain unsure about which policies and interventions have been most effective, and continue to rely on a largely reactive response, say a group of researchers, aid workers and Syrian medical professionals.

Response approaches to date have often been short-termist, sometimes duplicating work and have very little evidence of effectiveness or impact, they say.

As national leaders and UN delegates gather in London today for the Support Syria Donor Conference, members of the Syrian Public Health Network warn that unless aid is provided on condition of evidence-gathering and transparency so funding can be directed to interventions that work, the health, education and livelihoods of refugees will continue to deteriorate.

They caution that Syrians in neighbouring countries such as Lebanon and Jordan – where services are stretched to breaking point – will suffer the most from ineffective interventions unless governments and NGOs of wealthy nations to do more to link allocation of donor funds to evidence, something that Network members have highlighted in a briefing for the UK's Department for International Development.

“A focus on health and health services is notably absent in the donor conference agenda yet it is a fundamental determinant on the success of education and livelihoods policies,” said Dr Adam Coutts, Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� researcher and member of the Syria Public Health Network.

“What funding there is for refugee healthcare risks disappearing unless governments insist on an evidence basis for aid allocation, similar to that expected in domestic policy-making.

“It is estimated that there are now over 4.3 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring frontline countries, and over half these people are under the age of 18. This level of displacement is unprecedented and given how short funds are, we need to be sure that programmes work,” said Coutts, from Cambridge's Department of Politics and International Studies.

“New ideas and approaches need to be adopted in order to reduce the massive burdens on neighbouring frontline states.”

Researchers say that the health response should do more to address the so-called ‘non-communicable diseases’ which ultimately cause more deaths: slow, silent killers such as diabetes, heart disease and, in particular, mental disorders. This means moving towards the development of universal health care systems in the region and building new public health services.

̽��ֱ��calls for more evidence come on the back of an article published last week in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, in which members of the Syria Public Health Network (SPHN) address the response to mental disorders among displaced Syrians.

Clinics in some camps in Turkey and Lebanon report almost half of occupants suffering from high levels of psychological distress. However, many Syrians in neighbouring countries live outside the camps – up to 80% in Jordan, for example – which means cases are unreported.

In Lebanon, despite political commitment to mental health, there are just 71 psychiatrists, mostly in Beirut.

“ ̽��ֱ��implementation of short-term mental health interventions which often lack culturally relevant or practically feasible assessment tools risk diverting funds away from longer term, evidence based solutions,” said Coutts.

Moreover, a shortage of Syrian mental health professionals – less than 100 prior to the conflict has now fallen to less than 60 – is worsened by some neighbouring countries preventing Syrian doctors of any specialism from practising. Along with Physicians for Human Rights, SPHN members are calling for restrictions to be lifted on practising licenses for displaced Syrian health professionals.

“To date Syrian medical workers in Lebanon and Jordan are a largely untapped workforce who are ready to work and help with the response. However, due to labour laws and the dominance of private health service providers it is very difficult if not impossible for them to work legally,” said SPHN member Dr Aula Abbara.

Emerging evidence from the Syrian crisis, as well as evidence from previous conflicts, is pointing to psychological treatments which show some effectiveness:

Pilot studies with refugees in Turkish camps using ‘telemental’ projects, the delivery of psychiatric care through telecommunications, suggest that such techniques are effective in supporting healthcare professionals on the ground.

̽��ֱ��‘teaching recovery techniques’ method is designed to boost children’s capacity to cope with the psychological aftermath of war. These techniques have been used in communities in the aftermath of major natural disasters and conflicts, and have shown promise.

While SPHN members caution that adequate testing of these interventions is required, they argue that this is precisely the point: more evidence of what works.

Added Coutts: “A more scientific approach is needed so that precious and increasingly scarce financial aid is put to the most effective use possible. At the moment, NGOs and governments are not making sufficient reference to evidence in determining health, education and labour market policies for the largest displacement of people since World War Two.”

̽��ֱ��lack of an evidence base in the donor-funded response to Syrian migrant crisis means funds may be allocated to ineffective interventions, say researchers, who call on funders and policymakers in London for this week’s Syrian Donor Conference to insist on evaluation as a condition of aid.

A focus on health and health services is notably absent in the donor conference agenda yet it is a fundamental determinant on the success of education and livelihoods policies

Adam Coutts

UNHCR Photo Unit

Lebanese Town Opens its Doors to Newly Arrived Syrian Refugees

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Law in Focus: 'Parliament’s Role in Voting on the Syrian Conflict'

fpjl2 — Mon, 30 Nov 2015 09:52:17 +0000

Following the statement of Prime Minister David Cameron to the House of Commons entitled: "Prime Minister’s Response to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on the Extension of Offensive British Military Operations to Syria", Dr Veronika Fikfak and Dr Hayley J Hooper discuss the questionable international legality of military action, the strategic use of parliament and its potential impact upon the emerging Consultation Convention, and the responsibility of MPs to hold government to account across a broad range of relevant domestic issues.

They analyse the impact of the way government shares intelligence information with the House of Commons, especially in light of the 2003 Iraq conflict, highlighting several relevant but under-discussed rules. Finally, they discuss the role of party political discipline on armed conflict votes.

Dr Fikfak researches in the fields of public law, human rights and international law. She is particularly interested in the interface between domestic and international law and is currently writing a monograph on the role of national judges in relation to international law. Dr Hooper is currently a Fellow at Homerton College, and her doctoral research at Balliol College, ̽��ֱ�� of Oxford concerned the use of "closed" or "secret" evidence in the context of judicial review of counterterrorism powers, and its extension to civil procedure more broadly.

Drs Fikfak and Hooper are currently co-authoring a monograph on parliament's involvement in war powers entitled Parliament's Secret War (forthcoming with Hart Bloomsbury, 2016).

Law in Focus is a series of short videos featuring academics from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Faculty of Law, addressing legal issues in current affairs and the news. These issues are examples of the many which challenge researchers and students studying undergraduate and postgraduate law at the Faculty. Law in Focus is available on YouTube, or to subscribe to in iTunes U.

Other collections of video and audio recordings from the Faculty of Law are available at Lectures at Law.

This video discusses six issues arising out of the recent statement of Prime Minister David Cameron to the House of Commons on the extension of offensive British military operations in Syria.

Parliament’s Role in Voting on the Syrian Conflict

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