Photo credit: Des enfants syriens de retour de l’école dans le camp de réfugiés de Zaatari, Jordanie (Photo : K. Doraï)
Dates: March 31, April 21, May 19, June 16, 2021
Time: 3:00-5:00 PM Beirut time | 2:00-4:00 PM Paris Time | 1:00-3:00 PM London Time
SHAKK (From Revolt to War in Syria: Conflicts, Displacements, Uncertainties) & MAGYC ( MigrAtion Governance and asYlum Crises)
Organisers: Imad Amer (Ifpo), Bahia Dalal (Ifpo), Kamel Doraï (Ifpo), Anna Poujeau (Ifpo)
In the frame of a cooperation between the MAGYC and ANR SHAKK research programs, this monthly webinar will explore the issue of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan in its geographical, sociological, political and economic dimensions while analyzing the events that led to their departure from Syria. Thus, we wish to emphasize the links between the conditions of departure of Syrians from their country and those of their arrival and settlement in Lebanon and Jordan. We will examine both the Syrian military and political strategies deployed to force populations to flee their homes and the political and economic decisions of host countries regarding the settlement of Syrian refugees on their territory.
Within a reflection that crosses historical, sociological, geographical and political perspectives, we will develop three axes of research: one will deal with the legal framework by questioning its writing contexts according to the stages of the conflict in Syria, the political situation within the host countries and the various injunctions of international bodies that shape the question of Syrian refugees; another one dealing with the settlement of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan by focusing on the trajectories, the formal or informal housing and the legal status of their presence in the host countries through, in particular, the issue of employment. Finally, we will put the narratives of the refugees themselves on their trajectories in Syria and in the host countries into perspective with the different stages of the conflict as we are able to reconstruct them today and with the Lebanese and Jordanian local policies for refugees host.
First Session
31th March, 2021, 3:00-5:00 PM (Beirut Time)
Sawsan Abou Zainedin and Hani Fakhani (Both Syrian architects and urban development practitioners with master’s degrees from the Bartlett’s Development Planning Unit at UCL.)
They co-found SAKAN, a programme aimed at developing alternative recovery-driven housing models in Syria).
The Urbicide of Syria
The session will deconstruct the concept of urbicide in the Syrian context and its correlations with displacement and return to demonstrate how the urban sphere has been manipulated by the Syrian regime as part of a systematic strategy to enforce demographic engineering and consolidate authoritarian power.
Sawsan Abou Zainedin is a Syrian architect and urban development planner. Her work tackles the impact of urban processes and reconstruction efforts on social justice and peace. She has worked in research, and international and local development with academic institutions, think tanks, INGOs, Syrian civil society organizations and media outlets. Sawsan is a Chevening scholar. She holds MSc in Urban Development Planning with distinction from the Bartlett’s Development Planning Unit of University College London. She holds a post-graduate diploma from the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies at Erasmus University, and a bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Aleppo.
Hani Fakhani is a Syrian architect and urban practitioner. His work focusses on housing and post-conflict reconstruction in Syria through research and practice. He holds a MSc with distinction in Building and Urban Design in Development from University College London where he researched the interrelations between reconstruction, governance, and peace in Syria. He is the co-founder of a private architectural services company that worked on a range of projects including urban regeneration, housing, and public service projects. He is also the co-founded a Syrian local architectural services company in Damascus which won national awards for urban development and infrastructure project proposals with Damascus Municipality and Governorate prior to 2011.
Sawsan and Hani have recently co-founded Sakan Housing Communities; a start-up social enterprise aimed at developing inclusive and socially just housing programmes to aid social, economic, and institutional recovery in Syria.