00:00 Rola Hallam: Thank you. First of all, it's so good to see so many of you here today, and thank you to the organisers for putting on this event and for inviting me to be here.
00:00 My name is Rola. I'm a British-Syrian doctor, and as [the chair] just said, for the last three years I've been involved in delivering humanitarian medical aid to Syria as a volunteer with Hand in Hand for Syria. And along the way I have seen over sixty of my family being killed, along with hundreds of thousands of other Syrians, while millions of children are rendered orphans and homeless.
00:31 The suffering in Syria is of epic proportions. The human rights abuses and the war crimes and the crimes against humanity are no longer measured in their hundreds or even in their thousands; they are now in their tens and tens of thousands.
00:31 And to talk about the medical issues — and utmost respect to your brother and to your family, and I'll come back to that in a second — it's just unbelievable that in this day and age we have got about 3,000 doctors, nurses and aid workers languishing in Syrian prisons. They're charged with treating civilians in opposition areas.
01:01 There has been systematic and specific targeting of healthcare, such that now up to seventy per cent of all clinics, hospitals and health facilities are destroyed in Syria. They have brought our health system to its knees. It no longer exists, it no longer functions. And now people are dying from treatable and preventable diseases. It is absolutely shocking.
01:33 But you're probably already touched by the plight of the Syrian people, from what you already know about Syria and maybe from what you've heard today — touched by the plight of people who are just like me and you, who are just asking that they can go to school and go to university, and have the right to work, and send their children to hospital and to school etc.
02:03 You're already touched by that, and I hope that you're also enthused that there are solutions, and there's a lot of positive activity that is happening. There are some aid agencies who are delivering amazing aid on the ground, reaching areas that the international NGOs are not able to come anywhere near. There are grassroots organisations and civil rights movements which are doing an incredible job, both on the ground in Syria and just [over the] border [?].
02:35 So there are solutions. History does tell us that this dark moment in Syria will pass, because tyrannies, and these powers that be that once seem invincible, do fall — but they only fall if you act. So that's when you need to take the fact that you are touched, and the fact that you are enthused, and turn it into action. The anniversary coming up in a month must be the last anniversary. We must stop the bloodshed. We must stop the suffering.
02:35 [applause]
03:06 I completely reject the definition that this is a civil war. This is not a civil war. Half the population are not killing the other half. This is not two evenly matched armies trying to kill each other. This is a war on civilians. It has been from the beginning and it stays that. And I want everyone who hears someone else saying "oh, the situation in Syria is so complex" to say: no, it is not, it is really very simple. It is a war on civilians.
03:38 So, to be practical — because I'm a doer — there's lots of things you can do. If everyone in this room went and spoke to ten people they know about Syria, [about] what they've heard today, what they know about it, and asked those ten people to go and speak about it to others, then we will start to spread the word of what's happening in Syria, and ask them to act.
03:38 You all, I'm sure, have got various talents and various spheres in which you're interested. If you're a writer, write about what's happening in Syria. If you are a humanitarian like I am, then go and collect aid or fundraise. If you are into sports, run a marathon for one of the aid charities that are collecting aid for Syria.
04:10 If you are an activist, lobby your MPs. I've been to the UN, to Washington and to the European Union, and what I've constantly heard from all politicians was that they are not hearing from their constituents [any] public outrage on Syria. They are not being driven to take any action on Syria, because their population is silent. So you need to be telling your government and your different policy makers that you are outraged, that you do demand change, that you do demand something happens on Syria.
04:41 Dr Khan, I am so sorry for your pain and for your loss. I really do feel it. The humanity and dignity of your brother and of your family has just been truly inspiring — and especially your ceaseless [?] and dignified quest for answers and for justice. I promise you that I, and many others, will not let his death, or the death of everyone else in Syria, be in vain. I promise you that although we are all standing in a very deep river of blood, future generations will look back at this and say: that's when we got a fair and just and peaceful Syria.
05:45 I will invite everyone to act. There will be a campaign starting next week and running into the anniversary and beyond. It's a solidarity campaign, but it's beyond that: it's trying to generate a movement, to galvanise [the] public in thirty-five countries to push their governments for action.
05:45 And we will be asking three things. We will be asking to stop the bloodshed and the suffering. We will be asking to break the siege and allow humanitarian [aid] and medicine into every area of Syria. And we'll be asking for everyone to support Syrian civil society and organisations.
06:15 We must let this be the last anniversary. We must stop the bloodshed. Please act with us. We can do it. Thank you.
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