 Good afternoon everybody. I'm very pleased to welcome you today to this event with the IAEA Protecting Healthcare in Conflict and Seeking Accountability. Great to have you with us this afternoon. I see some people are still arriving so maybe I might pause just for maybe another little minute just to just to let everybody in if that's okay. It's a real honor and a real pleasure for me to be asked to host this afternoon's session. My name is Jim Clarken. I'm the CEO of Oxfam Ireland and I'm also the chair of the European Fundamental Rights Agency. And as Oxfam we have of course been working in Syria since 2013 and have my colleagues have first-hand experience of what the impact that the conflict has had and continues to have and the devastating impact that is at a very human level as well as you know trying to understand the wider implications. But I'm really really delighted that today we're joined by Wahad Al-Kateeb and filmmaker and co-founder of Action for Sama and Hamza Al-Kateeb who's the medical doctor and also co-founder of Action for Sama. And they've been generous enough to join us today. It's such an honor to have you both with us. Shukran Katir, we're so grateful to you and we're really looking forward to hearing from you shortly. Our speakers will have about 20 minutes or so to speak and to describe their story even though if you listen and read their backstory you could probably spend several hours chatting to them because it's their journey has been fascinating and very inspiring. Just to let everybody know that you can join the discussion here using the Q&A function which is just down below on the zoom. You should hopefully see it on your screen and do feel free to send your questions in as we go along and I'll keep an eye on them and we can you know as they come to you and I'll keep an eye on them and we'll use them at the appropriate time once our speakers have finished. Just also to remind everybody that today's presentation and Q&A are both on the record so that's just so that you're aware. And finally if you would like to tweet about what you please do using the handle at IIEA. So now to formally introduce Wahad and Hamza and then hand over to them. So Wahad is the director of Orsama, winner of the BAFTA and nomination for an Academy Award for Best Documentary in which she introduced global audiences to the unimaginable lived experience and reality of civilians and medical personnel under attack in Syria. Hamza was the director of the last remaining hospital in East Aleppo, Al Quds during continued attacks by the Syrian and Russian regimes. He was responsible for the health care of the entire population of the area during the besiegement of the city and the medical evacuation during the forced displacement in 2016. Together Hamza and Wahad have founded Action for Sama and have since also led the stop bombing hospitals campaign with the aim to shed light on the attacks perpetrated against health care facilities seeking accountability on these crimes and amplifying the voices of health care professionals on the ground. And everybody listening here and participating in this will be acutely aware that as we speak these very attacks are happening today. So this is as pertinent now as it has ever been. It's a real honor to welcome you both to the IAEA and to this event and we really look forward to hearing from you. I think we're going to start with a short video. Thank you very much for this kind introduction. We'll start with this video about like the that we've done just like less than a week ago on the anniversary of the main attack of Al Quds hospital. So our hospital work again was like very several times one of the massive attacks was on the 27th of April 2016 which results in death of over like 52 people from the hospital and the sort of like the nearby buildings. And no one unfortunately and obviously no one has been held accountable till the moment for that attack. Neither the rest like 600 and over 25 attacks that happened in Syria through the past years. So it's still like that was part of remembering that target and bringing more awareness towards it. So I'll just need to figure this out. I witnessed too many massacres and did my best to save lives. I started working as a field doctor shortly after graduating and I was the manager of Al Quds hospital in East Aleppo. One of the only nine available to the people under continuous attacks from the regime and Russian violence. I tried to ensure our hospital's ability to continue working until our worst nightmare came through. At 9.42pm on the 27th of April 2016 several Russian airstrikes directly targeted our hospital resulting in widespread destruction. 52 people were killed that night. Among them patients and colleagues who had worked tirelessly to save every life possible before theirs was so brutally taken. But that was neither the first attack on a hospital nor would be the last. We did not surrender. We equipped a new and bigger hospital in a sheltered place. We knew it would be targeted again but we couldn't just stop. Providing healthcare services in such circumstances was beyond medicine. It was part of the whole city's resistance. Their aim was to destroy all hopes of life denying any right to healthcare to people leaving the wounded alone without medication nor assistance till death. But the success of this plan relies on the silence and indifference of the international community which allows such crimes to be repeated again and again in homes, Damascus, Daraa, Idlib and last but not least encouraging Russian warplanes to repeat what they did to Al-Quds hospital in 2016 beyond Syria's borders today. Not only to those in Syria but to all people subjected to war crimes and crimes against humanity. To date not a single person has been held accountable for these atrocities which seems to be fading in the background as new ones are committed albeit followed by the very same in action. Stop bombing hospitals is the call to action launched by Action for Summer as a large scale global campaign since 2019 by bringing first hand experience of the brutal reality faced by the healthcare sector during conflict. We have been elevating the voices of medical professionals under attack on the ground and have joined forces with colleagues from Syria, Ukraine, Europe and the US to expose such crimes in the front of the public everywhere. Targeting hospitals, the place's key to human survival is deliberate and aimed at breaking the people's resistance. Yet we will never let it go. Tell us more about the actual documentary. We are documenting the story and sharing the knowledge we developed through such a cruel experience in order to resist together and to pressure the international community and governments to take action. Hold criminals accountable and stop bombing hospitals. Join us. Thank you all for watching and thank you Jim again for the kind introduction and it's our honor to be here and it's our pleasure always to speak about what we witnessed and what we're still trying to do right now. I think like just watching something like this which is just we've done last week as Hamza mentioned talking about the same crimes that happened and still happening and like thank you so much Jim for like mentioning this very clearly that as we speak this is still happening and people living in different areas in Syria around even the world still being to be threatened you know by such attacks like this and the importance of of keep telling the story. My part of this was always about documentation and using any tools available in terms of media in terms of activism to speak out about this to make more awareness about this. I think one of the like kind of surprising question I've had since we left Syria since we were we survived there was why the regime is attacking hospitals and I think same question was asked even after Ukraine you know like why the regime why Russia is attacking hospitals and I think that was very fair but at the same time you know like a little bit I feel like sometimes hard to explain as much as it's very obvious in terms of the deliberate targets of healthcare facilities key centers and key places for for humanity as well as we just Hamza mentioned in the video and just to understand you know what we're facing as people as a human being as for me you know as a mother with two kids now with one kid at that time you know trying to navigate my daily life in Aleppo and you know like just to feel that any sort of life is being under attack trying people not to resist not to continue their lives not to defend their their basic rights of living so I think that that question is very important to to explain the Syrian regime supported by their allies Russia Putin and their kind of systematic way of burning everything around people around around humans so healthcare facilities are the main targets same like schools same bakeries same what we call in Syria the white helmet the Syrian civil defense similar like in Ukraine the people who run out to help like victims to help patients to help people who are under the rubbles all this kind of attack make people had no hope or and have now today even no hope but feeling that there's no way out there's no mercy and no humanity within this situation and I think you know encouraging healthcare workers activism people who are working to help other people to keep going and to document their stories document what they their work and what they are doing this is not just like to face the propaganda that Russia or the Syrian regime were using or still use are still using until today but also to document and to show the humanity of people you know what people are capable to do and able to do as individuals as like single doctors as we've seen in Elkhats hospital and other hospitals in Syria as a huge organization and Jimmy like your work and in Oxfam like you know you've been through this a lot you know like like documenting being able to connect with people and show people what you are doing as well this is all facing and and would face the the propaganda that Russia and the Syrian regime is doing and I think you know like what the Syrian regime is doing is more like kind of shaping the new world we were living in which is like no rules of anything no rules even of war no respect for for any human being for any like red lines toward any kind of like war or conflict or whatever we want to call the situation and I think that's very dangerous for for our future as a human being and in the other way around what we do as individuals as as organization as people who trying to build and live this alternative life facing all this kind of crimes and witnesses this is really like you know facing the rules that we should have even if it's a war between two countries and I'm not referring here to Russia and Ukraine because it's not a war between two two countries that's that was invasion but even when it's rules sorry even if it's a war between two countries rules should be respected people the human being civilians people who are even injured like soldiers should be under protection as as we all want as a human being and so every work has been documented is helping you know to set the rules that we want to have as a human being who wants freedom who want democracy who want the basic human rights in our lives through my work in Forzama and making that film and doing more films now and being able to go around the world and show people more about the story I felt the importance of that of feeling of letting people around the world to recognize what happened to learn more about this because at some point I think even as we felt people knew enough about what happened politicians knew enough but I think even even people who work in Syria for years they start to be numb they start to get used to this as numbers and I think our role and our work as like you know re framing and reminding people what what was this this about you know what how this small or big change in in these people's lives could really make a difference I can keep going for a long time so I will I will finish here and and give it to Hamzad to continue thank you so much for having me thank you so like when when we were living in in in East Aleppo and as I was like just freshly graduated doctor everything in in that like like word was completely new to us like the aid system how how things work how like proposals and then donor reporting and all of that same thing regarding like the human like the human rights like I guess no one easily come like if you stop anyone off the street and like what's stating like the principles of Geneva Convection or like they will tell you one or two things but they're not aware of of their rights and and and the rules looking at everything so I don't want to like repeat some of what I said but looking back now I guess one of the huge gap in accountability because accountability is a long way like we all look we all know that or acknowledge that but I guess the gap is in the current situation so and I'll talk on two things so there are several mechanisms to protect healthcare workers like whether it is like under the UN or under other like umbrellas and I can't name any of those like mechanisms that really like have any any element of accountability towards it I'll give an example like the deflection mechanism in Syria where something that the UN came to us as like the local healthcare workers through the NGOs saying that the deflection mechanism is basically sharing the locations of the main infrastructure and the main like health facilities with the conflict parties in order to make sure that those facilities are not targeted basically the deflection ends there there is no like what if so what happened is basically after the after getting all those informations putting us as local health workers into that pressure because we're always like shall I share this information and I know that those location will be shared with the Russian and the senior regime because they are the the UN state members and based on that I'm making putting my life and patience and the whole staff in risk by sharing the the location with them or shall I not share the location and then the hospital might be targeted and then someone would came and say like oh only you shared the coordinates with the UN that might have protect the hospital and since there is no then clear like what if the hospital what was targeted like what's the route after that the deflection mechanism it wasn't it wasn't clear and after a couple of years all the list of those hospitals were shared through the UN mechanism were targeted and then the UN started like a vague investigation that like like shyly pointed a little bit responsibility on the Syrian regime and the Russian and then basically the the Russian states that just like a withdrawal from the deflection mechanism in 2017 or 18 they just announced over no no like no longer going to be part of this and based on that the deflection mechanism has stopped so like as a local healthcare worker coming from a third world country I would expect better from the UN I would expect better from the think tanks that are in the US in the UK in Ireland in Europe everywhere that someone should has pointed out that what's the consequences of those locations that we shared clearly with the conflict parties were targeted what are we going to do next and the other thing that I want also to to highlight is like the way the aid system is operating in conflict areas what is the aid system like and particularly the in healthcare sector is doing to protect the lives of the local healthcare workers in Syria for example and also in documenting those attacks which doesn't violate any like the being like neutral or independent like aspects of the humanitarian war when we were in Syria I struggled a lot with donors for two things first one is to obtaining those CCTVs cameras in order to to to document what's happening in in in the hospital most of them and all of them said no like we can't it's not like part of any like award that we are getting there is no budget line for CCTV which is fair but that component of documenting what's happening should be part of of the protection of healthcare workers should be part of the do no harm like aspect in implementing healthcare like through through the aid system the other thing also like when we were always trying kind of like we need to get like an underground facility or we need to protect the hospital with as simple as sandbags to put them like in in front of the windows and doors to protect the hospital from pressure of airstrikes those requests also like were always met with refuse refusal because they would say like this is part of infrastructure and that's not a component of like that we can we can find we can't find you with salaries we can't find you with like running cost fuel and all of that while like infrastructure doesn't that it's not a component that we can we can fund which which is like kind of strange like looking at at the situation now in Syria or Ukraine when like you can get the fund for a hospital but no fund for protecting that hospital even as simple as as I said like sandbags and and and like that simple kind of engineering war and when the hospital is targeted you can give funding for relocation of hospital and buying new equipments and hiring a new people instead of the dead and then also no protection component in that and waiting for that hospital to be attacked again and you can get the fund so I guess like also the aid system like we all acknowledge I guess everyone in the on this in this like panel and call on like on zoom like like we know that hospitals are being targeted we know that it's a long way for accountability and my the point that I want to make is what is through this route until we get to the accountability and until like the day we know like what that everyone knows targeting a healthcare facility has a huge consequences and no one would dare to do that what are we doing in between what are we doing in helping the local healthcare workers for getting like protection and for getting like a decent documentation of their sacrifices like when someone is dead or when when like a hospital is targeted and patients are killed like at least to have that independent like documentation of it and as for example like the CCTV because we were always putting ourselves like when now like local healthcare workers talking from Ukraine the the the Russian and the the huge propaganda they have will always make like oh they're talking because like they are like influenced by the Ukraine like government because uh they are like we're using those like they were always like put you in that you are on one side of the conflict you can't really talk your opinion like is biased same thing in Syria like when we're talking about advocacy say like hey you're supporting tourist groups so we're not we don't care of uh of of like listening to you while if something came from like any huge large like international organization stating that like this is the hospital we were like funding and this is the CCTV that we know where in the inventory like independently it is told and we have access through like the the the IP cameras like we know that they are not manipulated and here's the documentation for anyone to use it that's that's part of the independent, independency and neutrality in providing also the the the aid assistance from my point of view and yeah that's almost half an hour from our side