There's no obvious solution to the ongoing civil war in Syria that has an estimated death toll of 100,000 civilians and displaced more than 1 million citizens since 2011. In a country rampant with sectarianism, more than 1200 rebel groups are fighting against the ruling government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian activists and foreign journalists are using social media to communicate and raise awareness about the conflict. Four panelists at the Social Good Summit on Tuesday presented their diverse views on the humanitarian efforts in the conflict.
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Rajesh Mirchandani, a BBC world affairs correspondent started his moderation of the panel by saying, "In the 12 seconds I have made this introduction, one Syrian has had to flee their home. By the end of this panel, two will have died."
David Miliband, the president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, said new technologies allow his organization to run health supplies across the borders of Jordan and Turkey into Syria.
Through our tracking system, we can make sure that people are getting the supplies they need," said Miliband. Recently, he wrote about the need for a "humanitarian surge" in Syria.
As the executive director of the Center for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution, Aziz Abu Sarah emphasized the importance of education for the more than 1 million Syrian child refugees. His organization runs an educational summer camp for refugee children that also provides methods for trauma, stress and grief healing, and when possible, teachers and volunteers are trained using online tools.
"If we don't really focus on education, we will end up with thousands of Syrians who cannot organize their country. At the end, Syrians are the ones that are going to have to solve this," he said.
Abu Sarah also mentioned that although Syrians are using social media for activism, it is difficult for Syrians to maintain full access with Internet censorship and the filters instituted by the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Social media posts from Syria are also mostly surfacing in Arabic — at times not gaining mass exposure with language barriers.
Anna Therese Day, an independent journalist that has reported from Syria, most recently for The Daily Beast, discussed the role of citizen journalism and the importance of verification and fact-checking of content surfacing on social platforms. She also mentioned that half of the Syrian population is under the age of 24, and many of them have sporadic access to social media and much of Internet access is determined by class and economic factors.
In an interview with Mashable after the panel, Day noted that she's witness extreme innovation from within Syria.
"Activists inside of Syria are incredibly innovative. There is encryption and hacking, but they are not safe. They will be tortured and killed if they are caught, and it has happened to many people now," she said. "The Syrian government has such a sophisticated electronic army."
About Social Good Summit
The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions and is brought to you by Mashable, The 92nd Street Y, The United Nations Foundation, The United Nations Development Programme, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ericsson. Held during U.N. Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Date: Sept. 22 through Sept. 24
Time: 12 to 6 p.m. each day
Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y.
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Image: Mashable, Casey Kelbaugh
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