Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The last Metropolitan Council, which took place in July, approved two new projects in Syria: to provide protection and basic aid to Aleppo and to improve access to drinking water in Kobani.

These two new initiatives state the AMB's commitment to guarantee human rights and decent living standards for people in Syria, the main refugee focus, showing progress in meeting the priority issue of the 2015-2019 mandate: projects in the Eastern Mediterranean, focusing on a double strategy. On the one hand, actions in countries from this region which host refugees and, on the other, actions in Syria, the focus of the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean caused by armed conflict. 

Protection and basic aid for the population of Aleppo

AMB is entering Aleppo for the first time, together with UNHCR, in a context which is still particularly complex. Despite safety improved remarkably in 2017, there are still many areas with antipersonnel mines. In late December of 2017, in the Aleppo Governorate there were over 960,000 internal displaced persons, more than 440,000 returnees and over two million inhabitants in a situation of extreme vulnerability.

In view of this situation, the project will contribute to the international protection process and to advance in the guarantee of rights of the residents in Syria within the context of armed conflict. Basic emergency non-food items, such as blankets, mattresses, kitchen utensils and cooking stoves will be distributed in order to guarantee the most basic rights for 2,000 unprotected people who find themselves in a situation of extreme vulnerability. The distribution will be carried out following vulnerability criteria and it will prioritise single-parent families in which the mother has a prominent and preferential role in order to promote empowerment and equality between women and men.

Guaranteeing access to drinking water in Kobani

The objective of this project, which will be carried out with the Kurdish Red Crescent and the municipality of Kobani, is to guarantee the right of access to drinking water and good health for Kobani's 45,000 residents (Syrian Kurdistan).
Redeveloping the city's main water-pumping station, which was seriously damaged during the attacks perpetrated by Daesh (ISIS) and their allies between 2014 and 2015 is the main objective. Two new water pumps and a new station control system will be installed, the electrical installation will be repaired and the building hosting the station will be renovated. Furthermore, the station's performance-monitoring and maintenance systems will be inspected and the skills of the municipal technical team in charge of Kobani's water cycle will be strengthened.

The project will have a positive impact on the life of the most vulnerable parts of the population, such as women, children and people with disabilities, the collectives who suffer the most with water supply cuts and, therefore, those who will benefit the most from this improvement of the drinking water system. The initiative will also be beneficial for the environment, since it will prevent the overuse of wells, which would, in turn, lead to the drought of aquifers in the area in the medium-term.