Mushanad Issia is one the many young Syrians who have been forced to leave their country of birth in search of a better life. Behind him are the sound of bombs, armed hostilities, decimated streets, buildings and parks and the pain cast by such tragedy. He also left his mother and brother, an architect, who he now strives to help from his new home in Barcelona. 

A story of bravery and overcoming the odds, which, on 26 February, this young man, a civil engineer in Syria, shared with first-year students from the Bachelor’s Degree in Law. As part of the Faculty's continuing education lecture series, Issia told the students about the bureaucratic and legal hurdles he had to overcome to leave Syria and reach the Catalan coastline. 

“To get into Lebanon, they required a lot of documents”, explained Issia. Documents such as a comfort letter signed by the host country, a police certificate and medical certificate, in addition to official translations. “A had a lot of problems with the latter”, he explained, “because if a word is missing, then no visa”. And all this while making the arduous journey to the old continent.  

Issia now works as an intern at the University of Barcelona and has found lodging while studying a master’s degree at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC). “I’m lucky”.

In addition to Issia, Mariona Enfedaque de Càritas analysed the legal framework governing refugees, from the Geneva Convention to the constitutional articles and the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia.