The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNITED NATIONS
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: UN Special Envoy for Syria-Geir Pedersen
Syria’s warring parties will resume talks in Geneva, says UN envoy
Syria’s opposing parties have agreed to resume talks in Geneva over their war-torn country as soon as travel restrictions linked to the COVID-19 pandemic allow, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen said on Tuesday.
“As soon as the pandemic situation allows, they have agreed to come to Geneva, and as I said, they have agreed on an agenda for the next meeting,” Mr. Pedersen told journalists via videoconference from Oslo, without setting a date.
To date, the spread of the new coronavirus has been limited, with most cases in Government-controlled areas and no cases reported in the last opposition-held areas in the northwest.
“In terms of COVID itself, so far the official case count in Syria is very low; it’s 64 and there is of course great relief that the numbers are not a lot worse when it comes to Syria,” Mr. Pedersen said. “But, at the same time, this is also what I’m hearing from Syrians when I’m talking to them, there is of course a risk of a wider spread that is ever-present, so there is no cause for complacency.”
Dismissing the possibility of holding a virtual meeting between delegates who have previously participated in UN-led Constitutional Committee discussions in the Swiss city, the negotiator highlighted fears that a fragile truce in Syria could disintegrate at any moment.
“There is a relative calm in Idlib, the ceasefire that Turkey and Russia entered into in the beginning of March is still by and large holding,” he said, echoing comments delivered on Monday to the Security Council in New York.
“And I have said that this is indeed good news, but I’ve also warned that hostilities could resume and that would have devastating consequences of course not only in Idlib, but in many other parts of Syria as well.”
Ordinary Syrians remained deeply concerned about the plight of their country, the UN official explained, citing anxiety over food shortages and disappointment at the lack of progress on reaching a political agreement to stop widespread, ongoing violence.
These developments include “mutual attempts at cross-line offensives”, he told the Security Council, “most notably by the extremist wa-Harid al-Mu’minin operations room. A number of Syrian soldiers were killed during this attack. This prompted an escalation, including increased artillery strikes on areas inside Idlib, as well as rocket fire towards Hmeimim airbase in Latakia, before the episode was contained.”
Elsewhere, “mutual shelling” incidents have been reported along with improvised explosive device attacks around Afrin and the northeast, Mr. Pedersen earlier told the Security Council, along with “targeted killings and a military build-up and clashes in the southwest”, further reports of Israeli airstrikes in Deir-ez-Zor and Aleppo and evidence of an ISIL “resurgence” in the east.
“So obviously, (it’s) very important that the US and Russia continue to work together,” he told journalists on Tuesday. “They’ve done it before with success, without the US-Russia cooperation we would never have had Security Council resolution 2254. And so, my appeal is for them to strengthen that cooperation and to move on and to support the process.”
Underscoring the profound apprehension and worry among many Syrians about the fate of detainees, abductees and missing persons since the country descended into civil war more than nine years ago, Mr. Pedersen called for their release, as part of confidence-building measures between the warring parties.
“I said have stressed again and again that the time has come now for more meaningful actions on all of these issues, you know, as I said on detainees, abductees and indeed also on missing persons.”
UN-brokered talks between the Syrian Government, opposition forces and civil society as part of the Constitutional Committee process began last November.
Should they happen, the new talks would bring together the smaller Constitutional Committee body for the third time; it comprises 15 members from the Government, the opposition and civil society. The full Constitution Committee numbers 150 participants, 50 from each delegation.
- Wide shot: exterior, UN Geneva flag alley.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “In terms of COVID itself, so far the official case count in Syria is very low; it’s 64 and there is of course great relief that the numbers are not a lot worse when it comes to Syria. But, at the same time, this is also what I’m hearing from Syrians when I’m talking to them, there is of course a risk of a wider spread that is ever-present, so there is no cause for complacency.”
- Wide shot: UN Geneva main entrance, raised angle.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “There is a relative calm in Idlib, the ceasefire that Turkey and Russia entered into in the beginning of March is still by and large holding. And I have said that this is indeed good news, but I’ve also warned that hostilities could resume and that would have devastating consequences of course not only in Idlib, but in many other parts of Syria as well.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley, UN Palais des Nations entrance with UN lettering and logo.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “So obviously, (it’s) very important that the US and Russia continue to work together; as I said, they’ve done it before with success, without the US-Russia cooperation we would never have had Security Council resolution 2254. And so my appeal is for them to strengthen that cooperation and to move on and to support the process.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva Palais des Nations building with UN lettering and UN logo.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “As soon as the pandemic situation allows, they have agreed to come to Geneva, and as I said, they have agreed on an agenda for the next meeting.”
- Medium shot: UN Geneva flag alley.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) – Geir Pedersen, UN Special Envoy for Syria: “I said have stressed again and again that the time has come now for more meaningful actions on all of these issues, you know, as I said on detainees, abductees and indeed also on missing persons.”
- Wide shot: UN Geneva Palais des Nations building with UN flag flying.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The appointment on Thursday of Karla Quintana as head of the Independent Institution on Missing Persons in the Syrian Arab Republic is a key development after nearly a year and a half of work by the UN Human Rights Office supporting the institution’s launch.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM , UNICEF , UNRWA , WHO
The head of the UN migration agency stressed on Friday that Syria is in no position to take back millions of Syrians following the fall of the Assad regime, while there is an urgent need to “re-evaluate” sanctions impacting the war-ravaged country.
1
1
1
Edited News | IIIM , UNHCR
Syria: ‘Key priority’ is to preserve evidence of crimes – UN investigators
In Syria, new access to evidence of horrific human rights violations means that accountability may be closer than ever – if only proof can be preserved, a top UN investigator said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OSE , ICRC , UNHCR
Syria: UN and partners urge action to preserve evidence of prison atrocities, stabilize country
Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria five days ago, hundreds of people have rushed to Saydnaya prison, desperate to find loved ones. Disturbing images from the prison and other detention centers have since surfaced, exposing the “unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured for years,” said Jenifer Fenton, spokesperson for the UN special envoy for Syria, on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNRWA
Gaza: “Sickening normalisation” of suffering, amid attacks on people and aid convoys
Ongoing military operations by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza continue to devastate Palestinian children and families, with mounting casualties and a critical lack of humanitarian aid for the desperate population.
“Local media reporting here that last night, 30 people were killed in this area in strikes” said a senior emergency officer with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Louise Wateridge, speaking to reporters in Geneva from central Gaza.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OHCHR
Rights experts call for end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law
Four independent human rights experts have jointly called for the international community to sanction Israel’s conduct of hostilities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as well as in the wider Middle East region - including in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. They also called for the restoration of trust in the international justice system through the abandonment of “extreme interpretations” and “double standards” in the application of the universal norms regulating the conduct of war.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNHCR
Syria: needs continue to grow amid highly uncertain situation, say aid teams
The historic power shift in Syria and the still volatile situation two days after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime have increased humanitarian needs in a country where nearly 17 million people, including millions of internally displaced, already depended on humanitarian aid before the recent events, UN aid teams said on Tuesday.
2
1
3
Edited News , Press Conferences | OSES
Barely 48 hours since opposition forces including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept into Damascus and forced out President Bashar al-Assad, the top UN negotiator tasked with helping Syrians’ create a peaceful and democratic future insisted that nothing could be taken for granted.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday called on States to do all in their power to end senseless conflicts and suffering.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
No evacuation order given before Kamal Adwan Hospital strike, says WHO
One of the last partially functional health centres in northern Gaza was reportedly hit again overnight into Friday by several strikes, leaving four health workers among the casualties and the dead, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
2
1
2
Edited News , Press Conferences | OCHA
More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk has called on the Georgian authorities to respect and protect the rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly following several nights of protests that were marred by violence, and dispersed using disproportionate, and in some cases unnecessary, force by the police in the capital, Tbilisi.