NEW YORK: The United Nations special envoy for Syria told a Security Council meeting on Tuesday that the current diplomatic moves on Syria need to be matched with real action.
According to Arab News, Geir Pedersen said the Syrian citizens continue to suffer “on a huge scale,” and “while they’ve observed current diplomatic developments, they’ve not yet seen any improvement in the reality of their lives, whether inside Syria or outside Syria.”
Only “confidence building on the ground” and the resumption of the political process to eliminate the war would signal that “the current opportunity has been seized.”
Pedersen welcomed the current negotiations with the Syrian government in Amman, Moscow and Jeddah, focusing on many key problems. These include the humanitarian condition and safe access to aid delivery, a dignified and voluntary return of refugees, reconstruction, restoring Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and countering terrorist groups.
He said these were all concerns at the heart of United Nations Resolution 2254, and “common attention to these themes and points could present the opportunity to move forward.”
If such problems begin to be addressed, even if incrementally, Pedersen said this latest dynamic could create a “much-needed momentum.”
He said he “can only welcome” the current intensified regional consultations and work toward finding ways to unblock progress on Syria.
“After all, even minimal progress on some issues of resolution 2254 would require the confidence and resources of many different players and serious actions too.”
This month has seen the Arab League officially welcome Syria back. This ended the decade of exile from the pan-Arab body over President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protests, spiralling into a war that killed 500,000 citizens and displaced millions.
Pedersen said he reiterated, during his engagements with Syrian, international and regional interlocutors, his appreciation of “the haram of the status quo, both for the Syrian citizens and for regional and other global actors, who want to curb instability emanating across Syrian borders, including from narcotics, and who continue to host millions of Syrian refugees.”
For absolute confidence building and the serious resumption of the political process. Pedersen emphasized the importance of working toward a safe and dignified return of Syrian refugees that considers their security and economic fears.
Attention to this problem is significant “because it tells us that if the Syrian government were to start to address more systematically the protection concerns of the displaced, working closely with the UN, and if donors were to help the UN to do more to address the concerns all Syrians have about livelihoods, then this could help to do what we all said we want to do — build confidence, and begin to change realities on the ground for all Syrians — not only the displaced.
The UN envoy emphasized that addressing the fate of over 130,000 missing citizens and detainees in Syria’s prisons remains a “core problem for moving forward in Syria.”
“It is hard to see how there could be genuine confidence-building without some progress on this problem, which impacts nearly all Syrians and is fundamental to families, communities, and repairing Syria’s social fabric.”
