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UN calls for ceasefire in Syria’s Idlib province

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The co-penholders in the Security Council on the humanitarian dossier on Syria have introduced a draft resolution calling for yet another ceasefire, the respect for international human rights law and unimpeded humanitarian access in Idlib province.

The region represents the opposition’s final stronghold in the country and has been the focus of a military offensive by Syrian Government forces backed by Russia with conservative United Nation ( UN) estimates pointing to 500 civilians deaths and hundreds more injured since the escalation in north western Syria began in April.

The UN’s lead mediator pointed to some progress in establishing a constitutional committee as the next step in the long-stalled peace process.

The 150-strong constitutional committee comprising government, opposition and UN-nominated members mandated to draft a new post-war constitution for the war-torn country could be announced before heads of state gather at the UN in late September.

Geir Pedersen is the UN Special Envoy for Syria, the fourth person to hold this position.  “The package is nearly finalized, and the outstanding differences are, in my assessment, comparatively minor. I am convinced we can conclude negotiations and I am in contact with both the opposition and the government. I have also conveyed my readiness to return to Damascus in the very near future as part of completing the work. I am quietly hopeful that the UN will be in a position to announce an agreement before the General Assembly. ”

Pedersen indicated there was already a strong understanding among parties on two-equal co-chairs from the government and opposition, UN facilitation of the process and a 75% threshold to determine decisions while striving for consensus.

“I have found the insights from a broad range of Syrian civil society and Syrian women, including via our Civil Society Support Room and Women’s Advisory Board, to be extremely important in this regard. They reveal an underlying reality. A viable process cannot just be about meetings in Geneva. It needs to address real-life problems for Syrians, from the outset. To be a meaningful door opener, to be the moment that turns the page towards a new Syria, a constitutional committee’s launch should be accompanied by measures that have real impact on the ground.”

However, fighting on the ground, particularly in Idlib Governorate where Russia and Syria argue they are targeting terrorist elements, continued to undermine the political process with three million civilians caught in the crossfire. Belgian Ambassador Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve is a co-penholder on the Syrian humanitarian file.

“Today we call for the Council to urgently take a unified stance with us against this violence that has caused so much human suffering. This situation cannot continue. This is why the co-penholders for the humanitarian situation in Syria – Kuwait, Germany and Belgium – have presented a draft resolution to the members of this council that aims to urgently alleviate the humanitarian situation in Idlib. We look forward to working constructively with all Council members on this text.”

UN figures show that of the three million people impacted by the violence, 75% are women and children, pointing to satellite imagery that shows entire towns and villages razed to the ground while dozens of communities have been emptied.

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