YouSaid · the spoken record

De Mistura

lines on the record

707

first

2008-01-21

most recent

2018-12-20

sittings or episodes

34

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un-security-council

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1. “This time we are talking about civilians and fighters in Government- controlled areas, namely, Kafraya and Fo'ah, while considering evacuations - beginning with medical evacuations - following the three-year siege and intermittent attacks from armed groups surrounding that area. Let me share with the Council a recurrent concern thatIknow that all members have. If civilians and fighters are simply funnelled into northern Syria - mostly into Idlib - then that might only postpone another conflict affecting many additional people, which I will discuss later. Therefore, it is important to keep close watch on future developments in Idlib province. Meanwhile, civilians continue to pay a terrible price. To be precise, 110,000 people have been evacuated to north-western Syria and Operation Euphrates Shield areas in the past two months.”

   2018-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8260 (2018) · source

2. “However, we have also seen worrying developments elsewhere in Syria. Evacuations from eastern Ghouta were similarly repeated in the eastern Qalamoun area, southern Damascus and northern rural Homs. First, on the military escalation, the pattern has been one of incoming air strikes and artillery and outgoing mortars and rockets towards Damascus. Then there was a negotiation, followed by an agreement for the evacuation of those civilians and fighters unwilling to remain under Syrian Government control or Russian Federation protection guarantees. We have also seen similar evacuation agreements being discussed in ldlib province but in a completely different format - the reverse format.”

   2018-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8260 (2018) · source

3. “The Secretary-General stressed that the United Nations has a "duty to remind Member States that there is an obligation, particularly when dealing with matters of peace and security, to act consistently with the Charter of the United Nations, and with international law in general." (S/PV8233, p. 2) On the issue of chemical weapons, let me again echo the Secretary-General's call for the Security Council to "agree on a dedicated mechanism for ensuring effective accountability for the use of chemical weapons in Syria" (ibid.). As the Council well knows, as of now, we await the results of the ongoing investigation by the Fact-finding Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons following its visit to Douma, with a report to be issued to States parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention.”

   2018-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8260 (2018) · source

4. “Iran condemned the Israeli strikes and denied those claims. We are not is a position to independently verify every aspect of those incidents. However, even an incomplete picture shows the troubling trajectory of the increasingly frequent and ever more intense international confrontations over Syria, unprecedented since 1973. As the Security Council knows, the Secretary- General has followed those developments with great concern and called for restraint by all parties in order to avoid any acts that could escalate the situation and worsen the suffering of the Syrian people.”

   2018-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8260 (2018) · source

5. “On 29 April, strikes were reported on Syrian Government military facilities in Hamah and Aleppo. Some media outlets attributed those strikes to Israel, alleging that those killed included Iranian personnel. Neither Israel nor Iran responded to those claims. On 8 May, strikes were reported just south of Damascus. Syrian State media attributed those strikes to Israel. Israel did not confirm that claim. Israel then said that it had detected "irregular Iranian activity" in the occupied Golan, which it put on high alert. Between 9 and 10 May, Israel carried out dozens of strikes against presumed Iranian and Syrian Government military targets across southern Syria. The Israeli authorities claim that they were responding to Iranian forces firing rockets from Syrian territory at Israeli military targets in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

   2018-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8260 (2018) · source

6. “Mr. De Mistura: When I last briefed the Security Council on 9 April, it was at an emergency meeting (see S/PV.8225). On that occasion, I warned of the threats to regional and international peace and security arising from developments in or related to Syria. I know that today it is not an emergency meeting. However, the circumstances of an emergency very much remain. I do not need to remind members that tensions are high and regional and international confrontations have occurred several times. Allow me to highlight some recent events since 9 April. On 13 April, the United States, France and the United Kingdom conducted missile strikes in response to the allegations of the use of chemical weapons in eastern Ghouta. Those countries say that the strikes targeted three research and production facilities near Damascus and Homs.”

   2018-05-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8260 (2018) · source

7. “The Council cannot allow a situation of uncontrollable escalation to develop in Syria on any front. Instead, it must find unity and address the concrete threats to international peace and security in Syria today. I am sorry to have been this brief, but I wanted to focus on one specific concern, namely, the threat to international security related to what we are seeing now in Syria and the danger of the alleged chemical-weapons attacks being repeated. Next time I will brief the Council on humanitarian and other issues and on the political process, which I know we are all interested in focusing upon, but today is the day for talking about security - international security - and peace.”

   2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

8. “Thirdly, I have to say this very slowly because today is the first time, in over four years of briefing the Security Council in person, that I have reached a point in which I have to express a concern about international security, not just regional or national or Syrian security, but international security. Recent developments have more than ever before brought to the surface the dangers that the Secretary-General warned about recently at the Munich Security Conference, when he spoke of "different faultlines" in the Middle East that are interconnected and crossing each other, of conflicting interests of both global and regional Powers, and forms of escalation that can have absolutely devastating consequences that are difficult for us to even imagine.”

   2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

9. “We urge once more for concrete respect for resolution 2401 (2018) throughout Syria, which is, after all, a resolution of the Security Council. Secondly, continued allegations of the use of chemical agents are of extremely grave concern. Those allegations must be independently and urgently investigated. Any use of chemical weapons is absolutely prohibited and constitutes a very serious violation of international law, the Chemical Weapons Convention and resolution 2118 (2013). Preventing impunity and any further use of chemical weapons and upholding international law must be an utmost priority for all members of the Security Council.”

   2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

10. “Let me also highlight the fact that we have recently seen - and this is particularly tragic when we consider the efforts all of us, including all members of the Security Council, have made in the last year - the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant launch new operations within Syria, south of Damascus, in rural Damascus, in remote areas near the Iraqi border. I would like to conclude with some bottom lines, if I may. First, civilians are paying a very heavy price for the military escalation. We are not seeing de-escalation; we are seeing the contrary. Today our first priority must be to protect civilians from the war, from the conflict, from chemical weapons, from hunger. We call on all sides to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and human rights law, including humanitarian access across Syria to all people in need.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

11. “Meanwhile, following its operations in Afrin, the Turkish Government has indicated the potential for further operations in other areas of northern Syria if Partiya Yekitiya Demokrat and Kurdish People's Protection Units forces are not removed from those areas. Military operations in such areas have the potential of raising international tensions. We therefore urge all parties concerned to de-escalate, show restraint and find means to implement resolution 2401 (2018) through dialogue and fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

12. “The United Nations is unable to independently verify or attribute responsibility for that attack, but we urge all parties to show their utmost restraint and avoid any further escalation or confrontation. We are also concerned about the dynamics in other areas of Syria. Syrians in Dar'a, northern rural Homs, eastern Qalamoun, Hamah and Idlib have all expressed to us their own fears that they may soon face escalations similar to what we have seen in eastern Ghouta. We therefore urge the Security Council and the Astana guarantors and those States involved in the Amman efforts to work towards reinstating de-escalation in those areas and elsewhere in Syria. The indications are the opposite at the moment.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

13. “I urge that there be, for there should be, an immediate refocusing for the implementation of resolution 2401 (2018). What we have see is basically an escalation before a de-escalation. Clearly, the dangers of further escalation arise from situations beyond Ghouta as well. We have received reports of missiles targeting the Syrian Government's Tiyas, or T-4, airbase early this morning. No State has claimed responsibility for that reported strike. The United States and France have explicitly denied any involvement. The Syrian Government, the Russian Federation and Iran have suggested that Israel could have carried out the attack, with Iranian State media reporting that over a dozen military personnel were killed or injured, including four Iranian military advisers. The Government ofIsrael has not commented.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

14. “The Russian Federation also reported that up to 8,000 Jaysh Al-Islam fighters and 40,000 of their family members were to evacuate. As I brief the Security Council now, we understand that additional evacuations from Douma are already under way. We have also received reports that some detainees - the ones we had heard about before - had begun to be released from Douma today. We note reports that the agreement provides for civilians who decide to stay to remain under Russian Federation guarantees, with the resumption of services in coordination with a local committee of civilians. I urge the Syrian Government and the Russian Federation to ensure the protection of those civilians so that as many civilians as possible can stay in their homes ifthey choose to, or leave to a place of their own choosing or return as per international law.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

15. “Thomas Markram, Deputy of the High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, who is with us in the Chamber today, will further address this matter. But I urge the Security Council, in accordance with its own mandate to maintain international peace and security and uphold international law, to, for God's sake, ensure that a mechanism is found to investigate these allegations and assign responsibility. Returning to the narrative of the events, at around midnight on 7 April, hours after the alleged chemical-weapons attack, Jaysh Al-Islam informed the United Nations that it had reached an agreement with the Russian Federation and the Syrian Government. The Russian Federation Ministry for Defence stated that the agreement encompasses a ceasefire and Jaysh Al-Islam fighters laying down their arms or evacuating Douma.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

16. “I note that a number of States have strongly alluded to or expressed the suspicion that the Syrian Government was responsible for the alleged chemical attack. I also note that other States, as well as the Government of Syria itself, have strongly questioned the credibility of those allegations, depicting the attacks as a fabrication or/and a provocation. My comment is that this is one more reason for there to be a thorough independent investigation. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has said that it has made the preliminary analysis of the reports of the alleged use of chemical weapons and is in the process of gathering further information from all available sources. My colleague Mr.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

17. “Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the ground claimed to have received hundreds of cases of civilians with symptoms consistent with exposure to chemical agents. The same NGOs claimed that at least 49 people had been killed and hundreds injured. I wish to recall what the Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, noted, namely, that the United Nations "is not in a position to verify these reports". However, he also made it very clear that he cannot ignore them and that he "is particularly alarmed by allegations that chemical weapons have been used against civilian populations in Douma" once again. He further emphasized "that any use of chemical weapons, if confirmed, is abhorrent and requires a thorough investigation".”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

18. “There were reports of sustained air strikes and shelling against Douma, the killing of civilians, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and attacks damaging health facilities. There were also reports of shelling on Damascus city, which reportedly again killed or injured civilians. Jaysh Al-Islam requested our involvement in emergency talks in extremis, but there was no positive response to that request when it conveyed the same message to the other side. At approximately 8 pm. local time on 7 April, reports of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma started to emerge. Pictures immediately circulated on social media showing what appeared to be lifeless men, women and children.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

19. “However, in Douma there was a fragile ceasefire, which continued for most of March. The United Nations good offices played an important role in that regard. Since 31 March, the United Nations has no longer been able to be involved in talks, since, at that time, the Syrian Government did not agree to our presence, although we made efforts to propose concrete ways to address the issues that we understood were arising in the continuing contacts, including the proposal to activate the detainee working group agreed in Astana. However, that proposal was not taken up at the time. From 2 April, the evacuation of some 4,000 fighters, family members and other civilians from Douma to northern Syria took place. However, on 6 April there was a major escalation in violence.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

20. “Mr. De Mistura: This emergency meeting of the Security Council underscores the gravity of the events in recent days in Syria, of which there are severe consequences for civilians. It takes place at a time of increased international tensions, drawing national, regional and international actors into dangerous situations of potential or actual confrontation. It is an important meeting. There is an urgent need for the Council to address the situation with unity and purpose. How did we reach this point? The month ofMarch saw devastating violence in part of eastern Ghouta, which resulted in at least 1,700 people killed or injured in opposition-controlled areas, dozens and dozens of people killed or injured in Government-controlled areas and, ultimately, the evacuation of 130,000 people, including fighters, family members and other civilians.”

    2018-04-09 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8225 (2018) · source

21. “And de-escalation must replace what we are watching at the moment - a clear tendency towards escalation. I will continue, creatively and determinedly, to seek to facilitate the overall political process. As the Secretary-General said on Monday, the ultimate goal is to help the Syrians and to "see a united, democratic Syria able to avoid fragmentation and sectarianism and with its sovereignty and territorial integrity respected, and to see a Syrian people able to freely decide their future and choose their political leadership." (S/PV820], p. 5)”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

22. “I also hope that the gathering of a significant number of Foreign Ministers will also provide an opportunity to reinvigorate the collective efforts of the international community towards a sustainable peace through the United Nations- led peace process in Geneva, within the framework of resolution 2254 (2015) and other relevant resolutions. In conclusion, I urge caution. We must recognize that we are witnessing developments of the utmost gravity on the ground. These events demand action, and the world is worried and watching. I remain concerned that concrete matters that we have been trying to advance - resolution 2401 (2018), detainees and a constitutional committee 4 need to move faster and with more meaningful impact than has so far proven possible.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

23. “Syrians need to see some positive movement on the political process. On Monday I will be attending ameeting ofEuropean Union (EU) Foreign Ministers here in Brussels. On Tuesday, I should be back in Geneva. I will attend the meeting at the invitation of High Representative Mogherini, in the context of the preparatory efforts of the EU and the United Nations for their joint ministerial conference in Brussels at the end of April. I hope that the Conference will provide a significant opportunity to bolster international support for the Syrian people though humanitarian commitments.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

24. “In particular, it is clear that there must be more and serious talks with the Government, the opposition and all Syrian and international stakeholders on what is required in order to establish a secure, calm, neutral environment, as per resolution 2254 (2015), in which a constitutional process and United Nations-supervised presidential and parliamentary elections, pursuant to a new constitution, could viably take place. We remained determined to engage all parties. As I said in my most recent briefing, a month ago (see S/PV.8181), conflict is increasingly spilling over Syria's borders, or at least risks doing so. This month we have further incidents of potential and real international confrontation within Syria that we cannot independently verify, but which concern us. That is precisely we need urgent action on the political front.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

25. “I have impressed that on the relevant guarantors repeatedly in recent weeks, just as I continue to make clear the readiness of the United Nations to engage the Government of Syria on this matter. We need them to be part of it. We need to have the comprehensive participation of all Syrian parties. In the meantime, we have been proactive in offering creative suggestions as to how to expedite the formation of that constitutional committee. We continue to assess various options on how to advance discussions on all four baskets ofthe political process in Geneva.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

26. “I must report that at this stage - more than two weeks beyond one month since the National Dialogue Congress in Sochi - we have not yet received the complete inputs on the pool of candidates for a constitutional committee developed in Sochi, from the three guarantors. It is my intention, in close consultations with all concerned, to look carefully at this pool when we receive it, and at others as required and consistent with resolution 2254 (2015), to facilitate the establishment of the constitutional committee. I must also report, once again, that there is still some serious homework to be done regarding the Syrian Government's readiness to engage on implementing the Sochi final declaration and moving forward with a constitutional committee in Geneva.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

27. “To this end, we seek to leverage the momentum produced by the Sochi final declaration, which emphasizes the fact that we should have a constitutional committee in Geneva with the assistance of the United Nations. We take note, therefore, of the statement issued - today, I believe - by the Astana guarantors in their own ministerial meeting, in which they reaffirmed that "the results ofthe Sochi Congress, especially to form the constitutional committee and to facilitate the beginning of its work in Geneva with the assistance of the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria as soon as possible." However, I have to be frank.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

28. “There too, it is with the people of Syria in mind and their legitimate aspirations for the long-term shape of their country that we continue our political efforts - in spite of what we see on the ground - for a sustainable settlement of the conflict. And there too, the voices of women across Syria conveying their wish to play a meaningful role - just as with our own civil society - in the next stage of the political process must be heard. Therefore, my team and I have continued to consult, in the context of the political side, widely and intensively on the formation of the constitutional committee in Geneva in an effort to advance the full and complete implementation of resolution 2254 (2015) within the framework of the United Nations-facilitated political process in Geneva.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

29. “We will intensify our contact with them and the parties in order to accelerate work on that important - frankly, crucial - humanitarian issue. We should remind ourselves that the issue of detainees and missing persons was first raised in Astana a year ago and, sadly, no concrete progress has been made so far. We owe it to the Syrian families on all sides who have long been awaiting word on the fate of their relatives. Although the logic of war clearly still prevails and resolution 2401 (2018) is not being implemented as it should be, as the Secretary-General stated, we absolutely refuse to give up hope of seeing Syria rising from the ashes. The Syrian people deserve to be helped. The Syrian people are proud. They love their country. We need to help them to go back to having a normal country.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

30. “With regard to a separate humanitarian issue, on 14 March my technical team participated in the first meeting of the Working Group on detainees and missing persons that took place in Astana. We pressed the Astana guarantors at that meeting and before to make progress on the crucial issue, which to us, is one of the main reasons we attend meetings in Astana. It is an issue that has been at the forefront of our concerns. We have offered to host a standing secretariat so that information on detainees can be distributed in all meetings of the Working Group. Thus far, the guarantors have simply agreed to consider our proposal about a standing secretariat in Geneva to monitor the issue of detainees, but no final decision has been taken.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

31. “The United Nations has also received reports of civilian casualties and restrictions on movement for many of the large numbers of civilians seeking to leave the city. I urge all parties to ensure that civilians seeking to leave Afrin be given safe passage. Since 6 March, it has been reported that people in Afrin city have suffered from severe water shortages as its source of water has been damaged by the fighting. Allow me to add a point of particular importance that was revealed in a recent report. The safety of Syrian women in particular is threatened when they are evacuated following the lifting of a siege or end of a battle. Threats include widespread sexual and gender- based violence, which has been widely documented and mentioned by women's groups. The protection and needs ofwomen must be at the forefront of our response.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

32. “The United Nations stands ready to provide assistance to people in need - those who choose to stay and those who want to leave. We are also extremely concerned about the plight of civilians throughout Syria. They include the displaced, as well as almost 3 million in besieged and hard-to- reach areas and those caught up in escalations in Idlib, Hama, Aleppo and Dar'a. Resolution 2401 (2018) demands that all parties immediately lift the sieges of populated areas. To date, that has not occurred. According to my colleagues, the situation in Afrin is particularly worrying. We have received reports of tens of thousands of people displaced within Afrin and to nearby Tell Rifaat and surrounding villages, Nubul and Zahra, and other areas of Aleppo governorate.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

33. “We have also received reports of thousands of people displaced, some moving further into eastern Ghouta and many others exiting en masse in large groups, as a result ofthe advances of the Syrian Government in Hama, Noria and in Saqba. Evacuations not observed by the United Nations are also reported to have taken place, including from Misraba and other areas. The United Nations was not present to observe those evacuations and is unable to know the precise number of them. We urge parties that all evacuations must take place in accordance with the highest protection standards under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Whether civilians choose to stay or leave, they must be protected against attacks and have access to the essentials to survive. They must be safe and voluntarily enter a place of their of choosing.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

34. “Can we imagine the situation elsewhere? In other words, in the other two enclaves of eastern Ghouta further south, we have seen no ceasefire to speak of and to borrow the words of the Secretary-General, people are still living in hell on Earth. Scores of people have been killed and the injured left unattended because health workers could not reach them due to the relentless air strikes. We have heard fresh allegations about the use of incendiary weapons in various urban areas and the targeting of medical facilities since 12 March, as well as new and disturbing allegations of chlorine use in those areas. As the Secretary-General has stated, we cannot independently verify those allegations but we also cannot and should not ignore them.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

35. “Civilians require much more, including medical and health-care supplies, the restoration of water, commercial access and freedom of movement. Members of the Council must have seen the report in which Mr. Peter Maurer, who had been meeting with some of the people in eastern Ghouta, stated they were simply asking for water. They just needed water. Humanitarian colleagues who entered those areas spoke of having seen hunger, dire want, poverty, haggard faces and despair all around. Even for experienced people, such as my own humanitarian colleagues, it is an unsustainable situation in which people are on the brink of collapse a few kilometres - 20 minutes' drive - from Damascus. Let me be clear, that is only in Douma - an area which has seen a few days ofceasefire and positive movement on humanitarian access.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

36. “Meanwhile, since I have the opportunity to brief the Council today, let me provide some information about the humanitarian situation. On 13 March, the United Nations observed the evacuation of 147 civilians, including 10 critical medical cases - the majority of them women and children from Douma who sought shelter in rural Damascus. Based on the outcome of discussions and meetings between the Russian military and Jaysh al-Islam, facilitated by the United Nations, on 15 March, United Nations colleagues also delivered a convoy of food assistance to Douma for 26,100 people in need. Additional medical cases were also evacuated. Let us be honest and admit that positive efforts are generally welcome and long overdue, but remain limited.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

37. “There have also been air strikes in Idlib and a new armed-opposition offensive in Hama. Clashes and air strikes have also occurred in Dar'a, southern Syria. If now is the time for de-escalation, the Security Council had better convince me that de-escalation is indeed taking place. What we see on the map looks like the opposite - escalation. Let me re-emphasize that resolution 2401 (2018) cannot be applied piecemeal. It is not an a la carte menu. It applies to all non-Security- Council-listed terrorist groups across Syria. Let me also reiterate the words of the Secretary-General who stated that even efforts to combat terrorist groups identified by the Council do not supersede obligations under international law. I am sure that members ofthe Council will have the opportunity to hear a briefing from Mr. Mark Lowcock.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

38. “As we have done so far, the United Nations therefore stands ready to offer its good offices to all parties to facilitate further engagement of that kind so as to make a concrete contribution to the implementation of resolution 2401 (2018) in all areas of eastern Ghouta. The United Nations is not ready to facilitate ultimatums from either side. It stands ready to facilitate discussion, a ceasefire and evacuations. Meanwhile, violence has escalated across many other parts of Syria, where there is no ceasefire to speak of. In Afrin, the Turkish Government forces and their armed allies continue to gain ground rapidly. We have also received reports of shelling in besieged Fo'ah and Kafraya - two villages which, for a long time, have been held by the opposition.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

39. “We are also hearing from people inside eastern Ghouta, asking the United Nations, the Council and Member States with influence to pressure the armed opposition groups to let civilians leave and to pressure all parties for a ceasefire and protection for those who do not want to leave but want to stay. The bottom line of all this is that too many civilians are suffering and too many have died in that area. Let me first say that it need not be that way. Negotiations in Douma in the past few days show that there is a way to create the conditions to advance the implementation of resolution 2401 (2018).”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

40. “They are dominant forces in the two other enclaves in eastern Ghouta - in Harasta and around Kafr Batna, Ayn Tarma, Arbin, Zamalka and Jobar, respectively. In those two other areas, we have not seen any ceasefire to speak of. Rather we have seen Government forces and their allies pursue a concerted escalation against those two enclaves with rapid ground offensives, accompanied by shelling and airstrikes. Reports of a public market in Kafr Batna having been hit are just coming in. Of course, we need to verify them, since they are new reports. Again, regrettably, there are numerous civilian casualties. We have also seen continuous shelling coming from those areas of eastern Ghouta inside civilian areas of Damascus again.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

41. “In other words, the talks, the discussions and the ceasefire have been effected and implemented with Jaysh Al-Islam in Douma but not beyond. However, that is only one part of eastern Ghouta. For example, the ceasefire is not being replicated in the rest of eastern Ghouta or elsewhere, and it is extremely fragile. While I speak, I understand that at this very moment there are some delicate meetings taking place regarding the follow-up to the arrangement regarding Douma. Let us therefore hope that the ceasefire holds because that would be at least one good piece of news among very bad news. The United Nations has been practicably offering its good offices but efforts to facilitate meaningful contacts between the Russian Federation and Faylaq Al-Rahman or Ahrar Al-Sham have not yet produced results.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

42. “So whatever we do these days and whatever we suggest, including our current facilitation role, is constantly framed by the urgent needs of ordinary civilians - women, children and men. Since the briefing by the Secretary-General, in the past few days further meetings have taken place between the Russian Federation and Jaysh Al-Islam on the outskirts of Douma, which is the northernmost of the three opposition-controlled enclaves in eastern Ghouta. The result of that engagement is a tenuous and fragile ceasefire between the Government, the Russian military and the Jaysh Al-Islam forces, which has now largely continued to hold for the sixth day. We hope that it will continue to do so, notwithstanding the engagement between Government forces and Jaysh Al-Islam in other areas outside Douma, such as the village of Reihan.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

43. “The Secretary-General also underscored that it was incumbent on all the parties and on all those with influence in the Council, in the Astana process and in the broader International Syria Support Group to act on the resolution throughout Syria without delay. Allow me to update the Council on where we stand on the matter since then - that is, since the Secretary- General gave a very comprehensive report - on the very day after the sad anniversary of the beginning of the conflict. We are entering the eighth year. In everything that we are doing in the horrific conflict, our compass - and I know the Council feels the same - has been, is and should be the Syrian people, wherever they are, who are telling us that they are fed up with the conflict and the way in which civilians are being affected in the cross-fighting. That is our compass.”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

44. “Mr. De Mistura: We have been constantly, around the clock, in touch with the Secretary-General, my colleagues in the field and all those with influence because, as the Security Council knows, many events, some of which are very worrisome, have taken place in the past few days. On 7 March, I briefed the Council in consultations on the status of the implementation of resolution 2401 (2018). At that time, I said that there had not been any sustained ceasefire or adequate humanitarian access at that stage. On 12 March, the Secretary-General himself orally reported to the Council on the implementation of resolution 2401 (2018) and United Nations efforts to create such conditions by using his own good offices or those of his own team, including ourselves (see S/PV.8201).”

    2018-03-16 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8206 (2018) · source

45. “To do that, I will need all members of the Security Council i that is, the Council as a whole f and all those who have influence on the Syrian parties, including the Astana guarantors, among others, to push hard on three main points. First, they must work towards de-escaltion, civilian protection and humanitarian access. Secondly, they must work to support the United Nations in Geneva so that the Sochi final declaration can take effect within the framework of resolution 2254 (2015). Thirdly, they must work to support the United Nations in facilitating the political process for the full implementation of resolution 2254 (2015), in particular with regard to advancing real issues in the basket to promote a safe, calm and neutral environment. The Syrian people and the United Nations need the Security Council's support now more than ever.”

    2018-02-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8181 (2018) · source

46. “I am particularly aware of the need to focus, now more than ever, on the establishment of a secure, calm and neutral environment if a constitutional process is to happen and if United Nations-supervised presidential and parliamentary elections are to take place under a new constitution, as envisaged in resolution 2254 (2015). From here, I will be travelling to Munich, God willing, where I will consult with the Secretary-General and join a number of ministers and other senior officials who will be present at the Munich Security Conference. Herewith is the bottom line of my statement. I intend to strike while the iron is hot and move forward the Geneva process, in consultation with all concerned.”

    2018-02-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8181 (2018) · source

47. “Since the Vienna and Sochi meetings, both of which were important, I have consulted intensively on the establishment of a constitutional committee. I have had initial discussions so far in Geneva with representatives of the Government of Syria, the Syrian negotiations commissions and a number of other Governments. My team remains in touch with a wide array of Syrian women and men, and I continue to look carefully at the candidates for the constitutional committee, which was conceived in Sochi, and other relevant input. I also continue to pursue the convening of further formal intra-Syrian talks to make progress with regard to all four baskets of the political process in Geneva pursuant to resolution 2254 (2015).”

    2018-02-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8181 (2018) · source

48. “Furthermore, I publicly noted to the Congress, as I note to the Security Council today, that the mandate given by the Council to the United Nations in Geneva is to establish a schedule and process for drafting a new Constitution within the framework of resolution 2254 (2015). We have been assured by the Russian Federation that it will endeavour to ensure that the Government of Syria fully supports the official outcome ofthe Congress in Sochi, at which many Syrian Government officials were present. I also take note that the Syrian negotiations commission * that is the opposition embracing all those components specifically mentioned by name in resolution 2254 (2015) - has issued a public statement that is generally positive with regard to moving forward on a constitutional committee under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva.”

    2018-02-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8181 (2018) · source

49. “The final statement noted that care should be taken to ensure an adequate representation of Syria's ethnic and religious components. It made clear that the final agreement on the mandate, terms of reference, powers, rules of procedure and selection criteria for the composition of the constitutional committee should be reached in Geneva, and appealed for the assistance of the United Nations Office in Geneva in that regard. Given that important final statement, I joined the closing of the Congress to welcome it and to affirm the United Nations intention to proceed speedily and accordingly so as to assist in finalizing all aspects of a constitutional committee, thereby enabling its establishment in Geneva.”

    2018-02-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8181 (2018) · source

50. “It has been published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Arabic, Russian and English, as Foreign Minister Lavrov publicly confirmed yesterday, following his meeting in Moscow with the Belgian Foreign Minister. As the Secretary-General has noted, the final statement embraced a vision of a future in Syria for all Syrians - as reflected in the 12 living intra-Syrian essential principles that came out of the United Nations- led talks in Geneva in November last year. The final statement agreed in Sochi affirmed that a constitutional committee should be formed and stated that it should, at the very least, comprise the Government; opposition representatives in the intra-Syrian talks, facilitated by the United Nations in Geneva; Syrian experts, civil society, independents, tribal leaders and women.”

    2018-02-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8181 (2018) · source