Statement on behalf of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura

Special Envoy de Mistura and his team recently met with a diverse group of thirty members of Syrian civil society in the context of the regular engagement undertaken by his Office via the platform of the Civil Society Support Room (CSSR).

CSSR participants in this round of consultations gathered in Geneva on 26-27 November 2018. They came from different areas of Syria and the region and work on a variety of issues including humanitarian relief, women empowerment, and promotion of dialogue. In addition to engaging each other and the OSE team, they also met with a range of international stakeholders in Geneva.

In the course of consultations, civil society members called for the establishment of the constitutional committee under UN auspices and for credible civil society participation in it. They appealed to all parties to protect civil society and humanitarian workers inside and outside Syria and condemned recent escalations of violence in Idlib, calling for the adherence to and continuity of the Idlib memorandum of understanding and the protection of civilians. They stressed the importance attached by Syrians to the issues of arbitrary detention, abductees and missing persons, and called for utmost priority to be given to efforts to secure the release of detainees and abductees and the identification of missing persons.

The Special Envoy will continue to consult with the Syrian civil society in all its diversity on issues of relevance to the UN-led mediation efforts and the lives of millions of Syrians.


Geneva, 28 November 2018