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Latest post: Sun 18 Feb 2024

Insights on the work of the UN Security Council

Syria: Briefing and Consultations

Tomorrow morning (25 April), UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen and OCHA Head in Geneva and Director of the Coordination Division Ramesh Rajasingham are expected to brief the Council on the political and humanitarian situations in Syria, respectively. A civil society representative is also expected to brief. Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.

Pedersen is likely to report that the political track in Syria remains at a standstill, highlighting in this regard that the Syrian Constitutional Committee has not convened since June 2022. He may describe his engagement with the parties aimed at resuming these meetings, while reiterating that the Constitutional Committee has not reconvened largely because of a dispute over the venue. Russia, a close ally of Syria, has objected to Geneva as the site of these meetings, following Switzerland’s imposition of sanctions on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

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