News (Consolidated) - UNSOM

Thank you so much, and always a pleasure being here in Moscow to be able to meet with you (Russian Foreign Minister Mr. Sergey Lavrov) and your team here. Let me also start by saying how much we appreciate the strong support that we receive from you and from Russia to the implementation of our…

Special Envoy Mr. Geir O. Pedersen is following with great concern the developments in the southwest of Syria. He is actively in contact with relevant parties to ensure that violence ceases and is calling on all to deescalate. He underlined to all that the principle of the protection of civilians…

At today’s International Syria Support Group’s (ISSG) Humanitarian Task Force meeting, convened virtually in Geneva, the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen expressed his growing concern regarding developments in southern Syria. Increased hostilities , which have included heavy shelling and…

Mr. Pedersen: Thank you Jenifer, and as always good to see you. You heard my briefing, I started by quoting the High Commissioner for Human Rights and her announcement about the work that they have been doing, identifying more than 350,000 people individually, by name, by date, and place, when they…

Very good to see you all. Pleased that we can meet like this as Jenifer said. It is now close to two years since we had the first meeting of the Constitutional Committee. Then, as you will recall, 150 members met here in Geneva, 50 nominated by the government, 50 nominated by the opposition, and 50…

Very good to see you and a good Friday afternoon. I hope your week has not been as hectic as mine has been. But anyway, good to see you. Let me do the following, let me sort of guide you through a little bit how the week developed, and then how we concluded today. Some of it you may know, but I…

Question: Mr. Pedersen: How would you describe the discussion? Another question: It was a long meeting, something good? Mr. Pedersen: We had an in-depth discussion as you can understand, it lasted for more than two hours. We went through in quite some detail all the challenges facing Syria…

Thank you, Jenifer. Good to see you, as I said I am impressed that you are still around after what must have been a very long day. In my briefing to the Council today, I am afraid, you will see that there was nothing dramatically new. I sort of again emphasized what my message is, three priorities…

Question: What about your discussions with Mr. Mikdad, what’s new about these discussions? Mr. Pedersen: Thank you. Let me start by saying that we had very thorough in-depth discussions on all the aspects of the Syrian crisis. So, obviously today we discussed my mandate, this is the implementation…

As the conflict in Syria enters its twelfth year - marking another grim milestone – Syrians continue to suffer in profound ways, and the hardship is only deepening. The Secretary-General has noted the horrific and appalling nature of this war, and his appeal is a reminder that, above all, the Syrian…

Let me start by emphasizing the obvious, and that is that Syria remains one of the gravest crises in the world and that there is a clear need for progress towards a political solution. I am pleased that the Syrian-led, Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated Small Body of the Constitutional Committee is…

The Seventh Session of the Syrian Constitutional Committee concluded today in Geneva. This Session was convened following consultations with both Co-Chairs, and an invitation letter that I sent them and the Middle Third outlining the agreed methodology that would be followed, including on a…