Security Council Briefings

Let me first thank all those Syrians, from inside and outside Syria, who continue to engage with us–especially Syrian women. In a few days, we mark the 22ndanniversary of Security Council resolution 1325. Over nearly 12 yearsof conflict, there is almost no indignity Syria’s women and girls have

The Special Envoy briefed you two weeks ago on his latest engagement to move the political process forward. Since then, he has engaged Arab, European, Iranian, Russian, Turkish and US representatives in Geneva, and appreciates their support.

I have since early 2020 stressed that frontlines have been frozen, and I have urged that this relative calm provided the window to build a credible political process. However, this opportunity has so far not been seized. And I am worried that we have in recent months seen troubling signs of military

Last week the Secretary-General and Under-Secretary-General Griffiths briefed you on the very grave humanitarian situation in Syria. As they underlined, the three prongs of the framework of resolution 2585 – cross-line, cross-border, and early recovery – have been absolutely essential

Syria is a hot conflict, not a frozen one. We have seen airstrikes in the northwest pick up again and intensified clashes around Afrin and the northeast, amid continued exchanges of rocket fire and shelling across all frontlines, IEDs, car bombs and other security incidents.

I am briefing you today from Geneva at the end of the 4th day of the 7th Session of the Small Body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee. The Committee has been meeting since Monday this week and concludes with its 5thand final day of meetings of this session tomorrow – on Friday.

Every month I draw your attention to the fact that Syrians across the country – and those who are displaced - are facing poverty and hunger at levels higher than at any point in the conflict.

Let me at the outset stress that Syrians continue to suffer deeply and that violence in Syria is indeed continuing.

We meet at another year’s end, and we can only look back on 2021 as a year of deepening suffering of the Syrian people.

Last week, between 18 and 22 October, I convened the Sixth Session of the Small Body of the Syrian-led, Syrian-owned, UN-facilitated Constitutional Committee in Geneva. In accordance with the agreement I facilitated between the two Co-Chairs, titles of constitutional principles were submitted

Last week, a grim announcement reminded us of the appalling suffering and losses of the Syrian people. The High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that more than 350,000 people can be confirmed, individually - by name, date and location - as having been killed in the first decade of the conflict.

Over the past seventeen months, I have been informing you that, as compared with past phases of the conflict, there was a relative calm in Syria across largely frozen front lines of conflict. I have however been highlighting the constant incidents and the danger they bear on civilians