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8493rd Security Council Meeting: Situation in the Middle East; Syria
Permanent Representative Accuses United States, Allies of Pursuing New Middle East Reality by Backing Terrorists, Foreign Fighters
With the conflict in Syria having just entered its ninth year, and the country’s people having endured eight years of horrendous suffering, the United Nations is seeking to forge a negotiated political solution, the Organization’s senior political and peacebuilding affairs official told the Security Council today.
“No subject has been off limits,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, emphasizing the importance of deepening a sustained dialogue with the Government of Syria and the opposition around the need to build trust in pursuit of a safe, calm and neutral environment.
Indeed, generating such engagement is one of the five goals the Special Envoy for Syria recently outlined to the Council, she added. Others are to undertake more concrete action on detainees, abductees and missing persons; engage with and involve a wide range of Syrians in the political process; convene a credible, balanced and inclusive constitutional committee as soon as possible; and help the international parties deepen their own dialogue towards a credible and sustainable political settlement that can enjoy international legitimacy.
On the proposed constitutional committee, she said that a viable launch will require a set of understandings around regulating its work, including those relating to the committee’s mandate, structure, voting and chairing arrangements, the facilitation role of the United Nations, and assurances on the safety and security of all constitutional committee participants. At least 30 per cent of members should be women, she emphasized, expressing hope that the body’s first meeting will soon be held in Geneva under United Nations auspices.
Also briefing the Council was Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of the Coordination Division in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who delivered a statement on behalf of Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. Emphasizing that the crisis in Syria is far from over, he said United Nations assessments indicate that 11.7 million people inside the country require humanitarian assistance and protection in 2019, adding that more than 5.6 million Syrians live as refugees across the Middle East. Although violence has decreased in many locations, increasing numbers of civilians have recently been killed and injured in others, he added.
He went on to report that the situation in Idlib and surrounding areas of north-western Syria remains of grave concern. Despite an agreement between the Russian Federation and Turkey to establish a demilitarized zone, there has been an alarming spike in civilian casualties in recent weeks, and new displacements caused by increased shelling, intensified air strikes and a growing number of attacks involving the detonation of improvised explosive devices in urban areas. Tens of thousands of displaced people, mostly women and children, have continued to arrive at Al Hol camp in Hassakeh Governorate from Deir-ez-Zor Governorate in the south-east, he said, noting that the camp’s population now exceeds 72,000, an increase of more than 25,000 over the past month. He welcomed the record $7 billion in pledges made at the third Brussels Donors’ Conference, and appealed for the speedy conversion of those promises into contributions for 2019.
The representative of the United States reminded fellow Council members that the war in Syria began when the regime of President Bashar al-Assad started to attack its own people. That regime and its allies must now take concrete steps to end the conflict, he emphasized. The proposed constitutional committee should have the chance to put in place leaders who will protect the people rather than harm them, he said, cautioning that efforts to revitalize the political process will prove futile unless violence ends.
His counterpart from the Russian Federation pointed out that, although many Council members expressed concern about the escalation of violence in Idlib, they forgot to pay attention to civilians dying as a result of coalition air strikes. He also warned against the imposition of Western sanctions on Syria because such unilateral measures only exacerbate the humanitarian situation.
Syria’s representative said that the United States and its allies are seeking to create a new reality in the Middle East by supporting terrorists, foreign fighters and others who attack Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Recalling that the illegal coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 provoked the formation of the Al-Qaida terrorist group, he said the same has now happened with Al-Nusra Front in Syria.
France’s delegate urged fellow Council members to seize the narrow window of opportunity opened by the convergence of different positions around the need to defeat terrorism, improve the humanitarian situation, and reach an inclusive solution based on Council resolution 2254 (2015), which sets out a road map for an intra-Syrian peace process facilitated by the United Nations.
Kuwait’s delegate described the continuation of the Syria crisis into yet another year as a reminder of the Council’s inability to push a solution forward.
Also speaking today were representatives of Germany, United Kingdom, South Africa, Poland, Dominican Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Peru, Indonesia, Equatorial Guinea, Belgium and China.
The meeting began at 10:23 a.m. and ended 12:36 p.m.
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