UN / SYRIA POLITICAL AND HUMANITARIAN
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STORY: UN / SYRIA POLITICAL AND HUMANITARIAN
TRT: 02:04
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 27 OCTOBER 2021, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Aerial shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
27 OCTOBER 2021, NEW YORK CITY
2. Various shots, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations:
“We need an urgent injection of lifesaving aid, especially as Syrians prepare for winter. We need more aid to early recovery and livelihoods. Syrians want to be able to support themselves, with dignity. And we need to expand access to basic social services. Syrians – like all of us - want to send their children to school, to have electricity and water, and a reliable health clinic. That is the least that we can help them to achieve. And, of course, perhaps more importantly, Syrians need peace.”
4. Wide shot, Council, Geir Pedersen on screen
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Geir Pedersen, Special Envoy for Syria, United Nations:
“Last week, for the first time, all delegations submitted draft constitutional texts. But in the absence of an agreed mechanism to revise the drafts and begin to identify commonalities, the 45 members of the Small Body were not able to move from submitting and discussing initial draft constitutional texts to developing a productive textual drafting process.”
6. Wide shot, Council
7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bassam Sabbagh, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations:
“Syria stresses that outside parties must refrain from interfering in the work of the Committee, or attempting to obstruct it, or thwart it through imposing artificial timetables or pre-determined conclusions. This is in accordance with the respect to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, which have been affirmed by all relevant Security Council resolutions.”
8. Wide shot, Council
The United Nations humanitarian affairs chief, Martin Griffiths, today (27 Oct) said, that as Syrians prepare for winter, “we need an urgent injection of lifesaving aid” as well as “more aid to early recovery and livelihoods.”
Griffiths told the Security Council that “Syrians want to be able to support themselves, with dignity. And we need to expand access to basic social services.”
He said, “Syrians – like all of us - want to send their children to school, to have electricity and water, and a reliable health clinic. That is the least that we can help them to achieve. And, of course, perhaps more importantly, Syrians need peace.”
Griffiths noted that over 90 percent of the Syrian population now lives below the poverty line and informed the Council that the UN has developed a plan for a series of regular crossline operations to deliver assistance over the next six months.
The UN Special Envoy for the country Geir Pedersen reported on the outcome of the latest session of Syria’s Constitutional Committee, convened last week in Geneva.
He said, “last week, for the first time, all delegations submitted draft constitutional texts. But in the absence of an agreed mechanism to revise the drafts and begin to identify commonalities, the 45 members of the Small Body were not able to move from submitting and discussing initial draft constitutional texts to developing a productive textual drafting process.”
For his part, Syria’s Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh said, “Syria stresses that outside parties must refrain from interfering in the work of the Committee, or attempting to obstruct it, or thwart it through imposing artificial timetables or pre-determined conclusions. This is in accordance with the respect to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, which have been affirmed by all relevant Security Council resolutions.”
The hope was that the 45 men and women - who represent the Syrian government, opposition, and civil society - would draft a text that would help support a peaceful future for their country after more than a decade of war. However, they were unable to move from submitting and discussing initial drafts to developing a productive textual drafting process.