29 October 2024

The Syrian Negotiation Commission delegation met today (Wednesday) in New York with Ms. Lasia Blos, the Humanitarian Affairs Officer at the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations. The meeting addressed the latest developments in the political process for the Syrian cause, highlighting the Syrian regime’s continued obstruction and refusal to engage with international efforts aimed at advancing a political solution to end the Syrian tragedy.

The delegation expressed its conviction that any leniency towards the Syrian regime or attempts at normalization or reintegration are futile. They emphasized that all experiences over the past decade have shown that the regime will neither honor its commitments nor change its violent and oppressive policies, and it will not voluntarily proceed with the political solution.

The discussion covered several political, legal, and humanitarian issues, with a focus on the urgent need to provide maximum support and protection for Syrian refugees. The delegation highlighted the risks refugees would face if forcibly returned to Syria under current circumstances, in the absence of a political solution. They also discussed the plight of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, who face a different kind of tragedy due to the lack of support or assistance.

The meeting also addressed the issues of detainees and the efforts of the Commission, in cooperation with international and human rights organizations, to secure the release of detainees in Syria and to uncover the fate of tens of thousands of forcibly disappeared individuals.

The delegation, which included the head of the Commission’s legal office, Attorney Tarek Al-Kurdi; the head of the Detainees Committee, Ms. Alise Mufarraj; Commission member Ms. Fadwa Ojily; and the Coalition’s representative to the United Nations, Ms. Maryam Jalabi, stressed the need for donor countries and the European Union to increase humanitarian and relief aid for all Syrians, especially those in northwestern Syria facing extremely challenging conditions. They pointed out the urgent need to improve the living conditions of Syrians and to meet their humanitarian needs