Meeting of the Small Body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee: Arrivals and press conferences

Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen - Press Conference

19:42

MP4

1.4 GB

29-08-2020

Edited News , Press Conferences

Meeting of the Small Body of the Syrian Constitutional Committee: Arrivals and press conferences

ENG

Shotlist Story

Shotlist of the Edited footage of Geir Pedersen’s comments to the Press, including the participants arriving at UN Geneva earlier:

Medium shot: Syrian Constitutional Committee participants arriving by minibus, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
Medium shot: Syrian Constitutional Committee participants arriving by minibus, led by Opposition co-chair Hadi Albahra, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
Medium shot: Syrian Constitutional Committee participants arriving by minibus, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
Medium shot: Syrian Constitutional Committee participants arriving by minivan, led by Government of Syria co-chair Ahmad Kuzbari, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
SOUNDBITE (EN) - UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen: “There are still very strong disagreements and you know, my Syrian friends are never afraid of expressing those disagreements. But I was also, you know, extremely pleased to hear the two co-chairs saying very clearly that they thought also there were quite a few areas of commonalities. And what I’m looking forward to is hopefully when we meet again, that we will be able to build on those commonalities and bring the process further forward.”.”
Close-up: journalists’ hands typing on laptop, Press Room III, UN Geneva.
Medium shot: journalists wearing facemasks, seated, typing on laptops, Press Room III, UN Geneva.
SOUNDBITE (EN) - UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen: “I am confident that we have been able to build a little bit of confidence, a little bit of trust and that we can build on this and continue the work that we have started, we would see progress in the work of the committee. But as I have said, progress is happening, it’s of course up to the Syrians themselves within the Committee.”
Medium shot: journalist wearing facemask, seated, typing on laptop, Press Room III, UN Geneva.
Close-up: journalist’s hands typing on laptop, Press Room III, UN Geneva.
SOUNDBITE (EN) - UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen: “It is calmer and that is obviously conducive to the talks that we are having. But at the same time, I think we have agreed the principle that the talks that are happening here in Geneva do not depend on the situation on the ground. We are, you know, in all my briefings to the Security Council, this is one of the key issues I am addressing, and appealing for the parties to make sure that we develop this calm into what we have called in line with Security Council Resolution 2254, a nationwide ceasefire.”
Medium shot: journalists wearing facemasks, seated, worknig on laptops, with Special Envoy Pedersen listening via earpiece at podium, rear of shot, Press Room III, UN Geneva.
SOUNDBITE (EN) - UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen: “No, the issue of abductees, detainees and missing persons as you know, has been one of my so-called five priorities from when I started, and it’s an area where I’m afraid we haven’t seen enough progress. But of course, it is my hope that with the continued calm on the ground and with progress on the political track, that we could also see some progress on this front.”
Medium shot: video-journalist filming, Press Room III, UN Geneva.
SOUNDBITE (EN) - UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen: “It is stated in the terms of reference that to be able to proceed in the end we would need consensus or a 75 per cent majority. And this is of course something in place exactly to be able so that we can move – that all the sides know that they cannot force their views upon the other – if we are to reach, you know a new constitutional reform, it will have to be built as I said either on a strong consensus or bringing people together with a 75 per cent majority.”

Edited footage of Geir Pedersen’s comments to the Press, including the participants arriving at UN Geneva earlier
Edited footage of participants arriving at UN Geneva earlier
Continuity of Mr Pedersen’s comments in EN
Continuity of opposition co-chair Hadi Albahra’s comments (he spoke mainly in AR but with some EN).

UN Syria negotiator welcomes ‘commonalities’ shared by Syrians in Geneva talks

Syrian opponents meeting in Geneva as part of efforts to find a peaceful end to nearly a decade of conflict in their country have found common ground on which to pursue further discussions, UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen said on Saturday.

Speaking to journalists in the Swiss city after a week of “challenging” stop-start talks, interrupted by the discovery that four participants had tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, Geir Pedersen insisted that “several areas of commonalities” had been found.

“There are still very strong disagreements and you know, my Syrian friends are never afraid of expressing those disagreements. But I was also, you know, extremely pleased to hear the two co-chairs saying very clearly that they thought also there were quite a few areas of commonalities. And what I’m looking forward to is hopefully when we meet again, that we will be able to build on those commonalities and bring the process further forward.”

He added: “I am confident that we have been able to build a little bit of confidence, a little bit of trust and that we can build on this and continue the work that we have started, we would see progress in the work of the committee. But as I have said, progress is happening, it’s of course up to the Syrians themselves within the Committee.”

Hoped-for trust-building gestures from the Syrian Government and the opposition including progress on the release of abductees and detainees had been elusive, he said. “The issue of abductees, detainees and missing persons as you know, has been one of my so-called five priorities from when I started, and it’s an area where I’m afraid we haven’t seen enough progress. But of course, it is my hope that with the continued calm on the ground and with progress on the political track, that we could also see some progress on this front.”

Highlighting the keen global interest in the Geneva process, given the presence of several major regional and international nations inside Syria, the Special Envoy reiterated his call for a nationwide ceasefire, beyond the fragile truce largely holding in Syria’s northwest.

“It is calmer and that is obviously conducive to the talks that we are having,” Mr. Pedersen insisted. “But at the same time, I think we have agreed the principle that the talks that are happening here in Geneva do not depend on the situation on the ground. We are, you know, in all my briefings to the Security Council, this is one of the key issues I am addressing, and appealing for the parties to make sure that we develop this calm into what we have called in line with Security Council Resolution 2254, a nationwide ceasefire.”

The third session of the UN-facilitated Syria Constitutional Committee (small body) discussions convened in Geneva after a nine-month break, caused by differences over the agenda which were resolved by March, and then by COVID restrictions.

Earlier negotiations to decide the make-up of the Constitutional Committee (larger body) were held in Geneva at the end of October 2019.

The committee comprises 150 participants, 50 from the Syrian Government, 50 from the opposition and 50 from civil society – the so-called “middle third” - who hail from different religious, ethnic and geographical backgrounds.

Under the Committee’s rules of procedure and terms of reference agreed by participants, the small group of 45 people is tasked with preparing and drafting proposals.

These are then discussed and adopted by the 150-member larger body, although the 75 per cent decision-making threshold means that no single bloc can dictate the Committee’s outcomes.

At the start of the week, Mr. Pedersen told journalists that meetings had been “constructive” and that a “clear agenda” for the session had been agreed.

Owing to the interruption caused by the COVID-19 development, Mr. Pedersen explained that he would continue discussing the agenda for the Committee’s next meeting separately with the two co-chairs, Ahmad Kuzbari from the Government and Hadi Albahra for the opposition.

But as the UN-facilitated process belonged to the Syrian people and their representatives, it was up to them set a new date for the next round of talks, the Special Envoy insisted.

He also reiterated his confidence that the process would result in a fair representation of the wishes of all Syrians, in line with its terms of reference agreed by the co-chairs.

“It is stated in the terms of reference that to be able to proceed in the end we would need consensus or a 75 per cent majority,” he said. “And this is of course something in place exactly to be able so that we can move – that all the sides know that they cannot force their views upon the other – if we are to reach, you know a new constitutional reform, it will have to be built as I said either on a strong consensus or bringing people together with a 75 per cent majority.”

Teleprompter

Hello, apologies again for the delay and thank you again for joining us, particularly on a Saturday.

I'll turn the floor over to Mr Patterson in a moment to break, make brief comments after which he will take questions.

A reminder, if you're in the room, you should have the option for Arabic interpretation as well as if you're watching on UN Web TV and you're you're an accredited journalist joining us online.

Please make sure that your login reflects your name and your media, your media affiliation.

[Other language spoken]

And let me start by saying it's good to see you despite this late over on Saturday.

So we just concluded the session, you know, as you know, after what I will call a challenging week, but I was extremely pleased, of course, that we were actually able to reconvene and to meet again, despite the, the chances we had with the, the COVID-19.

We as you know, we, we worked very closely with the Swiss health authorities and with the UN medical authorities here at the UNOG.

And after retesting and making sure that we took continue to take very strong precautionary measures, we were able to continue to meet for the rest of of actually to meet Thursday afternoon.

And then as you know, we met on Friday and then finished after two sessions today.

And let me just repeat my thanks to the Swiss federal and Geneva cantonal authorities and all the others that have helped us in this process.

I believe the all the members of the small body has shown great flexibility and has contributed to that.

We were able to have the meeting in in the safe environment.

I said, I think I told you before we started the session that what I wanted to achieve was substantive discussions following the, the agenda that we have agreed upon.

And I, you know, it's been absolutely fascinating to listen to the discussions that we've been having.

I mean, obviously there are still very strong disagreements.

And, you know, my Syrian friends are of course, never afraid of expressing those disagreements.

But I was also, you know, extremely pleased to to hear the two cultures saying very clearly that they thought also there were quite a few areas of commonalities.

And what I'm looking forward to is hopefully then when we meet again that we will be able to build on those commonalities and bring the process further forward.

And I, I think I, I would also like to say that I believe the tone was respectful, that people were listening to each other and that goes for all the three delegations.

I also got a clear message both from the Co chairs and from the members that they are keen to meet again and we will build obviously on what we have discussed so far far and this in my opinion is is encouraging.

I will be working with the two cultures on finding and hopefully an agreement on the, the agenda for the next session.

And then we will also, when we have an agreement on the agenda, we will also then set an exact date for when we meet again.

And I'm, I hope that with some goodwill and flexibility that we will indeed be able to agree on the agenda.

Let me also just mention very briefly that I also had the pleasure virtually to be in touch with the Women's Advisory Board during this meet, during this week.

And as always was listening very carefully to their advice and the support that indeed they are giving to the the process for the benefit of all Syrians, men and women and indeed to promote a gender sensitive outcomes.

I emphasised last time we met that I was also very pleased with the strong support that I have from the national community and I also contact course on the national community to continue the strong support to the work of the Constitutional Committee.

I'm now pleased of course to take some questions.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you Byram in the front please your question, let me answer this, no I have not set a date, that is not my job.

You know, as we have emphasised from the very beginning, this is a Syrian LED Syrian owned process and will it will be off to the Syrian parties to decide on when they are ready to move forward on this.

But let me also say that, you know, we discussed a lot earlier on whether we should have a deadline for when we should finish the work in the terms of reference that we were working on.

And I was checking, you know, with different constitutional experts and they explained to me that, you know, hardly has there been any work on a new constitution where they have been able to meet a fixed deadline that has been set in in advance.

So what we have been emphasising is that it should be continuous work that build upon what we've been doing and that there should be no precondition to moving forward.

And both cultures have have accepted that.

And I hope that I, I can also build on that for the future.

Yes, you, you're right.

We've been discussing in different dates, but as you know, we are also agreed that we will not set an exact date before we actually have an have an agenda.

And this week was a bit shorter than what we has anticipated.

So I will continue to be in intense dialogue with the two Co chairs the next few days and then hopefully we will see if we can have both an agenda and a date.

Thank you Anatoli Ginsipeda Maltu last October, your first time achieved to you know convene to constitutional committee first time it was very big success for your term and now we are we have just finished the third round of the Constitution committee meetings.

Are you still stage of to building trust between the parties?

And my question is, do you think that the committee will be able to drafting or start writing the new constitution, constitution that will shape the future of Syria by end of the this year?

And the situation is in the on the ground, it's relatively calm as well.

Do you have that you have that chance before 2020 and to start the committee will be able to start drafting the committee drafting the constitution.

[Other language spoken]

Listen, I've, I've learned that I, it's very difficult to predict the future.

So I, I think I will not doing that.

But let me say that I'm, I'm confident that we have been able to build a little bit of confidence, a little bit of trust.

And if we can build on this and continue the work that we have started, we will, we will see progress in the work of the committee.

But as I said, hope this is happening is of course up to the to the serums herself within the committee.

So, so you are still working on building the trust between the parties, am I understanding right?

You understand me correctly?

[Other language spoken]

Next question will come online from online.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, I think I've unmuted myself, Mr Peterson.

And thank you, Jennifer, for that.

[Other language spoken]

You can't see me, but I was wondering if you, you said, I mean, you had a good atmosphere apparently, but you said there were still strong disagreements.

Would you please be able to tell us somewhat specific about the areas in which you have had strong disagreements?

I don't know, missing persons or whatever it is.

[Other language spoken]

If you would be able to do that, please.

And I haven't really followed the situation on the ground in Syria.

Is it pretty calm?

Is there a ceasefire that is sort of holding?

And if so, is that to the benefit of the talks?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, there is, as you know, a ceasefire that was negotiated between Russia and Turkey on 5th of March this year.

When it comes to Idlib, that ceasefire is by and large holding.

There are, you know, daily episodes.

We have seen the violations of it, but so far we believe that it is, as I said by and large holding.

Obviously then as you know, there are other areas of Syria where there are also, you know, still security challenges.

The NE we have in the in the in the southwest and of course we also have the presence of of ISIL.

That is still a challenge.

But you, you are your observation is correct that it is, it is calmer and that is obviously conducive to the talks that we are are having.

But at the same time, I think we have agreed the principle that the talks that are happening here in Geneva will not depend on the situation on the ground.

But we are, you know, in all my briefings to the Security Council, this is one of the key issues I'm addressing and appealing to the parties to make sure that we develop this calm into what we have called in line with Security Council Resolution 2254, a nationwide ceasefire.

And that is still what we are calling for when it comes to the deliberations of the committee.

I'm afraid I'm not in a position to give you any detail on how, you know, issues they agree on what they what they disagree on.

That sort of will be up to the members of the committee themselves.

Thank you, Good afternoon, Mr Peterson.

Peter Kinney from Anadulu English Service, you've mentioned that you've got support for this process from the international community.

Could you elaborate on where that support is coming from and what type of support it is?

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, with pleasure.

That's of course I'm and I, I do believe I said that last time I briefed you that there is a strong and united support from Security Council on this.

All 15 members have expressed strong support to the work of the Constitutional Committee and also to the fact that we would be convening here again in Geneva on the work that started on Monday.

And this is a support.

I think it's extremely important and it's important that it continues.

And then of course we have, you know the so-called Astana support and then of course we have the small group and we have different European states in, in, in all on this particular issues there is an international consensus in short, yes.

Next question coming on from online again, Nick, if we could hear your question, please.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, got you loud and clear.

[Other language spoken]

Miss Bettison, you said that the talks are not being influenced by what's going on on the ground.

Are we reaching a stage where what is happening in the talks, they have some influence on what is going on, on the ground?

And specifically, do you see any movement as a result of what's being discussed on issues like prisoner release?

You know, the issue of abductees, detainees and missing persons, as you know, has been, you know, one of my so-called 5 priorities from when I started.

And it's an area where I'm afraid we haven't seen enough progress.

But of course, it is my hope that with the continued calm on the ground and with progress on the political track that we could also see some progress on, on this this front.

And we have been, you know, stating all along that we do hope that, you know, progress in one area could have a positive spillover on the other area.

And this is obviously what we this is sort of a positive momentum that we would very much hope to see.

Just a few more questions please, Nina in the back, please.

[Other language spoken]

So I just I wanted to ask about the the COVID cases.

I was interested to know if you could explain why the UN or you decided to start the talks before the 2nd test results came in on Monday and then had to shut down.

And if you fear that this may have some impact on your or EU NS decision to hold future talks here in person or physically, if you think that that could impact that decision and you or if you expect the next talks to also be held here.

And and secondly, I just wanted to ask, you weren't able to decide on the agenda, which was one of the issues that was sort of said that could be a sign of progress.

Do you think that it's still a success?

[Other language spoken]

Yes, on, on the COVID-19 cases, this was before they arrived and after they arrived handled in close consultations, of course, with the relevant medical authorities in Switzerland and within the UN system.

And I, I do believe that what we have achieved this week proves that it is possible to handle even complicated cases as long as you follow strictly medical protocol protocol and the advice you are receiving.

And I think the fact that we have not been able to conclude this week without further hiccups also proves that this is a good example to how we can hopefully proceed with the new realities that the COVID crisis is creating.

So was it a challenge?

[Other language spoken]

Did we come through it in, in, in a proper and in a positive manner?

[Other language spoken]

So we, that's why we also hope that it will be possible to have the next round here, in here in Geneva on the agenda.

We need a little bit more time.

We have started discussions, we have some ideas, so let's see how it develops.

[Other language spoken]

As I said, it was interesting to notice that the two Co chairs agreed that there are quite a few areas of commonalities.

But obviously, you know, after 10, nearly 10 years of conflict, there are many areas where there are still strong disagreements and this will take time of course to work through those areas.

This will that work has already started and it will continue.

And then, as you know, it is stated in the terms of reference that to be able to proceed in the end, we will need consensus or a 75% majority.

And this is, of course, something in place exactly to be able so that we can move, that all the sites know that they can not force their views upon the other.

If we are to reach a new, you know, constitutional reform, it will have to be built, as I said, either on a strong consensus or bringing people together with a 75% majority.

And this, of course, is is a remarkable process to watch and to follow.

So let's see when we meet again after the next round if we have been able to continue to make a little progress.