UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
Rolando Gómez, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the representatives and spokespersons of the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria, the United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization, the Human Rights Council, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Situation in Syria
Jenifer Fenton, for the Office of the Special Envoy for Syria (OSE), stated that the OSE was closely monitoring developments, and the Special Envoy continued to work to ensure both that the Syrians were in the lead in charting the way forward and that there was a common and united message coming from the international community. The Office had also continued daily engagement with a broad range of Syrian civil society actors both inside and outside the country. Mr. Pedersen was heading to Jordan today for high level engagements: he expected to meet over the weekend with Arab foreign ministers, other senior officials, and the Foreign Ministers of Türkiye and the US Secretary of State.
OSE appealed to all armed actors to maintain law and order, protect civilians, and preserve public institutions in line with international humanitarian law. While there had been developments towards interim stabilization in some aspects, there continued to be many challenges, no single group holding the monopoly on violence, and the situation remained fluid. The UN urged de-escalation, calling for an end to all escalating attacks, including Israeli strikes, and for an end to conflicts in the northeast, in particular, and elsewhere, which had destabilizing effects in an already volatile country. OSE continued to stress the importance of preventing conflicts between various armed groups. It was paramount for public services to continue to function and for credible and inclusive transitional arrangements to be established in Damascus.
Most recent statements by the Special Envoy and the Deputy Special Envoy were available here and here.
Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Representative in Syria, speaking from Damascus, said that during the period of intense fighting which had led to the change of power in Syria, UNHCR had had to suspend its activities on the border with Lebanon, but it had now resumed its activities. The previous day, some 2,000 Syrians had returned from Lebanon to Syria across the main border crossing, 45 minutes away from Damascus. Small numbers of Syrians were also leaving the country towards Lebanon. There were currently no immigration officials on the Syrian side, informed Mr. Vargas Llosa. Some 3,000 returns had also been observed from Türkiye, a number which was an underestimate and likely to grow in the coming weeks. Many Syrians were still in the “wait-and-see” attitude. For its part, Jordan was allowing small numbers of Syrians to cross into Syria.
In the past 72 hours, UNHCR had been able to resume through its local partners many of its activities in the areas now deemed secure, particularly through local community centers. Some 75 percent of those centers had been reactivated as of 12 December. A UN team had visited Aleppo and Homs, witnessing first-hand the resumption of such activities. The UN was beginning to interact with the interim authorities, from whom the initial signals were seen as constructive; these authorities also pledged to provide UN actors with necessary support and security. Security was overall improving, while the situation in the northeast remained difficult. On the travel from Damascus to Aleppo, Homs, and Idlib, the UN team had encountered almost no checkpoints, which had been a defining feature of the previous regime. This was a very positive development, commented Mr. Vargas Llosa, as Syrians could now much more easily move across their country. It remained to be seen if such freedom of movement would continue. Finally, Mr. Vargas Llosa spoke of the current vacuum of law and order, which had allowed for some looting, including of UN properties. The interim authorities said that they wanted to address this gap as soon as possible. The interagency appeal of 334 million USD launched in October and covering the period until March 2025 was currently funded with 88 million USD, so additional urgent support was needed.
Stephan Sakalian, head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), speaking from Damascus, focused on the question of the missing persons and the right of their families to know what had happened to them. In the previous 13 years, the ICRC had, through direct contact with families, registered 35,000 cases of people who had gone missing in Syria. There was every reason to believe that there were many more such cases as far from all families had been able to file tracing requests. Behind every such case, there was a family and excruciating pain that only got worse as years went by.
This week, Mr. Sakalian said, as prisons opened and detainees were being released, those families lived through an emotionally trying moment, a moment filled with hope but also with anguish, anger, and frustration. On 10 December, Mr. Sakalian and his team had gone to Sednaya prison, where they had seen piles of damaged documents scattered throughout different rooms; these records might contain crucial information that could help families find long-awaited answers. The team had placed the documents in the custody of those in charge of security of the prison. The ICRC was urgently calling on all parties across Syria to prevent the destruction of crucial records, like arrest logs, lists of detainees or deceased persons, and hospital records. Such data could provide crucial information needed to help identify the fate of missing people. Earlier this week, the ICRC had opened hotlines for released detainees and family members who sought to be reunited, and it immediately offered to help all parties exercising authority in Syria to locate the missing.
Mr. Sakalian explained that the ICRC also stood ready to act as a neutral intermediary to facilitate search and identification. Giving answers to people would take years, given the numbers of people missing across the country, and would require a cooperative, intense effort by multiple actors. At the same time, Mr. Sakalian said, the ICRC was continuing to support released detainees and families of the missing to meet their most urgent needs, offering mental health support, healthcare, economic assistance, and legal and administrative aid. This week, for example, the ICRC had delivered medical supplies to two hospitals in Damascus to help care for the wounded and ex-detainees.
Responding to numerous questions from the media, Jenifer Fenton, for OSE Syria, said that the Special Envoy intended to engage with all actors and was planning to be in Damascus as soon as it was feasible. OSE Syria was aware of various videos circulating and purportedly showing executions. She emphasized the need for law and order during the transitional period. The UN had taken note of the actions and statements by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other groups in recent weeks. The situation had changed since HTS’s listing in May 2014, and the UN acknowledged these developments. The designation of HTS as a listed group presented significant challenges. Ms. Fenton stressed that all parties to the conflict had an obligation to comply with international law. On the humanitarian front, it was essential that sanctioning states assess the potential humanitarian impacts of any sanctions in line with international law and adjust accordingly in the coming period.
Mr. Vargas Llosa, for UNHCR, explained that some looting of UN supplies had happened in Damascus and Latakia in the initial phase following the fall of the previous regime, which had been brought up with the interim authorities. No looting of UN premises had taken place in recent days. A lot of additional supplies would need to be brought in, for which urgent funding was necessary, he reiterated. Regarding the Syrian-Jordanian border, he explained that the border was officially closed, but some Syrians were allowed to cross from Jordan into Syrian. The main issue at the Syrian-Lebanese border was that there were no immigration officers on the Syrian side, and people were being just waved through. Some Syrians were getting stuck at the Lebanese side of the border due to the lack of right documents. Speaking of the expectations of Syrian returnees, he said that they were hoping for tolerance, acceptance, and an opportunity to earn their livelihoods. William Spindler, also for the UNHCR, added that the situation was still very volatile, and many Syrian refugees were still adopting a wait-and-see approach. Countries hosting Syrians were thus asked to continue to provide protection to displaced Syrians, who should decide to return or not without undue pressure. About 3,000 returns from Türkiye had been observed through one border crossing, but this figure was likely to be higher.
Answering questions, Mr. Sakalian, for the ICRC, explained that in the past days, there had not been much clarity in Syria on whom could be contacted in the interim authorities regarding various urgent matters. The ICRC was expecting a more formal meeting with the authorities to discuss ICRC services and the need to preserve mass graves, burial, and detention sites. Mr. Sakalian said that there were different places of detention in Syria, and not all of them were under control of the same actors. The ICRC was the only organization in the northeast of the country, controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces, which was allowed to visit prisons and other places of detention. The ICRC was asking all parties to have access to detainees, who had to be treated in a manner in accordance with international norms. The ICRC was using all available channels to communicate with various groups of relevance and was working on identifying the best way to have a structured dialogue with the interim authorities on how to collect and protect the information on the missing and detained people. It was not yet clear who the best interlocutor was on the issue of the missing persons. Given the fluid situation and absence of centralized data, it was difficult to provide exact figures of people who might still be imprisoned or those who might have been liberated, or details on their backgrounds and ethnicities. Mr. Sakalian informed that there was still no news on the three ICRC staff who had disappeared back in 2013.
Humanitarian update from Gaza
Louise Wateridge, Senior Emergency Officer at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), speaking from Nuseirat in central Gaza, said that the previous night 30 people were reported to have been killed in Israeli strikes in Nuseirat, leading to terrible scenes of people looking for their loved ones under rubble. The suffering and the sadness continued, and Gaza now had the highest number of child amputees in the world, many of whom were undergoing surgeries without anesthesia. Medical workers said that too many patients were dying from treatable illnesses, as there was no necessary medication or equipment. Some 26,000 people were estimated to have suffered life-changing injuries during the war. Children were being injured by shrapnel as one kilometer away from the impact sites as they did not have any hard structures to protect them.
UNRWA had thus far provided 6.7 million medical consultations during this war, informed Ms. Wateridge. Medical supplies were running critically low; she gave examples of low insulin supplies and no insulin syringes at all, the supplies of which were stuck at a crossing into Gaza. Premature babies were dying at an alarming rate because of the lack of ventilation, lack of nutrition and other supplies. Population at large was not receiving adequate nutrition; thousands of children had been hospitalized due to acute malnourishment. The situation was as dire as it has ever been. There were rumors of a ceasefire or a truce, which had led to celebrations on the streets; the needs continued to be very high across the board. What people needed most of all is peace and ability to go home.
Answering questions, Ms. Wateridge said that two days before, a successful convoy had delivered much needed supplies, but then the previous day, only one truck out of 70 carrying food, hygiene kits and tents had made it to the intended destination because of looting. UNRWA was continuing to look for safe routes for aid distribution. Very little aid supplies were able to reach the besieged north Gaza, where some people were eating anything they could find, and some were surviving on animal feed.
Announcements
Pascal Sim, for the Human Rights Council (HRC), said that at 3 pm today, the HRC would hear an oral update from the High Commissioner for Human Rights on Venezuela, followed by an interactive dialogue. The following week, the HRC Advisory Committee would hold its 18th session and the Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises would also be meeting.
Isabel Piquer Hubert, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed that the ILO would launch its new report, “Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers: International migrants in the Labour Force” on16 December. The report focused on the evolution of global labour migration and provided a detailed picture of how international migrant workers were an integral part of the world economy. The findings were to be presented by Manuela Tomei, ILO Assistant Director-General for Governance, Rights and Dialogue, and Rafael Diez de Medina, Director of the Department of Statistics, in an online press briefing at 10:30 am.
Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said that the WHO would address the International Court of Justice on climate change and health,
from 3 pm today, which could be followed live on UN WebTV.
He also informed of the launch event of the WHO Global status report on drowning prevention at 2:30 today, at hotel InterContinental in Geneva and livestreamed.
Rolando Gómez, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that the Secretary-General was currently in Lesotho on the occasion of the bicentenary celebration. Related statements had been shared with the media. In another statement, the Secretary-General welcomed the announcement of the ‘Ankara Declaration’ in which President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia agreed to work towards resolving their differences in a spirit of friendship and mutual respect.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination would conclude at 3 pm today its 114th session and issue its concluding observations on the six countries reviewed during the session: Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Monaco, Armenia, Greece, and Kenya.
The Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families would conclude at 5:30 pm today its 39th session and issue its concluding observations on the reports of the four countries reviewed during the session: Benin, Egypt, Peru, and Seychelles.
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