Delivered by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Estonia to the UN Mr. Gert Auväärt
I thank Special Envoy Pedersen for his briefing, which highlighted the different challenges the country is facing in its tenth year of war. We also join others in wishing quick recovery to Deputy Special Envoy Matar from her injuries.
As many other Council members, we are looking closely at the situation in Syria. Despite the March ceasefire largely holding in Idlib, we remain concerned about the sporadic clashes in the area, such as the exchange of fire between Turkish and Syrian troops in the past weeks.
Further, terrorist threats persist. Just yesterday, a roadside bomb killed several people near Deir Ez-Zor. Most likely, it was ISIS extremists, who had planted the improvised explosive device there. These and other similar incidents continue to undermine stability in Northern and Eastern parts of Syria.
Mr. President – regarding the political developments. Estonia expresses hope that the new round of talks next week in Geneva for the Syrian Constitutional Committee will accelerate political process. This also includes answering the legitimate concerns of the Syrian opposition.
However, we note that a new Constitution alone is not enough for solving Syria’s problems. National reconciliation requires much more – including the release of arbitrarily detained people and political prisoners, disclosure of the fates of disappeared and missing people, respect for human rights, and free elections.
Only after fulfilling these basic criteria, the situation would slowly start to normalize and refugees would be able to return the country. Unfortunately, we are still far from this, as it was highlighted by the various challenges in today’s briefing by the Special Envoy.
Estonia and the European Union remain committed to finding a lasting and credible political solution to the conflict in Syria on the basis of resolution 2254 and of the 2012 Geneva Communiqué.