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UN Envoy to invite Syrian women and civil society representatives to talks

Xinhua, February 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

The office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday said that the envoy will issue invitations to Syrian women and civil society representatives to the fragile peace talks between Syrian government and the oppositions in Geneva.

Both women and civil society organisations can provide vital ideas and insight to the talks, by presenting the views and recommendations of important segments of Syrian society, the office said in a media statement.

The statement said that the Special Envoy has established an independent Women's Advisory Board to his office.

"The Advisory Board will allow Syrian women to articulate their concerns and ideas and present recommendations, covering all topics discussed during the talks, to the UN Special Envoy for consideration," the statement said.

The Board will initially be composed of a group of 12 women chosen by several Syrian women organizations through their own consultative process, and is open for more to join later.

The UN-mediated intra-Syrian talks Tuesday struggles to continue in Geneva as United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura met again with government delegation in the morning.

The UN Envoy is also scheduled to meet with the opposition delegation for a second time Tuesday afternoon inside Geneva's UN office. But Later Tuesday afternoon the Office of the UN Special Envoy said that "no additional meeting related to the Intra-Syrian Talks will take place today".

After meeting UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday, Syrian ambassador to the UN and head of the government delegation Bashar Jaafari said that the current talks attempting to broker peace for the war-torn country were still in their preliminary stages.

The statement comes against the backdrop of the special envoy's belief that intra-Syrian talks had officially started following his meeting with the Saudi-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) on Monday.

The new talks are to take place over the next six months in view of finding lasting peace for Syria, a country which has been at war for almost five years. Enditem