Washington DC – A delegation of Syrian American women including the leadership of the Coalition for a Democratic Syria (CDS) along with humanitarian organizations and civil society members met on Friday, February 20th with Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss de Mistura’s efforts to institute a freeze, or reduction of fighting, in Aleppo between regime and opposition forces.

“As Syrian American women we greatly appreciate the outreach efforts of the Special Envoy as well as his efforts to try to bring peace.” said Dr. Bushra al-Aysami . “We conveyed to de Mistura that we support all efforts to reduce violence in Syria that are in accordance with the Geneva I Communiqué, which has been endorsed by all of de Mistura’s predecessors” she added.

The communiqué, signed on June 30th 2012, by the United Nations, Arab League, the United States, Russia, and China, called for a political solution in Syria through the creation of a transitional governing body formed on the basis of mutual consent between the regime and opposition and a transition to multiparty democratic elections.

The delegation suggested that any local freeze proposal be tied to a broader national process to ensure full compliance with the Geneva Communiqué. “We reminded de Mistura that the Assad regime’s repeated intransigence was the main reason that previous ceasefires failed. In light of this history, we encouraged the Special Envoy to ensure that any local ceasefire came with strong enforcement mechanisms that the Assad regime can not abuse.” noted Muna Jondy.