Checked Against Delivery
Thank you, Mr. President.
And I also thank Deputy Special Envoy Cordone, Under-Secretary-General Fletcher, and Mr. Tabbara for their briefings.
Mr. President,
With High-Level Week approaching, we recall President Al-Sharaa's address to the General Assembly last year, in which he spoke of a new chapter of peace, prosperity and development for Syria.
One year later, Syria has made remarkable progress in rebuilding institutions and laying the foundations for economic recovery and a peaceful, prosperous future. Foreign Minister Løkke Rasmussen saw this first hand, when he two weeks ago visited Syria and re-opened the Danish Embassy in Damascus.
However, emerging from the devastation of civil war, widespread atrocity crimes and decades of oppression is not without challenges and much remains to be done.
At the outset, we reiterate Denmark’s full support for Syria's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.
We call on Israel to withdraw from Syrian territory and to comply fully with its obligations under the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement. The continued Israeli presence in southern Syria poses an increased risk of regional destabilisation.
We reaffirm our support for a diplomatic solution to address the security of southern Syria and express our concern about reports that the Syrian-Israeli talks have stalled. At this fragile time for the region, we call for their swift resumption.
Mr. President,
Despite these serious security challenges, the political transition continues to take shape.
To ensure a lasting peace, the political transition must follow international standards, a clear and transparent roadmap, and sound institutional checks and balances.
The full participation of women, minorities, youth and civil society in general remains essential.
We welcome initiatives such as the women's police academy and encourage continued security sector reform to build public trust.
We also welcome the IAEA's historic and unanimous decision, after fifteen years, to close the file on the previous regime’s nuclear non-compliance, now that Syria's nuclear material and facilities are under safeguards. We commend Syria for this achievement and encourage Syria to continue its cooperations with the IAEA, including through bringing into force an Additional Protocol.
This compliments the progress Syria has made in addressing outstanding issues related to the former regime’s chemical weapons programme and the Syrian collaboration with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Mr. President,
We have also followed the important trials of senior former regime figures.
Accountability of crimes committed against the Syrian people is essential, and all proceedings must be transparent, allow for appeal, and meet international fair-trial standards. Transitional justice has to be impartial and respect the rights of all victims and survivors.
Finally, Mr. President, the humanitarian situation remains alarming with more than 15 million Syrians in need of assistance. Access remains limited to healthcare, food, clean water, education and livelihoods. And as we have heard rising fuel prices only exacerbates these problems. As we also have heard, there is a need to scale up funding not only for the humanitarian response but also for recovery and reconstruction in order to ensure investments in recovery and in giving the Syrian people the future they aspire to and deserve.
This is also why the Danish Foreign Minister during his visit to Damascus last month, in addition to our largescale humanitarian support, pledged 76 million USD in ODA to Syria, and stressed that Denmark plans to increase our support to reconstruction from 2027.
In closing, Denmark will continue to support Syria, including through this Council, as it writes this new, brighter chapter of its history.
I thank you.
