U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging the Security Council to back Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura's proposal for a new talks to end the war in Syria.
Ban told the council Wednesday that he was "profoundly disappointed" that its past resolutions to stop the violence and ease the humanitarian suffering had been ignored.
"After more than four years of slaughter, the Syrian conflict is a shameful symbol of the international community's divisions and failure," he said. "Atrocious crimes are now almost an hourly occurrence, fed by a lack of accountability for the major human rights violations committed over the past four years and through decades of repression."
Ban said de Mistura's proposal is aimed at launching a political process that will give Syrians a chance to negotiate a framework agreement on implementing the Geneva Communique.
The 2012 communique was unanimously endorsed by the Security Council. It includes plans to form a transitional government in Syria, without President Bashar al-Assad. The United States has said Assad cannot be part of Syria's future.
Ban said the communique was "the only internationally agreed basis for a political settlement to the Syrian conflict."
De Mistura just spent more than two months talking to Syrians and others on ways to move forward. He told the Security Council that this was not the time for another peace conference on Syria. But he said he hoped to get Syrians together in various groups to discuss the Geneva Communique. Topics would include protecting civilians, addressing political and constitutional matters, and rebuilding destroyed infrastructure.
The talks could start as early as September, but de Mistura gave no details on who would participate.
Syria's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, said his government would "thoroughly" study plans for the talks.
