United Nations, Jan 22 : UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed a three-person independent senior advisory panel on humanitarian deconfliction in Syria, his spokesman announced.
The panel comprises Jan Egeland of Norway (as chair), Erika Feller of Australia, and Radhouane Noucier of Tunisia, Xinhua news agency quoted the UN chief’s spokeman, Stephane Dujarric as saying in a statement on Thursday.
The panel commenced its work on January 11, and is expected to submit a final report to the Secretary-General by May 10, he said.
The panel was appointed to follow up on recommendations of a UN board of inquiry tasked to investigate certain incidents that had occurred in Northwest Syria since September 2017, in which facilities on the UN deconfliction list or supported by the world body were destroyed or damaged as a result of military operations.
The panel will conduct its work independently and will provide the Secretary-General with advice on how to strengthen the deconfliction mechanism and on lessons that can be learned for the future, said the spokesman.
According to the UN, more than 6.6 million Syrians have been forced to flee their country since the ongoing conflict began in 2011 and another 6.7 million have been driven from their homes but remain trapped inside the country.
The vast majority of Syrian refugees have found safety in neighbouring countries like Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
Turkey alone hosts more than 3.5 million Syrians
.
