Speaking at the Graduate Institute on 19 March, Staffan de Mistura, United Nations special envoy for the Syria crisis, said a partition of Syria would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East.

Delivering the Annual Sergio Vieira de Mello Lecture, Mr de Mistura said there was “no military solution” and that territorial victories could not bring peace. “Without governance based on a new constitution and presidential and parliamentary elections, there will be no stability. Without an inclusive political process, including those who are excluded, particularly the Sunni majority, Daesh will come back.”

Mr de Mistura emphasized that “a soft, long-term partition of Syria will be a catastrophe for the whole region”, pointing out that while the UN Security Council remains divided on the issue, “the Secretary General, the UN agencies and myself will never abandon the Syrians.”

The lecture was organised by the Graduate Institute and the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation to honour the memory of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the former UN diplomat who was killed in a bomb attack in 2003 while working as the Secretary General’s Special Representative in Iraq. You can watch the event below.