Former Irish politician trains female negotiators for UN’s Syria peace talks

Monica McWilliams, a former politician, said it was hugely important that the three Syrian women were included in inclusive proximity talks which have been organised by the UN in Geneva, Switzerland, Belfast Telegraph reported.

McWilliams said that securing the release of female detainees subjected to human rights violations after being captured during a devastating conflict was a priority for the women in Geneva.

"Fifteen years ago the UN said never again should there be negotiations like Bosnia that had completely excluded women,” adding that "they are determined that there will be a proportion... three out of 15 is a good start."

McWilliams, who co-founded the Women’s Coalition as a new voice in Northern Ireland politics in the 1990s and went on to lead Northern Ireland’s Human Rights Commission, emphasized that Syrian women had an important part to play in ending the conflict in their country.

She has been teaching the negotiators how to lobby and talk to ambassadors in Geneva, how to get their support and how to establish back channels of communications, how to draft proposals and how to establish safe meeting places free from surveillance from Assad’s forces.

The negotiators include lawyers, journalists and human rights experts.

She said: "It is to be expected they will have failed rounds of negotiations until people get serious."