“There is an urgent need for the violence to end. Far too many lives have been lost already and the conflict has generated a huge and heart-rending humanitarian crisis,” Mr. Ban said as he addressed reporters in Geneva.

“The US-Russian initiative to bring Syrian parties to the negotiating table is the best chance for a lasting solution that will deliver peace and save lives,” he added. “It is essential that we do everything possible to ensure that this conference takes place as soon as possible. I urge the international community to fully commit to a political process.”

In May, following talks in Moscow between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry, the two countries announced they would work together to achieve a political solution to the Syria crisis, and agreed to convene an international conference aimed at achieving this goal.

However, a date for the conference has not yet been set and talks are continuing on the best time for it to be held, who should participate, how it should be structured and some of the questions to be discussed.

It is expected that both the Government side and the opposition groups will send their delegations, Mr. Ban said, while noting that there is a question of who will represent the Syrian people.

He said that the opposition are expected to send a delegation that can “really represent the voices and positions” of opposition groups. “We also expect that the Government delegation will also be fully empowered so that they can fully engage in negotiations with the Joint Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.”

There is also the issue of the scope of participation, particularly Iran and Saudi Arabia. “Member States have not been able to agree on whether and if their voices needed to be heard and in what way,” said Mr. Ban.

More than 93,000 people have been killed, and 1.5 million more have fled to neighbouring countries, since fighting began in March 2011 between the Syrian Government and opposition groups seeking to oust President Bashar Al-Assad.

“The people of Syria want peace and hope. Yet all they see is death upon death. All they hear is talks after talks,” said Mr. Ban.

“People are dying. Families are fleeing. Syria’s fires are spreading. They may soon engulf the whole region,” he warned.

“I once again call on all those with influence to hear the cry of the Syrian people and the call of history: Act and act now.”

Known as the 18th Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement, the meeting – which will be attended by representatives of resettlement countries, non-governmental organizations and members of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – will look at ways to improve how resettlement works in various countries.

“Resettlement is one of three main solutions for refugees,” said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards at a press briefing in Geneva today. “It is an integral part of comprehensive solutions strategies in many UNHCR operations.”

The other solutions for refugees are voluntary repatriation, and integration into the country of first asylum.

Currently, there are only 81,000 resettlement places offered each year among 26 States, which means that just one out of ten people needing resettlement will have the opportunity to do so.

During the three-day meeting, which will start on Monday, UNHCR and its partners will also discuss how to strengthen cultural orientation programmes, enhance support for post arrival services, and reinforce pre-departure preparations.

Chaired by Australia, the meeting will also allow for resettled refugees to share their experiences relating to their integration process and how they have contributed to welcoming new arrivals.

Over the past five years, UNHCR and its partners have been able to use resettlement to help 330,000 refugees resume their lives. Last year, UNHCR submitted 92,000 refugees to countries for resettlement, and 61,649 refugees departed, with the agency’s help, to 22 countries.

UNCHR estimates that Somalis, Iraqis, Afghans, and Congolese are expected to be the major refugee populations over the coming years with higher resettlement needs.

Annan said on Friday that he was “optimistic” that the Geneva talks would lead to a satisfactory outcome.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, met Hillary Clinton, in St Petersburg on Friday. He said there was “a very good chance of finding common ground at the conference in Geneva”.

Lavrov, said that he had seen some flexibility on Clinton’s part during their talks.

“I felt a change in Hillary Clinton’s position. There were not ultimatums,” he said. “Not a word was said that the document we will discuss in Geneva cannot be touched,” he said.

A senior US state department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Reuters news agency that “areas of difficulty and difference” remain, but that an accord was still possible.

Kofi Annan, joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, has laid on the table a proposal involving the formation of a national unity government comprising leaders from both the government and the opposition.

Annan’s new proposal will call for multi-party elections, and an offer for “significant” international funding to rebuild war-torn Syria, according to a blueprint obtained by the AFP news agency.

According to Annan the transitional government “could include members of the present government and the opposition and other groups, but would exclude from government those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardise stability and reconciliation”, leaving unclear whether Bashar al-Assad will be excluded form the transition government.

Foreign ministers from Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq are also set to attend the meeting. Iran, Assad’s other close ally, was excluded – a condition set down by the US – as was Saudi Arabia, which has supported the Syrian opposition.

Meanwhile, Iran’s U.N. ambassador said on Friday that Iran could be a “heavyweight champion” of efforts to bring peace to Syria, according to Al Arabiya.

Assad on Thursday dismissed the notion of any external solution to the crisis, “We will not accept any non-Syrian, non-national model, whether it comes from big countries or friendly countries.

“No one knows how to solve Syria’s problems as well as we do.”

Carlos Cisneros, from the International Vanguard Network of Ecuador, welcomed the initiative saying that while youth employment is regularly discussed at the international level, young people are seldom involved in those discussions.

Young people are three times more likely than adults to be jobless. Youth unemployment rates are at peak crisis levels and are not expected to drop in the next four years. “We need action. We need job opportunities for young people”, said Suheir Tabanja, from the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) at the Forum.

In 2011, more than half of young women and one third of young men aged 15 to 24 were unemployed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, according to an ILO report to the June 2012 session of the International Labour Conference (www.ilo.org/ilc).

Over 100 young men and women are taking part in the Youth Employment Forum, sharing their experiences. These are some of their voices:

Keselyn Lizama (Belize), of the World Scout Organization:  “This Forum is good because it involves all levels of employment – you have the employers, you have the workers and you have the organizations that work for both employers and for the workers. This gives us a better understanding of how you can change employment trends, and how this can help us move forward and can improve our economy. It’s good to learn how other countries are dealing with some of the same problems we have in Belize, like youth not being able to matriculate based on finances or graduating from university, getting a masters, and still not being able to get a job.”

Ada Luz Lopez Jimenez (Honduras), works for a youth programme: “People from all over are sharing examples of good practices, how to reach the communities, organizations involved with the youth are sharing their experiences. We now want to see how we can implement some of these ideas, set up a methodology to support the youth and ensure these policies reach local governments.”

Mutaba Ngoma (Zambia), bio-diesel company owner: “I just want to learn how to provide better employment for my workers and staff. Also, as a representative of the Alliance for Youth Entrepreneurs in Zambia, I was interested in learning about practices that can help us train entrepreneurs to provide better employment opportunities.”

Joana Bernice Coronacion (Philippines), unionist with the Alliance for Progressive Labour: “This is an opportunity that will bring concrete solutions to address the issue of unemployment. This Forum addresses issues that different countries face with regards to employment, like precarious work which puts the future of young people at risk, the future of a generation we call the hope of the nation. The economy is not producing enough jobs for the people entering the labour force and the most affected are the young people. And, there are also other issues, such as underemployment and skills mismatch.”