(VOVworld) – Syrian government and opposition delegations began their negotiations over prisoner exchanges and the release of women and children from besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Homs, according to a statement issued by UN-Arab League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi on Sunday.

UN-Arab League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi (Photo: Philippe Desmazes)

The opposition delegation called on the government to free prisoners and agreed to the government’s proposal to compile a list of people seized by armed groups that are linked to the opposition. A Syrian non-governmental organization, estimates there are 17,000 missing people and the UN predicts that more than 4 million Syrians will become refugees in 2014 from the civil war.

At the negotiations in Geneva, the government delegation promised to immediately allow women and children to flee besieged Homs. The government said that other people will also be released, but the government needs to have proof that they are non-combatants.