Eighth Session of Syrian Constitutional Committee’s Meetings initiate Monday

Geneva 

On Monday, 28 March, the eighth session of the meetings of the Small Body in the Syrian Constitutional Committee will begin in Geneva – Switzerland. The meetings will be held over five days. On Sunday, the two Co-Chairs will hold a preparatory meeting facilitated by the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen. 

The Co-Chair of the Constitutional Committee, representative of the Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC), Hadi Albahra,  and members of the Small Body arrived in Geneva to participate in this session of the committee’s meetings. Preparatory meetings will be held among them in preparation for the preparatory meeting to be held between the two Co-Chairs on Sunday.

This Session is held two months after the Seventh Session of the meetings which was held last March, according to the agenda set for it, in the presence of delegations representing the three parties in the Constitutional Committee, during which proposed formulations of four constitutional principles were discussed, namely: “Basics of Governance”, presented by representatives of the SNC; “State Identity”, presented by a number of members of the civil society delegation; “State Symbols” presented by the regime delegation; and finally, “The Structure and Functions of Public Authorities”, presented by the delegation of the SNC.

Pedersen has announced in his briefing to the UN Security Council, delivered on 26 April 2022 the date for the Eighth Session, saying “I have affirmed the methodology, including the expectation to submit revisions on the 5th day to reflect the content of the discussion, and I stress the importance of this expectation being fulfilled. I am also appealing to both Co-Chairs and their delegations and the Middle Third to submit any new titles to my office as early as possible before the next session, and to make a good faith effort to identify titles – and prepare texts for them for discussion during the session and revision on the 5th day – that focus on matters on which most Syrians could agree. This spirit would make meaningful the commitment, state in the Terms of Reference, that both the Government of Syria and the SNC Opposition has agreed to, that the Constitutional Committee’s work shall be governed by a sense of compromise and constructive engagement aimed at reaching a general agreement of its members. Only with this positive intent will the process move forward.”

Albahra stated before the start of the meetings of the Eighth Session, from the residence of the SNC delegation in Geneva, “We will work in this Eighth Session of the meetings of the Constitutional Committee with the United Nations, and with the countries concerned with the Syrian issue and who are interested in a political solution, so that all parties adhere to the rules of procedures, mechanisms and work methodology, so we do not face any procrastination, evasion or obstruction of any kind. It is time for everyone to engage seriously and responsibly to draft and fulfil the awaited draft constitution.”

The meetings of this session will supposedly continue in accordance with the criteria and elements announced by Pedersen: “1) respect for the terms of reference and basic elements of the bylaws; 2) present the texts of key constitutional principles before the meetings.”
It is noteworthy that the United Nations announced on 23 September, 2019 that an agreement had been reached between the “Syrian Government” and the “SNC” on the formation of a balanced, credible and inclusive constitutional committee, comprising representatives of the government, the opposition and civil society, to discuss and prepare a draft of a new constitution, or constitutional reform, within the path of a political solution in accordance with the Geneva Communiqué and based on Security Council Resolution 2254 of 2015 and relevant resolutions.

 
The Constitutional Committee is composed of fifty members from each of the three parties, and the Small Body is composed of 45 members comprising fifteen members from each party. The Small Body meets in Geneva, where it held its first meeting on October 2019.

According to the announcement of Pedersen in his briefing to the UN Security Council on 25 February, it is assumed that the sessions of the Constitutional Committee meetings will be held during the months of May and June 2022.