The co-chair of the Constitutional Committee of the Syrian Negotiations Commission, Hadi al-Bahra, said that “the regime’s positions and behaviors have proven that it has neither intention nor seriousness towards any political solution that would lead to the implementation of key decisions, which, as everyone knows, should be fully implemented for a sustainable political solution to be possible.”
He said in a statement obtained by Baladi News that the representatives of the negotiating body in the Constitutional Committee affirmed their “commitment to continuing the work with all effort and seriousness, a commitment that has been unwavering since its formation, in accordance with its mandate and terms of reference, which it applied to the fifth round of the meetings that ended on Jan. 29, 2020. The meetings had a pre-approved agenda, which the representatives of the regime did not adhere to, which impeded the work of the committee and resulted in achieving zero progress.”
Bahra explained that the regime rejected “a proposal submitted by the representatives of the negotiating body regarding a methodology for managing the discussions and ensuring they are more fruitful. The regime delegation also refused to submit its own proposal for the methodology, and rejected the proposal made by the UN special envoy in this regard. The proposal to set a time frame for the process was also rejected, although we are of the opinion that the committee must work continuously in order to accomplish its mission. We suggested that the sessions take place over three weeks, with one week of break in-between one session and the other.”
“What is more, they refused to submit a draft of basic constitutional principles, insisting that their proposals should be limited to principles that lie outside the framework of constitutional formulations, while representatives of the commission and a part of civil society representatives presented approximately 35 constitutional drafts of basic principles, in accordance with the agenda, and the regime showed no willingness to cooperate or produce any outcomes,” he continued.
He added that representatives of the regime “presented a paper during the last session of the meetings, entitled ‘Basic Elements in the Context of Preparing the Constitutional Principles,’ which included political positions that are neither constitutional principles nor components. The paper was previously presented during the fourth round, under the title ‘National Foundations and Principles,’ which sends a clear message that the regime’s delegation is not committed to the fifth round’s agenda and continues to linger on the third and fourth sessions.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
