The work of the first day of the Syrian Constitutional Committee’s sixth session ended. According to what one of the members told al-Souria Net, the constitutional talks focused on “the principle of the Syrian Arab Republic’s sovereignty”.
The source added that the Syrian regime delegation put forward a paper containing its vision of “the sovereignty of the Syrian state”, after which more than one item was discussed, by all the parties involved.
“The regime delegation raised the issue of occupations in Syria again, and the alliance of some parties with western countries. These issues were considered a violation of the state’s sovereignty,” the source said, after stating that a “middle ground” was not reached.
For his part, the head of the opposition delegation, Hadi Al-Bahra, said after leaving the Palace of Nations: “Since Sunday, the Syrian Constitution Committee has agreed on a full mechanism for discussions and ways of actions.”
“Sovereignty is one of the fundamental principles of the constitution, be it state sovereignty or the people are the sovereigns of the Syrian state.” Today (Monday), one of the parties presented its paper and discussed it either by asking questions or directing criticism, as well as submitting proposed texts.”
“Every member of the Committee is free to propose any formulation he presents, which will be discussed later,” Bahra said. For our part, we have proposed an integrated text on the issue of sovereignty.”
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According to the head of the opposition delegation: “The papers presented at the moment will not be approved. There is a mechanism for collecting and discussing texts legally, constitutionally and linguistically, and then coming up with common texts that will be submitted to the expanded body for discussion and approval.”
On Sunday, Bahra met with his counterpart, the head of the Syrian regime delegation, Ahmed Al-Kuzbari, at one table and for the first time, in the presence of the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pederson.
“For the first time, I met with the heads of the government-appointed and opposition-appointed (delegation) for basic and frank talks regarding the mechanism used for reaching a constitutional reform,” Pederson said at a press conference afterward.
“The two co-chairs now agree that we will not only prepare for constitutional reform but we will begin to formulate constitutional reform. Therefore, this week we will begin to draft a process for constitutional reform in Syria.”
The sixth round follows five previous rounds, the last of which was held at the end of January, and concluded with what was described by UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pederson as “disappointing” results.
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.
