The Media Office of the Constitutional Committee: We discussed the basic principles of the constitution according to the agreed agenda

Yesterday evening, Monday, January 25, the work of the first day of the fifth session of the mini-constitutional committee was concluded in the United Nations (Palais des Nations), in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Media Office of the Constitutional Committee confirmed from the session’s website in a special statement to Fresh Online that “two sessions were held yesterday, Monday morning and evening, in which the representatives of the Syrian Negotiation Commission discussed the mini-constitutionality with other delegations, the basic principles of the Syrian constitution, in accordance with the mandate of the constitutional committee, reference standards and elements. The basic rules of the bylaw, according to the previously agreed agenda.

The Media Office added: “The current session is scheduled to continue until the 29th of this month, with two sessions per day, under the direction of the UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen.” Prior to the session, the co-chair of the Constitutional Committee, Hadi Al-Bahra, said in a statement to the media: “The representatives of the negotiating body are in The expanded constitutional committee prepared for the current session and came up with integrated papers and a number of proposals, most of which were agreed upon.

Al-Bahra arrived in Geneva with the rest of the members of the small committee on the 23rd of this month, where they met yesterday, Sunday, with Pederson and members of his team, and the basic principles that will be discussed in the current session are a general structure of the constitution, on which the rest of its chapters will be based, and through which the basic features of the new Syria are drawn.

Through these principles, it becomes clear the general vision of the form of the political system, the method of balanced separation of powers, the achievement of the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, rights, freedoms and other constitutional contents that will be agreed upon in the discussions.

Earlier Monday, the fifth round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee meetings began at the United Nations office in Geneva, headed by the United Nations special envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen.

The work of the Constitutional Committee began in November 2019, with meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, and the committee consists of 150 members, 50 representatives of each of the Syrian opposition, the Assad regime and civil society, and it is expected that it will undertake the process of drafting the Syrian constitution, under UN supervision.