Friday, the United Nations special envoy to Syria expressed his disappointment on the lack of progress made in talks on Syrian constitution this week in Geneva.
He explained that the participating parties were unable to agree on a methodology for action.
“We cannot continue like this (…) it was a disappointing week,” Geir Pederson told reporters after the fifth session of the 45 members of the small group of the Constitutional Committee.
United Nations spokesman in New York Stephane Dujarric said that “Pederson’s frustration is evident” through his statement.
Pederson explained that a “mechanism” should be put in place that allows the parties to identify points of agreement and disagreement in order to work on reviewing the constitution.
He indicated that the current approach was “not successful,” adding, “We cannot continue to meet unless we change that.”
Pederson intends to travel to Damascus “in the near future” for discussions on this particular topic.
Pederson explained that the opposition suggested starting methodologies for action, but Damascus representatives rejected these proposals before they also rejected a proposal put forward by the UN envoy.
The small group of the Constitutional Committee consists of 45 members, representing equally the Syrian government, the opposition and civil society.
The Constitutional Committee is charged with reviewing the 2012 constitution, and was formed in September 2019 and held its first meeting a month later in Geneva, attended by 150 people. The small committee then tasked to work on the details.
However, deep disagreements between the main parties as well as the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic slowed the pace of the meetings.
The revision of the constitution is included in Security Council Resolution 2254 that was approved in December 2015 and also provides for elections under the supervision of the United Nations.
The United Nations hopes that this process will open the door to an end to the conflict that has left more than 380,000 people dead since 2011.
In its proposal put forward this week in Geneva, the opposition demanded that each party submit constitutional principles in order to find common ground, said the chief negotiator of the opposition delegation, Hadi Al-Bahra, during a press conference.
The opposition presented nine constitutional principles, including sovereignty and basic freedoms.
But the chief negotiator of the government delegation, Ahmed Kuzbari, said that no principle could be formulated unless it was discussed first. He added that his delegation had become accustomed to the criticism leveled at him by obstructing the work of the committee.
Source : Roya News
