The eighth round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee meetings, chaired by the United Nations Special Representative for Syria, Geir O. Pedersen, started in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday.
Members of the "Small Group" responsible for the writing of the constitution, consisting of 15 representatives each from the Bashar Assad regime, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the Syrian opposition, came together at a hotel in Geneva early in the morning.
During the sixth round of meetings of the committee, which took place at the U.N.'s Geneva office on Oct. 18-22, 2021, the co-chair of the delegation representing the Assad regime, the lawyer Ahmad Kuzbari and the co-chair of the opposition, Hadi al-Bahra, sat at the same table for the first time.
Despite this, the regime delegation continued its uncompromising attitude seen in the previous gatherings.
Pedersen stated that he felt "great disappointment" after the failure of the sixth round and blamed the Assad regime by naming it for the first time.
There was no concrete progress in the seventh round sessions held on March 21-25, and Pedersen did not hold a press conference at the end of the talks.
Most recently, Pedersen earlier this month said that the regime and opposition sides negotiating a constitution are "far from a political solution" to end the 11 years of conflict.
The previous seven rounds have not brought about the results he would have liked, but he hoped that the upcoming round can at least bring some progress.
Pedersen said he has appealed to all members to approach the session with "a sense of compromise and constructive engagement" and focus on things on which Syrians can begin to agree.
"Of course, I hope that ultimately the committee can help establish a new social contract to help heal the wounds of a devastating conflict.
"But even were Syrians to agree on the substance of a constitutional reform or a new constitution, it could not unfold inside of Syria in a truly meaningful way, with conditions the way they are today," the U.N. envoy warned.
He said work is needed to establish a safe, calm, neutral environment inside Syria, starting with confidence-building measures, such as U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254 mandates.
A 2012 U.N. road map to peace in Syria approved by representatives of the United Nations, the Arab League, the European Union, Turkey and all five permanent Security Council members calls for the drafting of a new constitution. It ends with U.N.-supervised elections with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate. A Security Council resolution adopted in December 2015 unanimously endorsed the road map.
At a Russia-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution. A smaller, 45-member body would do the actual drafting, including 15 members each from the regime, opposition and civil society. It took until September 2019 for the committee to be formed and little progress has been achieved so far.
The drafts prepared by the 45-member body must be approved by the 150-member large body, and at least 75% of the members must vote "yes" in order to make a decision.