First Round

4 November 2019 to 8 November 2019

The first round of the Constitutional Committee’s meetings was held between 4 and 8 November 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. The Small Body of the Constitutional Committee (the drafting committee), which comprised 45 members, met over the course of five days under the auspices of the United Nations to lay the foundations for drafting a new constitution for Syria.

The two co-chairs of the Constitutional Committee agreed that the agenda of this round would be dedicated to setting the working program of the committee’s work in the following rounds based on the ideas and proposals discussed during the meetings of the Large Body to identify those which may be viable as constitutional principles.

The SNC delegation submitted a proposed agenda and identifies constitutional ideas from the input of the Large Body of the Constitutional Committee. They also offered a working paper which includes all the ideas and proposals. The Syrian regime delegation, however, did not submit any papers and only offered a so-called ‘non-paper’ which was essentially a political statement and had nothing to do with constitutional issues. The civil society delegation, on the other hand, only discussed the paper submitted by the SNC.

The SNC delegation demanded that the drafting committee works for three successive weeks and go on recess for one week. This demand was, however, turned down. It was agreed, instead, that each round would last for one work week in Geneva.

Second Round

25 November 2019 to 29 November 2019

No joint meetings involving the three delegations were held during the second round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee’s meetings because no agreement on the agenda of this round was reached between the SNC delegation and the regime delegation. The SNC delegation insisted that no meeting may be held without identifying the agenda to ensure the agenda items are within the mandate and jurisdiction of the Committee.

The SNC delegation offered five proposals to discuss the main principles of the constitution including the political principles which include all the national constants. The regime delegation refused and insisted on what it dubbed ‘the national constants’ or engaging in the meeting without any agenda. This forced the UN Special Envoy to adjourn the second round.

Third Round

24 August 2020 to 29 August 2020

The Small Body (the drafting committee) convened to discuss the agenda which included discussing ‘national principles and pillars’ based on the Committee’s mandate and the rules of procedure and basic elements of the internal system of the Constitutional Committee.

The delegation representing the Syrian government, however, offered a political agenda that had nothing to do with the committee, its mandate and its work and which focused on combating terrorism, lifting sanctions and condemning what the regime delegation named the Turkish invasion.

 Pedersen officially declared the end of the third round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee’s meetings without identifying any outcomes or significant progress. He asserted there were ‘deep disagreements’ between the Syrian parties on several issues.

Fourth Round

30 November 2020 to 4 December 2020

The fourth round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee’s meetings was held and the Small Body continued to discuss the agenda of the third round.

The Syrian regime delegation attempted to focus the discussions of the importance of lifting the sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime and digressed from the agreed agenda. The SNC delegation, on the other hand, sought to focus on the issues of political solution and the imperative that the new constitution guarantees the rights of refugees and IDPs, ensure a safe environment for their return, prevent recurrence of abductions and detentions and upholds justice.

Fifth Round

25 January 2021 to 29 January 2021

The fifth round of the meetings of the Small Body of the Constitutional Committee convened on 25 January 2021. It discussed the basic principles of the constitution in line with the mandate of the Constitutional Committee, its rules of procedures and the basic elements of its internal system.

The UN Special Envoy for Syria exerted efforts before the round to push the parties to propose a methodology of discussion which would help make the Committee start working on constitutional drafting. The SNC delegation to the Constitutional Committee submitted some proposals with regards to the working mechanism to make the work of the Committee take a serious and tangible process. The Syrian regime delegation, however, turned down those proposals and the proposal made by the UN Special Envoy. It did not offer any alternative proposals and refused to embark on constitutional drafting.

The UN Special Envoy expressed his ‘disappointment’ indicating that the regime delegation did not accept the proposals made by the SNC delegation. He said he would go to Damascus to discuss the political process based on UNSCR 2254 and the necessary steps to rectify the work of the Constitutional Committee with the regime’s government.

Sixth Round

18 October 2021 to 22 October 2021

The sixth round was held after the working mechanism was agreed upon. The agenda included the discussion of constitutional principles, namely: state sovereignty – security, army and armed forces – rule of law – combating terrorism.

SNC representatives in the Constitutional Committee submitted four papers by way of proposals to reach a consensus on what was discussed in the previous sessions by all parties. The proposals even included texts from papers submitted by the other parties.

Representatives of the regime’s government offered no papers for consensus. They insisted that it would not consider these papers to seek consensus although the SNC delegation had included some elements of proposals made by the regime delegation.

Seventh Round

21 March 2022 to 25 March 2022

The seventh round of the Constitutional Committee’s meetings was convened and four constitutional principles were discussed:

Principles of governance (submitted by SNC representatives), state identity (submitted by the civil society delegation), state symbols (submitted by the Syrian regime’s government delegation) and the structure and functions of public authorities (submitted by the SNC representatives).

It was agreed that on the final day of the meetings, based on the agreement between the parties, the delegations would submit reviews of the discussions of the previous days and agree on a draft of the four constitutional principles. The regime delegation, however, did not offer any reviews and refused to agree on the proposed principles.

Eighth Round

30 May 2022 to 3 June 2022

The eighth round of the Constitutional Committee’s meetings was held. Four new constitutional principles were discussed, namely: maintaining and strengthening state institutions (submitted by the regime delegation) – unilateral coercive measures from a constitutional standpoint (submitted by 8 members of the civil society delegation) – supremacy of the Constitution and the position of international treaties (submitted by the SNC delegation) – transitional justice (submitted by seven members of the civil society delegation).

During the sessions of the last day, the three sides reviewed the four constitutional principles which had been discussed during this round and heard the amendments made by each party contributing to the proposed draft. They further agreed that the ninth round of the meetings of the Constitutional Committee would be held on 25 July.

Nineth Round

25 July 2022

The UN Special Envoy for Syria informed the SNC Co-Chair of the Constitutional Committee that the nineth round of the Constitutional Committee’s meetings would be postponed and that the delegation representing the Syrian regime had required meeting some Russian demands as a condition to its participation.

Russia had demanded that the venue of the meetings be changed. It objected to Geneva as a venue under the pretext that Switzerland was not neutral. Although Russia was not party to the meetings and had no right to obstruct them for reasons that had nothing to do with the Syrian people.