December 17, 2024

The head of the Syrian Negotiating Commission, Dr. Badr Jamous, confirmed during a briefing he gave today, Tuesday, during a special session held in New York on Syria, which is considered the first Syrian briefing in the Council after the fall of the regime, that the Syrians will pursue the former regime and its fugitive president judicially, and the Commission will spare no effort to achieve justice and redress for the victims, and that transitional justice and accountability are not an option but a necessity to ensure that these crimes are not repeated.

The head of the Commission welcomed cooperation with the current administration in Damascus to restore security and provide services to citizens, stressing the Commission’s readiness to cooperate with it to build a new Syria; a state in which everyone is equal in rights and duties, free from foreign interference, and maintains balanced relations with its neighbors and friends.

He stressed the Commission’s belief that international resolution 2254 constitutes a roadmap to achieve the aspirations of our people. It is true that circumstances have changed, and that the regime that was a party to this resolution has collapsed, but the spirit and essence of the resolution, which is to achieve the rule of the people themselves through fair elections under the supervision of the United Nations, is still the principle on which we rely.

He called for working to form a comprehensive transitional national government that represents all segments of the Syrian people, from revolutionaries to politicians and civil society, while ensuring the representation of women and youth, and holding a comprehensive national conference, which the transitional government will organize to choose a constituent assembly of wise men, experts, scholars, politicians, statesmen, and community figures from men and women, veterans and youth, who will be tasked with preparing a new constitution that expresses the aspirations of the Syrians, and a referendum will be held on it and moving forward towards free and fair elections in a safe and neutral environment under the supervision of the United Nations.

He stressed the urgent need to establish a fund to support detainees who have been released, a fund to support the families of martyrs of the revolution, and to immediately reintegrate those who defected from the regime and those unjustly dismissed from their jobs, and to establish a fund to support refugees and displaced persons wishing to return to Syria. He called for lifting the economic sanctions imposed on the Syrian state and increasing humanitarian and relief support to enable the Syrians to rebuild their country.

He concluded by saying that the Syrians are determined to build a new Syria; a state of law, justice and democracy, a modern republic that protects all its citizens without discrimination, and remains united in land and people.