Constitutional Committee and National Sovereignty

These are some phrases contained in resolution 2254, which affirm the Syrians' ownership and leadership of the political process and that the role of the United Nations is to facilitate that process.

In Sochi's final statement [Final statement of the Congress of the Syrian national dialogue, Sochi, January 30, 2018] the following is stated verbatim, regarding the Constitutional Committee:

«Final agreement is to be reached in the UN-led Geneva process on the mandate and terms of reference, powers, rules of procedure, and selection criteria for the composition of the Constitutional Committee».

Reminding of the texts of international resolutions and their implications is of crucial importance at a moment when some countries (5+2 Group), in an open and scandalous manner, are trying to distort and manipulate these decisions by obstructing the formation of the constitutional committee for a long time, and thus attempting to artificially induce its birth in a specific way leading to a stillborn!

UNSC Resolution 2254 was and continues to be the path of resolving the Syrian crisis. Its essence is the agreement of the Syrians among themselves, with the facilitation and easing of the United Nations, not through dictates, coercion and colonialism that some Western countries has not dispose of, and still use them up to the moment in attempts to impose the trends of the work of the United Nations and its envoys, and sometimes they succeed in doing so…

The Small Group is still practicing its obstructing role relating to the Constitutional Committee, both in form and content. In terms of form, this is reflected in the question of numbers and the «Third Third» question in particular, which the United Nations has no right to appoint but rather it is a Syrian-Syrian right, through the agreement of the regime and opposition on a «Third Third» List facilitated by the United Nations. In that context, that section of the extremist opposition, who rejected the Sochi Conference and then formally agreed to, has now come to terms with the Small Group, renouncing a right that it has no right to renounce, namely, the opposition's share of national sovereignty in choosing the Third Third, and, by doing so, granting the custody of this right formally to the United Nations, and practically to the Western Group.

In content, Tillerson's non-paper, then Pompeo's non-paper, clearly shows the colonialist mandate mentality of these states, which attempt to withdraw the right of self-determination from the Syrians by pre-defining the form of the state, the form of its regime, the distribution of powers, and so forth. Indeed, the goal of these States is not to reach what they declare in their non-papers, but to perpetuate the conflict, leading to fragmentation, if possible.

With the opposition's extremists on the one side, there are the regime's extremists on the other side who are pleased and comfortable with the amount of complexities and obstacles being laid in the face of formation of the Constitutional Committee in line with Resolution 2254 and the Sochi communiqué. It is no surprise if they accept a constitutional committee that is born dead according to Western agenda and behavior.

The mission of the patriots in all parties, is to push to stop the violation of national sovereignty, and to work for its restoration.

This sovereignty does not only mean sovereignty on the territory, boundaries, law and various state apparatuses, but it means first and foremost, the sovereignty of the Syrian people, which the constitution must really and actually guarantee it, not just record it on paper. Suh a sovereignty will be restored in full despite the will of all extremists in the various parties!

Kassioun Editorial, Issue No 887, November 05, 2018