Round Table on the New Syrian Constitution and its Open Options

2018-12-28
Participants: 20 participants (members of the Constitutional Committee of Kurdistan Region Parliament, constitutional law academics and experts at Erbil and Baghdad universities, members of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, representatives of Syrian civil society, and specialists with experience in drafting constitutions).
Summary:
On December 28,2018, ASO Center in cooperation with the International Consultancy company, organized a table entitled "The New Syrian Constitution and its Open Options". During the meeting, several points were discussed regarding the Syrian situation and the issue of Kurd's participation in drafting the constitution, the political system and constitutional guarantees, ethnic rights, obstacles and difficulties facing this committee. The current Syrian constitution was also discussed, in addition to public participation in drafting the constitution.
Some examples of the different forms of governance in the world (such as federalism and confederation), electoral processes and the importance of independent bodies were also discussed. Human rights and public liberties were highlighted as the main sources for constitution and the presentation of legal articles that should be used to assure minority rights in the constitution.
The participants agreed on a set of basic demands that must be achieved in the process of drafting the new Syrian constitution.

At the end of the meeting, recommendations were made by the attendees regarding the constitution and were shared with the concerned bodies participating in the Constitutional Committee.