Syria's Constitutional Committee: Outcomes of Two Years of Discussions
Prepared By: Abdul WAhab Assi
The discussions of the Syrian Constitutional Committee (SCC) are the only course of the political process in Syria, since the talks between the regime and the opposition got to a roadblock in the “Geneva” process, which lasted for nine rounds, the last of which was on January 25, 2018.
In other words, SCC is the doorway to a political solution in Syria. However, although it is not sufficient to achieve sustainable stability, the absence of the ability or willingness of actors to search for alternatives or other foundations increases the importance of the constitutional reform process.
In fact, the initiative of the guarantor states of the "Astana Process" to co-sponsor the political process alongside the United Nations gives importance to the discussions of the Constitutional Committee. However, the track did not achieve any actual breakthrough or progress leading to the solution, which calls for studying the case in more detail to know the role, responsibility and approach of Turkey, Russia and Iran towards the talks.
Accordingly, this report reviews the details of six rounds of talks between the regime and the opposition and its conclusions, and then addresses the assessment of the performance of local actors, i.e. the regime and the opposition, and international actors, (Turkey, Russia, Iran, the United States and the United Nations).
After reviewing the outcomes of the talks and evaluating the performance of the actors, the report concludes, forecasting the future of the political process based on building three scenarios, namely disruption, failure or success.
Consequently, this very report helps providing a clearer picture on the constitutional reform course for public opinion and experts, two years after its launch. It also, at the same time would alert the parties to the Constitutional Committee to build an understanding of the dimensions of the talks.
