The start of a new round of the Syrian Constitutional Committee meetings in Geneva

Today, Monday, a new round of the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee begins, the sixth round to be held in Geneva, at a time when hopes seem weak to reach any real agreement, in light of Russian prevarication and wasting time in minor details.

UN Resolution 2254 issued in 2015, stipulated the formation of a transitional government and the writing of a constitution prior to holding presidential and parliamentary elections, which divided the Syrian negotiations into 4 branches: governance, the constitution, elections, and combating terrorism.

While the UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen confirmed earlier that the Syrian Constitutional Committee had agreed to start the process of preparing a draft of constitutional reforms in the country.

Pedersen said that the two co-chairs of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, “the heads of the delegations of the regime and the opposition,” sat down with him to discuss how to work on constitutional reform and plan for next week’s discussions.

In a brief press conference held before the meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, Pedersen expressed his hope that “we will be able to progress” based on these previous understandings, and added: “Let us work hard during this week, and when we meet on Friday, we will be able to summarize what we have achieved.”