Outputs of the second dialogue session in Qamishlo

Monday 8 March 2021

The Ezdina Organization held its second dialogue session in its office in the city of Qamishlo/Qamishli under the title "A Constitution That Protects Us", as the session started at 11:00 and ended at 14:15.

Facilitator:

The session was moderated by lawyer, legal advisor and human rights activist Omar Ali, who holds a master's degree in non-profit organization management.

Participants:

Eleven persons, representatives of civil organizations, activists, university students, teachers in north and east Syria and independent media professionals participated in the session, according to the following percentages: Males 40% - Females 60%

• Reem Khalil (Member of We Are Hope Organization)
• Arin Sheikhmous (Civil activist)
• Mariana Issa (Member of the Syriac Youth Union)
• Majd Haj Ibrahim (Civil activist)
• Samer Hanna (Journalist of Al-Yawm TV)
• Masoud Mohammad (Lecturer at the University of Rojava)
• Safaa Mahmoud (Civil engineering student)
• Berivan Omar (Editor and Designer at Children's Magazine)
• Helin Haj Ahmed (Doz Organization)
• Naz Musa (Volunteer at Sanad Organization)
• Siwar Melhem (Volunteer at Sanad Organization)

The journalist Rewshen Qasim and the activist Darav Qasim participated in the dialogue session through the "Zoom" program.

The session was attended by people of young age groups.

National background of the participants:

A variety of religious representatives from national backgrounds in the region participated in the session, the national distribution of attendance in the session:

Kurds 70% - Syriacs 10% - Armenians 10% - Arabs 20%

Most important topics of the session:

• Geneva conferences on resolving the Syrian crisis.
• The importance of the political process in Geneva.
•  Security Council Resolution 2254.
• The Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva (its components - its actions - its activities - its decisions).
•  The role of the constitution in protecting minorities (recommendations and proposals).

The facilitator began to talk about the nine Geneva conferences and their results in detail, then the participants in the dialogue session listened to the intervention of the activist Darav Qasim and spoke about 3 points that he considered essential, such as providing job opportunities for young people, benefiting from the state’s wealth and re-establishing the infrastructure.

In the second axis, the facilitator of the session, Lawyer Omar Ali, talked about the establishment and composition of the Constitutional Committee and the drawbacks to the committee's representation in addition to the main reasons for the failure of the Constitutional Committee in its work.

The session facilitator also divided the attendees into two groups to develop and discuss a set of recommendations and proposals, in order to reach several general proposals that were agreed upon by all the participants.

This was followed by an intervention by the journalist Rewshen Qasim via the "Zoom" program, where she focused on 3 main points, about the constitution being permanent or temporary, removing the effects of demographic change in the occupied areas (Serê Kaniyê/Ras al-Ain and Afrin, and affirming the quota ratio in the constitution.

Session results:

At the end of the dialogue session, the participants agreed on a set of recommendations and proposals to be submitted to the Syrian Constitutional Committee, including:

• Youth representation by a minimum of 15 percent within the constitutional committee.
• Amending the decision-making system within the Syrian Constitutional Committee so that it becomes 60 percent instead of 75 percent.
• Allocating seats for youth in parliament, local councils and the government by at least 20 percent.
• The issuance of a law for the licensing of parties and youth civil society organizations.
• Forming civil society parties and organizations especially for the youth category, and ensuring youth representation within parties and other civil society institutions by 20 percent, including leadership positions.
• Reintegration of youth and providing them with job opportunities.
•  Forming effective and influential youth parliaments.
• Appointing a group of young people to be advisors to the higher leadership.
• Reducing the age for nomination in parliament and local councils by 20 years instead of 25 years.
• The necessity for the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria to participate in the Constitutional Committee.
• Ensuring free education, including postgraduate studies.
• The necessity of representing all ethnic and racial components within the Constitution Committee and ensuring that the constitution includes the implementation of UN Resolution 2250, which includes the participation of youth in decision-making.