Outputs of the first session in Amuda City

Ezdina Organization held its eighth dialogue session in the city of Amuda via “Zoom” program, due to the total ban imposed on all cities in North and East Syria due to the Corona pandemic, within its project “A Constitution That Protects Us” for young women and men. The session started at 11:15 and ended at 14:15.

Facilitator:
The session was moderated by Dr. Abeer Hassaf.

Attendees:
14 young women and men representing social and media institutions in North and East Syria participated in the session, according to the following percentages:
29% Female - 71% Male

Among the participants:

• Activist Suleiman Ali.
• Journalist Masoum Mohammad.
• ACTED member Mohammad al-Sayed.
• Civil engineer Gulbahar Seyda.
• Journalist Akram Hamo.
• Engineer Eva Sheikh Musa.
• TV Presenter Waad Mohammad.
• Journalist Liwa Suleiman.
• Journalist Novin Ibrahim.
• Human rights activist Ciwan Nebi.
• Media photographer Hariton Khajik.
• Law student Sandy Musa.
• Civil activist Anas Khoja.
• Human rights defender Shihab Abdi.

National background of the participants:
Kurds 79% - Arabs 7% - Syriacs 7% - Armenians 7%

Main topics of the session:

• Geneva conferences on solving the Syrian crisis.
• The importance of the political process in Geneva.
• Security Council Resolution 2254.
• The Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva.
• The role of the constitution in preserving the rights of young people, meeting their demands and approving their rights.

In the second axis, the session facilitator, Dr. Abeer Hassaf, spoke about the establishment and composition of the Constitutional Committee and the drawbacks to the representation of the Committee. Then a member of the Constitutional Committee, Dr. Dorson Oskan, joined the discussion and talked about the main reasons for the failure of the Constitutional Committee in its work so far, and his opinion of the Geneva conferences and the Syrian Constitutional Committee.

The session facilitator also divided the attendees into groups to develop and discuss recommendations and proposals, within a room created via the Internet, in order to reach several general proposals that were agreed upon by all participants.

Session results:
At the end of the session, the participants agreed on a set of proposals and recommendations in order to convey them to the Constitutional Committee. These proposals and recommendations included:

• Determining the form of the state "decentralized, federal, parliamentary system of government".
• The president has the right to be president for only two presidential terms, and each term is limited to four years.
• The right to education in the mother tongue and the protection of the cultural rights of all components.
• Acknowledgment of civil marriage.
• Develop a long-term strategic plan to activate the role of youth in all political and electoral fields.
• Activating the role of international organizations in establishing curricula for transitional justice and the consistency of this role within the tasks of the United Nations.
• Amending some articles of the Political Parties Law, and amending some laws regulating political life in Syria.
• Considering women as an authentic partner of men in all aspects of life.
• Involving the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria in the political process and drafting the Syrian constitution.
• The constitution should not be based on religion, and it should be secular and democratic.
• The constitution be based on equality between all nationalities and religious or ethnic minorities.
• The entry of the United States of America into the path of a political solution and pressure on all parties, not just imposing sanctions on the Syrian regime.
• The state guarantees freedom of opinion for every Syrian citizen who expresses his opinion.
• The state guarantees freedom of the press, printing, publishing, and mass media within the limits of the law.
• The principle of the supremacy of the constitution is above all.