Ezdina dedicates its tenth dialogue session to representatives of religious and national minorities in Amuda

Ezdina Organization held its tenth dialogue session within the framework of the project "A Constitution That Protects Us", today, Tuesday, at the Kulturvan Center in the city of Amuda, in the presence of representatives of religious and national minorities in North and East Syria.

The dialogue session was attended by:

• Human rights activist Maher Shekaki.
• Graduate of the Faculty of Islamic Law, Wadah Arian.
• Co-chair of the Office of Religions and Beliefs in Amuda, Sana'a Faro.
• University student Hanna Hilon.
• Kurdish activist Issa Sheikho.
• Co-chair of the Office of Religions and Beliefs in Amuda, Dawud Abdel-Ahad.
• Dr. Heba al-Qadri.
• Civil activist Hamrin Ali.
• Graduate of the Faculty of Economics Nizar Nabouni.
• Kurdish journalist Aziz Farman.
• Yazidi activist Ismail Dalaf.

The human rights activist, Mohamed Ashraf Sino, also participated in the dialogue session, via the Zoom program from Germany.

The dialogue session was moderated by Dr. Abeer Hassaf, while a member of the Constitutional Committee, Dr. Dorson Oskan, participated in the dialogue session via the “Zoom” program.

The dialogue session, which lasted for about three hours, dealt with several axes on the Syrian crisis, the Geneva conferences, Syria's upcoming constitution, the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva, and the demands and proposals of representatives of religious and national minorities on Syria's future constitution.

During the session, human rights activist Maher Shekaki said that there is no recognition of religious and national minorities in Syria within the current Syrian constitution, where the adjective "Muslim" is written on the identity card of a Yazidi person.

In turn, Wadah Arian said that women's failure to demand their rights was not due to religion or the constitution, but rather the reason for the eastern society governed by customs and traditions.

For his part, Nizar Nabouni noted that the awareness of the people of the regions of North and East Syria reduced the impact of the policy of discrimination between the components followed by the ruling regimes, as evidenced by the strong social relations that exist among the people of the region at present.

In turn, a member of the Constitutional Committee, Dr. Dorsen Oskan, spoke via the Zoom program about the nine Geneva meetings, pointing out that all parties were not serious about reaching a solution to the Syrian crisis.

Oskan added that constitutional issues were addressed in only one Geneva conference, while the rest of the sessions were wasting time and procrastination from the participating parties.

For her part, the session facilitator, Dr. Abeer Hassaf, spoke about the establishment and composition of the Constitutional Committee and the drawbacks of representing the Committee, in addition to talking about the main reasons for the failure of the Constitutional Committee in its work so far.

At the conclusion of the dialogue session, the attendees agreed on a set of recommendations and proposals to be submitted to the Syrian Constitutional Committee, which included:

Policy recommendations:

• A pluralistic, decentralized, democratic system that preserves the rights of all nationalities, religions and sects.
• Separation of religion from the state.
• Existence of supra-constitutional laws and principles to protect the national and religious rights of all Syrian religions and ethnicities.
• Adoption of the democratic self-management project in North and East Syria within the new constitution
• Ensuring the return of all the displaced to their areas and canceling the demographic change that occurred as a result of the war.
• Annulment of the Arab Belt Law, the 1962 census and compensation for those affected.
• Transitional justice and the establishment of a non-ideological national army.
• Freedom of expression and opinion.

Social and cultural recommendations and proposals:

• Preserving national identity.
• Amending the Personal Status Law (which is derived from Islamic Sharia Law).
• Protecting the rights of all components of Syrian society (national religious) and practicing their rituals.
• The right of the mother to grant citizenship to her children.
• Everyone has the right to speak their mother tongue.
• Ensuring the rights of children.

Ezdina Organization held its ninth dialogue session within the project "A Constitution that Protects Us", last Sunday, May 23 at the Kulturvan Center in Amuda, in the presence of a group of women, civil activists and media figures.

It is noteworthy that the Ezdina launched a new project in Northeastern Syria, under the title "A Constitution That Protects Us", starting on February 23, 2021.