Negotiations on the draft Syrian constitution will resume on October 18

The UN special envoy for the war-torn country told the Security Council on Tuesday that talks on drafting a constitution for Syria will be reconvened in Geneva next month.

According to the agreement of the Damascus government and the Syrian Negotiating Committee, the committee was established to draft a new constitution “it has been two full years now”, but “unfortunately, the committee has not yet begun to make steady progress on its tasks,” Gail Pei Desen said.

“I am happy to announce that there is agreement on the methodology,” he said, adding that the drafting committee will meet in Geneva on October 18. Pedersen visited the area and spent 18 months negotiating with the parties involved.

He said: “We should all now expect the Constitutional Committee to begin the process of drafting – not just preparing – for constitutional reform.”

Pedersen added that building trust among participants including the government, opposition groups, and civil society organizations is essential to creating a “credible constitutional process.”

The envoy also expressed the hope that the summit held by the Russian and Turkish presidents on Wednesday will help “promote peace within Syria”, especially in the northwestern region of Idlib, where the last major rebel stronghold is.

Since the brutal suppression of anti-government protests began in 2011, the war in Syria has killed approximately 500,000 people and has evolved into a complex battlefield involving foreign troops, militias, and armed fighters.

At the Syria Peace Conference hosted by Russia in January 2018, an agreement was reached for a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution, which lasted until September 2019.

The fifth and most recent round of meetings aimed at amending the constitution is hold In January of this year, representatives from the Syrian government, opposition and civil society participated in the meeting.

At that time, the United States and several Western allies accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad-who has been in power since 2000-for deliberately delaying the drafting of a new constitution, wasting time until the presidential election this year and avoiding UN oversight. Vote in accordance with the requirements of the UN Security Council.

In May, Assad was Re-election Won a fourth term in a government-controlled area with 95.1% of the votes.