President of the Syrian Negotiations Commission, Anas Abdah, gave a detailed overview on the work of the Commission to the Syrian Opposition Coalition’s (SOC) General Assembly at its 59th regular session.
Abdah talked about the Commission’s activities to reach a political solution that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people for freedom, dignity and democracy in accordance with UN resolutions, most notably the Geneva Communique of 2012 and UN Resolutions 2118 and 2254.
Abdah also briefed the General Assembly on the meetings that the Commission held with US, European, and Arab officials as well as with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen. He pointed out that the Commission stressed the importance of refusing to normalize relations with the Assad regime, maintaining sanctions on the pillars of the Assad regime, and not to engage in any reconstruction process before a political transition is put in place.
Abdah also talked about the activities carried out by the Commission to follow up on the issues of detainees, transitional justice, and accountability. He pointed out that the Committee for Detainees held an event with representatives from ten states and personalities from civil society. He stressed that the Commission is keen on maintaining these issues in the foreground, and that it will not allow anything to cover them up or diminish their importance.
He also spoke about the course of the sixth session of the Constitutional Committee which took place in Geneva last month. He stressed that the Assad regime is to blame for the failure of the session to reach consensus according to the methodology proposed by the UN envoy and which was agreed upon by the parties. He also said that the Assad regime is still procrastinating and refusing to show any seriousness in any part of the political process.
(Source: SOC’s Media Department)