The Autonomous Administration ratifies its recently established Constitution
The approval of the draft of the new social contract in the city of Raqqa by the General Council of the Autonomous Administration of North East and Syria (AANES), after nearly two years of preparation, the ratification session was attended by 110 members of the General Council, representatives of the Autonomous and Civil Administration from seven regions, and members of the extended committee to draft the Social Contract.
The new Social Contract consisted of five chapters, and four sections of “134” articles, new ones that were introduced and others were amended of the previous contract issued in 2014, to come up with an ideal achievement, and avoid gaps, and shortcomings in the previous Social Contract. The small committee in charge of drafting the Contract, which consisted of 30 members, emerged from the extended committee consisting of 158 members and was formed by a decision of the General Council in June 2020.
The preamble and articles of the Social Contract adopted the name “Syrian Democratic Republic” instead of the “Syrian Arab Republic” and changed the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria to the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the North and East Syria Region, which consists of 7 provinces: Al-Jazira, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Tabqa, Euphrates, Afrin, and Al-Shahba, while reaffirming in the contract that the democratic system established by the administration and its political positions constitute a basis for establishing the “Syrian Democratic Republic”.
Consolidating the values of coexistence
The new Social Contract considered that the Autonomous Administration is an integral part of the “Syrian Democratic Republic”, and has a flag raised next to the flag of the Republic, also has its emblem, meanwhile that the languages in the regions of north and east Syria are equal in all level of social, educational, and cultural life, in addition to consolidating the values of coexistence, as wealth, and natural resources belong to community are used and invested fairly according to the needs of the provinces.
The Contract also included the amendment of the name of the General Council of Autonomous Administration to the “People’s Democratic Council of the North and East of Syria Region”, and other changes to the structure of municipalities in all regions, which will be changed from the Municipalities Bodies to the Union of Municipalities, in addition to developing of some institutions such as the Financial Control and Accounting Institution, which will be affiliated with the People’s Council. The Central Monetary and Payments Office, and the Contract Protection Court, will serve as a Constitutional Court.
Turkish and ISIS attacks obstruct the progress of preparation
In a statement read during the opening session to discuss the Social Contract, the General Council of the AANES confirmed that the events that swept the region, such as the terrorist attacks in the al-Sina’a and Ghuwayran prison in Hasakah city to the systematic, and indiscriminate bombardment of Turkish occupation, led to delaying the work of the small committee and prevented the timely issuance of the Social Contract.
Farid Atti, Co-Chair of the General Council of the AANES, said in a statement to the Target Media Platform: “The societal system of Autonomous Administration starts from the communes, which is the smallest community cell, the town council, the city council, and the councils of the provinces, to the People’s Democratic Council at the level of NES.”
A constitution organizes the work of the Administration
The AANES defines the Social Contract as a set of theoretical and practical foundations, laws, and organizational rules, which are developed to determine the relationship between the Administration and the people, and also show the rights and duties of individuals and officials within society. They stress that the contract is a constitution that organizes the work of the Administration politically, economically, and socially. The Social Contract was written and formulated based on the public meetings of the drafting committee, and the previous contract articles, in addition to using some constitutions such as the Swedish and Swiss constitutions.
“The ratification of the Social Contract by the General Council of the Autonomous Administration comes amid the ongoing stalled meetings of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, tasked with studying changes to the current Syrian constitution or the adoption of a new constitution. The Syrian Constitutional Committee includes representatives from the Damascus government, the opposition, and civil society organizations. However, its previous eight rounds have not yielded any results, even after more than four years since its establishment.”
At a time when many Syrian parties consider that the committee does not represent them and their objectives, they argue that Damascus uses the committee as a method to showcase its involvement in a political movement and an attempt to limit the political process to this committee. Meanwhile, the opposition is trying to assert its presence, emphasizing that they are still active in the political arena. After what might be termed as their failure and abandonment by the international community and regional countries.
Although the Damascus government issued a new constitution in 2012 as part of what it called a set of reforms, as part of attempts to breakdown the mass protests that erupted in Syria in 2011, however, Syrian human rights activists and opposition parties say that the new Syrian constitution does not differ from the previous constitution issued during the time of former Syrian government president Hafez al-Assad, father of Bashar al-Assad, in 1973, In sense of the consolidation of power in the hands of one man and one party, and the constant of centralization away from political pluralism, as well as the non-recognition of the cultural rights of minorities and components of the Syrian people.