New Social Contract represents glimmer of hope for resolving Syrian crisis

Many Arab newspapers talked about the Social Contract of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of the North and East Syria region. How did these newspapers read this contract?

" New social contract paves the way for the restructuring of Autonomous Administration"

The London-based Al-Arab newspaper pointed out that the Social Contract drafted by a committee formed by the Autonomous Administration resulted in a change in the structure and name of the administration.

The newspaper indicated that the new contract came after deliberations within a committee formed for the same purpose, consisting of 30 members, and that this step came against the backdrop of criticism directed at the first contract, which ignored several basic principles.

“The Autonomous Administration changes its name and unifies its regions into an administrative region.”

The Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat quoted the member of the expanded committee for writing and drafting the social contract, Fawza Youssef, as saying: “The contract is a local regulating constitution and an implicit agreement between members of society and the structure of Autonomous Administration to determine its powers and relationships with the administrations that manage these areas.”

She pointed out that the formula of the new Social Contract is based on developing the administration and unifying the systems and laws that have been in place for years, stressing “the formation of some administrations, such as Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, came as an emergency after the liberation of the region from the grip of ISIS mercenaries, and as a result of the political conditions that the region is going through."

She stated that: “The constitutional references and sources that the committee relied on relied on models of countries with a federal system, such as Iraq, due to its geographical proximity, and Switzerland, but we did not rely on the Syrian constitution, as it carries a central discourse, but we reviewed it from the legal side in detail.”

According to Fawza Youssef, the approach summarized in the new contract is based on three points: “The first is adopting universal principles of rights and freedoms, the second is benefiting from the most just and equal global democratic experiences, and the third is not imitating any experience,”

Youssef pointed out that: “ We set basic principles that adhere to the unity of Syrian territory, and that NE Syria is an integral part of the unity of the country’s land and people,” adding that there are clauses and articles included in the new contract, which stipulate the adoption of a consensual constitution. “This contract can be changed in the interest of the general national interest.”

Sihanouk Dibo, the member of the executive body of the Democratic Union Party and one of the members of the mini-committee that wrote the new contract, spoke to Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper, saying, “The announcement of this contract is a declaration of hope for a solution in Syria.”

He stressed that: "The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria is a model for a real and effective solution to the Syrian crisis on the basis of International Resolution 2254," hoping: "This contract will give hope towards resolving the Syrian crisis, and that the Autonomous Administration will gain its appropriate Syrian national dimension."

Dibo pointed out that the committee held dozens of mass meetings in the areas and cities of the “Autonomous Administration,” stressing that this contract “takes into account several issues, including resolving all national issues related to the issue of Syrian components, and tries to benefit from the actual and practical experience that the Autonomous Administration has gone through over the past years.”

Dibo explained that “the contract includes a clause that allows this contract to be completely amended, if a consensual democratic constitution for all Syrians is found.”

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ANHA