A 50-strong commission representing most strands of Syrian society will draft a new constitution for the country, the UN and Russia have agreed at the end of a peace conference put together by Vladimir Putin in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi.



The UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura faced intense criticism from the Syrian opposition for attending the conference, which the opposition boycotted on the basis that it was an attempt to supplant the UN peace process and marginalise their role in ending Syria’s seven-year civil war.

De Mistura defended his presence, arguing that the Sochi conference statement clearly handed back control of the constitution committee to the UN, both in terms of its composition, selection criteria, mandate and terms of reference. He insisted the Syrian Negotiation Committee (SNC), the official UN-recognised opposition that boycotted Sochi, would have a “very substantial participation”, and the commission would not be confined to those attending Sochi.

He said the constitutional committee would also draw on a pool of 150 names put forward by Turkey, Iran and Russia, the three sponsors of the Sochi event. Each country would nominate 50 names.

Intense bargaining is likely to start about the composition of the commission, with the SNC facing big decisions on whether to participate in a body that does not have the removal of the president, Bashar al-Assad, as one of its terms of reference.

De Mistura said he would consult everyone on names for the commission but the prerogative of the memberships ended up with the special envoy, implying no country had a veto on a specific individual.

He said he wanted to draw up the constitutional body quickly while “the iron is hot”, but gave no timetable.

De Mistura described the Sochi conference as “not chaotic”, but “very intense”. He said it was the first time the Syrian opposition and government had shown a willingness to discuss the principles of a new constitution, leading to presidential and parliamentary elections.

The Sochi conference agreed a statement setting out 12 principles underlying the constitution, including commitments that the security services would be under democratic control.

At a late-night briefing by phone to reporters in New York De Mistura said: “We are going from theory to practice.

“We never had the government side and the opposition actually getting involved in a discussion of a new constitution, because they were not in agreement. I think we have reached that point.”

He said he would be holding further talks in the normal round of UN discussions based in Geneva, saying the country remained de facto partitioned, and reconstruction could only come as part of an inclusive political process.



The Sochi meeting was being held against the backdrop of continued fighting in Idlib, and Afrin, as well as sieges in various parts of the country.