AANES Social Contract to solve regions problems: jurists in Syria’s Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – The Social Contract of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) will be the way to solve the whole social and economic troubles. The representation of the peoples of the region will be real, and it will also help produce elected leaders, jurists and civil activists in Syria’s northern city of Raqqa said on Tuesday.
The Social Contract, which acts as northeast Syria’s constitution, is a set of theoretical and practical foundations, laws, and organizational rules which are established to determine the relationship between the administration and the people, and to clarify the rights and duties of individuals and officials within society.
In July 2021, a 30-member mini-committee was formed to prepare a draft for the social contract, which will be considered as a constitution to regulate the work of the AANES on the political, economic and social aspects. After the mini-committee finished its work, the extended committee sessions began.
The AANES Social Contract is considered the first sociopolitical document agreed upon by all the communities in the region. “We hope it will be an introduction for the solution of whole economic and social problems,” Mohamed Tayih, a lawyer and an activist in Raqqa, said.
Elections in accordance of the AANES Social Contract will be held, he added. “The elections have to produce social leaders capable of representing the locals.”
Based on this document, elections will be held, al-Tayih said, stressing the need for these elections to produce “social leaders capable of representing the region’s residents.”
The social contract is a radical and real turning point and a door to be open on all Syrians, Yasser Suleiman, deputy co-chair of the General Council of the AANES said on February 6.
On February 12, the Social Contract Drafting Committee in the AANES completed its work on discussing the Articles of the social contract at the headquarters of the Democratic Union Party, in Hasakah, northeast Syria.
Tayih noted out that this document “has to be taught in the academic and the local councils since it is considered a constitution that has to be illustrated for the components. The Social Contract is the legal document for all citizens to know about their rights and obligations.”
“The AANES Social Contract should be explained to the local people and be published in newspapers, websites and in all events so that it is clear to everybody,” he said.
All legislation and laws that will be issued in all human rights and administrative councils and justice facilities “should not contrast with the social contract document,” according to the human rights defender.
Areas in NE Syria need such a constitution, which in turn needs jurists and specialists of high academic expertise to prepare it, Abdurrahman al-Ahmed, head of the Intellectuals Union based in Raqqa, said.
” Regardless of the criticism of some of the personalities involved in preparing the social contract and their lack of sufficient experience, this document is a bold move if implemented successfully,” he added.
The committee consists of 157 members who are representatives of the AANES, political parties, civil society institutions, human rights and jurists, and social and tribal activities.
The document is a draft and it will be published and circulated through dialogues and mass meetings with jurisdictions and intellectuals for the discussion of the AANES Social Contract and avoid the gaps if founded, Ahmed said.
It is necessary that the Social Contract will meet the demands and aspirations of the locals. A constitution will be drafted across Syria in the future to achieve the Syrian people ambitions with all its components.
The Social Contract will be a bold step that enables every individual to know it and recognizing their rights and obligations in case it was publicized and discussed through public meetings, the civil activist of Raqqa Muhammad Sha’ban said.
“The optimism for this document is its aspiration to solve the economic and social problems that afflict the region in general, and to try to end the dispersion it suffers from,” he told North Press.
Meetings and discussions over the draft with all communities of the region “will be positive to listen and write down proposals of the residents and work in accordance with the interests of the administration and the exist communities,” he noted.
He expressed his belief that the meetings and discussion of the draft with all communities of the region “will be a positive point, to listen and write down the residents’ proposals and work on what is commensurate between the Autonomous Administration and the existing communities.”
“The success of this step will be a unique move towards fulfilling ambitions of the residents and the AANES at the same time since this contract is constitutional and social aiming at fulfilling the societal cohesion and preserving the rights of every individual,” according to Sha’ban.