Since its establishment in 2011, CCSD has been advancing the Syrian political process with the goal of achieving sustainable peace. We base the political process on the Geneva Communique and UN Security Council Resolution 2254. We define sustainable peace as a lasting, deep-rooted, inclusive and pluralistic peace, which aims to achieve transitional justice for all (including detainees, IDPs, refugees and others). Achieving sustainable peace also involves building a safe, secure and tolerant Syrian society where all Syrians can feel comfortable returning (if they so choose), in addition to the absence of all kinds of hostilities and violence.
Through this political process brief (that will be updated every six months), CCSD presents to Syrians a detailed summary of the main resolutions, agreements, talks, conferences, groups and coalitions that were organized and related to Syria from 2011 until now. This summary includes the main Syrian-Syrian, regional and international events which aimed to solve the Syrian conflict; a conflict which erupted from the Syrian revolution, that was inspired by the Arab Spring, after Syrians started to demonstrate peacefully in March 2011 against 40 years of dictatorship and one family’s power and control over all of the state and society’s resources since 1970. As government forces brutally cracked down on dissent, over time it became an international proxy war in addition to civil war. This brief includes the UN efforts to solve the conflict in Syria. It gives a summary of all the UN Security Council resolutions on Syria since 2011 and provides information on the establishment of the Constitutional Committee starting from the Sochi Conference in 2018 and the Constitutional Process starting from 2019, including the eight rounds of meetings. This brief includes also other important efforts related to the political process such as countering terrorism initiative, the Astana process, and Brussels Conferences.
Additionally, CCSD highlights the role of the women’s movement in Syria and the great role that women have played in advancing the peace process through different initiatives to promote peace and democracy, the establishment of the Women Advisory Board (WAB) and other women’s coalitions and groups. This paper also introduces the work of civil society actors, such as CCSD itself. CCSD defines Syrian civil society actors as individuals, groups, organizations, networks who work on behalf of the public’s interests and which are neither part of the private sector (which works towards the financial profit) or of the political sector (which works towards being part of the governing powers). CCSD outlines the role of civil society in promoting peace in Syria through different interventions and the active engagement in the Civil Society Support Room (CSSR), their brave contribution in countering terrorism such as the road map for Raqqa by the Syrian Civic Platform, and their thorough brief to the Security Council on different issues such as the detainees, humanitarian situation and women rights. CCSD has presented to the security council a six-point plan which serves as a road map for achieving sustainable peace and we continue our work to achieve it.