United Nations plans to draft a new constitution for Syria

The United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, plans to hold a meeting with Russia, Iran and Turkey regarding the formation of a constitutional committee to draft a new constitution for Syria.

In a statement, Tuesday, the United Nations said that de Mistura held “unofficial discussions” in Sochi, Russia, with representatives from Iran, Turkey and Russia about the formation of the committee, which will include representatives of the Syrian government and opposition.

The statement continued: “The Special Envoy seeks to hold unofficial discussions in early September with Iran, Russia and Turkey to finalise the constitutional committee.”

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Last August, de Mistura held a similar meeting at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. However, he only received a list of 50 names from the Syrian regime, while the opposition submitted its list of 50 candidates just in July.

De Mistura, who has handled UN efforts on Syria since 2014, was tasked to form the commission at a Russian-backed meeting in Sochi in January that the opposition boycotted.

Since 2016, de Mistura has led nine rounds of talks between the regime and the opposition in Geneva and Vienna but has achieved nothing.