A matter of right: Syrian freedom is dangerously incomplete

Syrians across the country celebrated the fall of the Assad regime in December as a moment of joy and freedom. Next, President Trump made the welcome decision to suspend economic sanctions against our country, a move that will help alleviate years of suffering. But for Syria’s many diverse peoples — including mine, the Kurds in the northeast — this remains a time of risk and anxiety.

As a new Syria takes shape, we must ask: What kind of state will it be? Democratic or autocratic? Rights-respecting or repressive? I believe the answer lies in my region, where we have created what we consider to be a model of multiethnic direct democracy.

Syria’s new interim Constitution doesn’t reflect this diversity. It doesn’t fully protect the rights of Syria’s minorities or women, and it declares that Islamic law is the source of all national law in a highly centralised state. This is a dangerous development. Syria’s history of autocracy, repression and rule by one ethnic group, to the exclusion of others, is a history of failure. We need a new constitutional process to produce a document that guarantees power sharing, safeguards political freedoms, decentralises governance and allows for full democratic participation, regardless of religion, ethnicity or gender.

This very democratic model was born in the early days of the Syrian revolution, when my region, which we formally call the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, achieved autonomy in 2012. Also known by its Kurdish name, Rojava, the area makes up nearly one-third of Syria and is home to almost two million Kurds. But like the rest of Syria, it is also home to Arabs, Alawites, Armenians, Druse, Chechens and other ethnic groups. It includes many religions, with Shia and Sunni Muslims, Yazidis and a diverse range of Assyrian, Syriac, Chaldean and other ancient Christian traditions, as well as secularists.

Under our administration, ethnic groups are legally protected, and women are given a leading role in policymaking and society. In a part of the world with a history of autocracy and repression, we believe our system could serve as a model not only for Syria but also for the entire Middle East.

Different communities have a say in our government through a power-sharing arrangement in which every administrative position — from local mayoralties to the executive council of the entire region — is jointly held by a man and a woman of different ethnicities. Citizens meet in assemblies to govern their neighbourhoods, villages and towns and send delegates to regional councils. Local committees help shape policy on health, education, defence, sports, women’s rights and more.

Our regional Constitution, which we call a social contract, guarantees equal rights for all. The system is not perfect. Despite our efforts at redistributing land once held by the Assad regime, there is still too much economic inequality. We suffer from antiquated infrastructure, serious environmental problems and a dearth of economic investment — all exacerbated by more than 12 years of war. We must work harder to get more people involved and to carry out our commitment to ecological awareness. But democracy is something that takes practice.

Our commitment to democracy and women’s rights gave us the strength to fight the Islamic State, which we have defeated, with American military support, thanks to 14,000 of our young men and women who gave their lives in battle.

What can other countries learn from our system? Arabic was once the only official language in Syria; we teach students in three official languages: Arabic, Kurdish and Syriac. We have an independent, free, robust media that is protected in our social contract. We employ a restorative justice system that includes the Mala Jin (women’s houses), where families can work out domestic problems with the advice and help of female elders. We encourage the full expression of ethnic culture, religion and dress. We don’t demand that women wear their clothes in a certain way. Women hold half of legislative seats and government jobs and take leadership positions in all institutions — military, political, economic and social.

Our experience provides valuable lessons for Syria’s political future. Centralised control, instituted by the French authorities who once dominated Syria, has been a disaster, as it has for so many similarly diverse countries in the Middle East. The postcolonial legacy has failed the Middle East time and time again. It makes much more sense to allow regions to govern themselves according to their own needs and traditions within a unified nation.

We signed an agreement with Damascus in March stating our intention to integrate our institutions and armed forces into the new administration, and the interim president, Ahmed al-Shara, in turn, agreed to the right to representation of all Syrians in the new government, a ceasefire on all Syrian territory and a promise that all displaced Syrians would be able to return to their towns and villages.

But the interim Constitution al-Shara signed, with elections scheduled in five years, threatens to undermine these good intentions. Largely created by those involved in al-Shara’s former rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, it allows for the curtailing of civil rights, including religious rights, if they are deemed to infringe on public order. There are inadequate checks and balances on the executive, who is given supreme power to appoint judges and one-third of the legislature.

Fault lines in the country since Assad’s fall are already beginning to show. The terrible violence on Syria’s coast in March, in which more than 1,600 civilians were killed, mostly Alawites, and more recent aggression against the Druse community south of Damascus underline the need for a new democratic constitutional process.

The new Syria must, from the outset, include everyone. The Trump administration and US Congress have a historic opportunity to help us build such a government in Syria. It would not only help Syrians but also provide a blueprint for the entire Middle East.

Ahmed is the chair of the foreign relations department of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

©️The New York Times Company