The head of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, Nasr al-Hariri, said that the term "conciliatory justice", which the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, talked about a few days ago is a waste of Syrians' rights and legitimization of the crimes of the Syrian regime.
Hariri added, in a video message broadcast by the coalition on its website, that the tasks of the international envoy are limited to the Geneva Communiqué and International Resolution No. (2254) to achieve political transition in Syria, and that he has no right to make an endeavor against this framework, as he put it.
The Syrian National Coalition accused the UN envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, of deviating from UN decisions in the political process that he is currently conducting, within the framework of the Syrian Constitutional Committee.
The accusation came after Pedersen raised the ire of the Syrian opposition, by using a new term, "conciliatory justice" during a briefing he gave last Wednesday at the UN Security Council.
On political and humanitarian developments, Yabdaroun said that some members of the constitutional committee from the civil society delegation demanded during the recent meetings of the constitutional committee to implement the principle of "restorative justice" in Syria.
Head of the Syrian opposition coalition Nasr Al-Hariri (Al-Jazeera)
In his speech, Hariri asked, "Where did the reconciliatory justice come from, especially since our vocabulary says, for years, that we need a comprehensive political process that includes a transitional justice process."
He added that this term was not taken up by anyone in the opposition platforms, calling on the United Nations to clarify the source of that term.
The head of the coalition indicated that the political process on Syria is proceeding in what he described as a "deviant road," stressing that there is no political solution in the near term.
Because of Russia's absolute support for the Assad regime.
He warned of the arrival of the political process in Syria to a dead end, and said, "If the political process continues in this case, it will go to an end involuntarily."
He considered that introducing the term "restorative justice" is a legitimization of the Assad regime and a waste of Syrians' rights, and this is a clear departure from the Security Council resolution and the Geneva statement.
Inadvertent error
After Pederson’s new term sparked negative reactions from the Syrian opposition, his office issued a clarifying statement justifying the matter as the result of an "unintended technical error."
"In a briefing to the Security Council on December 16, an unintended technical error led to the description of some members of the middle third (meaning civil society representatives) as having raised points during the last session of the Constitutional Committee related to restorative justice," Pederson said in his statement Friday.
However, he said, "But they did not use this term in their written or oral statements."
The UN envoy to Syria confirmed that the statement referred to in his briefing in the Security Council only mentioned "compensatory justice" in the context of talking about housing, land and property rights.
The Constitutional Committee was set up by the United Nations to draft a new constitution for Syria as part of the political process in accordance with UN Resolution (2254), and it is divided in parallel between the regime, the opposition and representatives of civil society organizations.
The Drafting Committee has held 4 rounds to date, which have not resulted in any progress.
Because of the regime's lack of seriousness in the discussions, according to the Syrian opposition.