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Nothing could be said more, "Syria
decided what kind of country it wants to be" and this is
more than enough. (It is absolutely certainly that) “The
draft” (has) aimed” at inciting religious and sectarian
tension and at violating all rights of (women), (children)
and, even the rights of the men, in Syria. The draft was
doom to be sent to the dustbin of history.
This is what has been reiterated in the statement issued by
the press office of the Presidency of the Council of
Ministers and published by the Syrian Arab News Agency –
SANA:
"The press office of the Presidency of the Council of
Ministers clarified that some of the media outlets
circulated information about Personal Status Draft Law, that
is both baseless and not accurate."
"In order to provide the public with the accurate
information and correct the misconception about this issue
and show the procedures that will be followed, we feel the
urge to clarify the following:" the press release added.
"The government started in 2000 to make a comprehensive
evaluation to the regulations in place now in order to amend
and modernize them so they match this period and the process
of social and economic development, and specially in regard
to those regulations that have been in place from a long
period of time. This issue has been stressed by the People's
Assembly in numerous its sessions."
"To achieve that aim, the Presidency of the Council of
Ministers called for the Justice Ministry to amend some
laws… including the Personal Status law that has been in
place since 1953."
"The Ministry of Justice submitted a number of drafts,
including the Personal Status Draft Law. Upon studying this
draft, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers disagreed
with what has been coined altogether and returned the draft
to the Ministry of Justice for it to study again this issue
in coordination with all the authorized and concerned
factions."
Upon returning the issue from the Ministry of Justice to the
Presidency of the Council of Ministers, it will be studied
according to the usual procedures, i.e. it will be submitted
to the specialized ministerial committees and then to the
Council of Ministers after being ratified by the specialized
higher sides and then it will be submitted to the People's
Assembly and presented to the specialized committees in the
Assembly and discussed in the same way like any other
legislation. This whole process will be enough to grasp all
the viewpoints and suggestions about this law." (end of
quotation).
There are many points in this important press release that
has to be tackled indeed. We will, however, focus on the
point that cancelling this draft is in itself a very
important and decisive decision. There are two points that
has to be shed light on. The first is using the word "issue"
instead of "draft" when referring to what has been retuned
to the Ministry of Justice. The second is making that
conditional to be "in coordination with specialized higher
sides" although the press release failed to name these
sides. We will assume and call for the Presidency of the
Council of Ministers to assign to this mission the Syrian
Commission for Family Affairs and the General Federation of
Syrian Women and other active factions to prepare a new
draft.
It has to be mentioned that the Syrian Commission for Family
Affairs has already a nearly-completed draft of a "modern
family" that matches the requirements of social developments
in Syria. Many senior and well-known figures took part in
the process of drafting this law and this took many years to
be accomplished.
37 days were needed to reveal the reality of this infamous
black draft. This decision to discard this draft should have
been taken the minutes it was revealed on 5th of June 2009.
There was no need for the Prime Minister to defend the draft
twice and deny being submitted to him twice and confirming
that it is still valid twice and ask all the Syrian media to
shut up and of course this does not encompass the statements
of the President of People's Assembly nor those of the Prime
Minister himself who once spoke about it, all those who kept
silence hastily reported what he has said in their headlines
as if they are in a battle with those who defended the
modern Syria. they instead of ignoring the orders to shut up
and stay hand in hand defending Syria against this obscurant
draft.
The draft has been cancelled now. However, the ideology that
has coined it is still alive. This necessitates to study
carefully and deeply those void article to clarify to the
public how much dangerous this draft is especially if such
thinking sneaks again and pops up in any legislations that
tackles woman's or children's issues.
For this matter, we will launch a new observatory called
"the observatory of extremism" that aims at exposing,
documenting, and responding to the radical and extremist
thinking, whether that to be in mosques, churches, radios,
TVs, newspapers, educational institutions or recorded, CD
ROMs, or in any other place.
We call for anybody who can document any case to contact us.
We will deal confidentially and seriously with any
well-documented case.
This infamous draft helped us grasp well the concept that
keeping silent about those daily violations by extremists
and marketing the violence and radicalism is something that
is gravely dangerous and could not be tolerated anymore.
Meanwhile, we consider all the Syrian governmental and
non-governmental organizations, parties, institutions and
the religious establishment are fully responsible of the
issues of woman and children in Syria. it is no longer being
accepted to keep silent under pretexts of "traditions and
customs", "social struggle", "sensitive political
atmosphere" or "the priority now is for another issues"…
etc.
We feel the urge to say Thanks from the bottom of out hearts
to every single Syrian who helped in exposing the real face
of this draft law. Thanks to anyone who helped in keeping
our country immune and saving our whole land, our
citizenship, our lives and our future. Thanks to everyone
who blocked the road toward a real sectarian inciting.
”Shapeau bas” (Our highly regards) to (all) youths, all
women and men who showed, during this stressful month, how
much they love their country. Those people took many
initiatives to face off this black draft and its obscurant
ideology and succeeded in making their voice heard out of
the media blockade erected by the Presidency of the Council
of Ministers. Those are the people who can make a
difference.
Whatever the obstacles we face, we will keep working for the
benefit of our Syria, for a better life we deserve and for
the elimination of all form if violence and discrimination.
The future is ours, not theirs. |
