In the name of God the most Gracious, the most Merciful
The Initiative:
“And whoever saves a single soul – it is as if he had saved humanity entirely .”
In order to prevent the further decay of the Syrian people, its territory, infrastructure, economy, and the dismantling of its social structure and moral values, we present this initiative out of duty for our country and people, a practical response to the need of a political settlement ensuring a peaceful transition of authority.
This initiative is a product of Syria and its goal is Syria. It should be taken as a full package and is set by a clear timetable.
We call upon the authorities in Syria and all factions from the revolutionists and the opposition to adopt the initiative as a way out from the catastrophe that has struck our nation.
Finally, we call upon the international community to oversee it and ensure that it is implemented according to the following guidelines:
1- The current President of the Syrian regime declares his acceptance of a peaceful transition of authority, and the handing over of full powers to either Vice President Mr. Farooq Al Shar’a or current Prime Minister Mr. Wael Al Halqi, within twenty days of the publication of this initiative;
2- The current president dissolves the current parliament and his legislative powers are handed over to the person chosen to take the temporary role of president;
3- After his acceptance of peaceful transition, the current president will be given a time period of one month to completely hand over authority;
4- The current government continues to work on a temporary basis (for one hundred days) beginning from the day the person chosen to take the temporary role of president is assigned;
5- The assigned person is given full executive powers to manage Syria excluding any authority to delegate any blacklisted members by the international community;
6- The interim government restructures the security and military systems (during a one hundred day time period);
7- Once the initiative is accepted, all political prisoners must be released from prisons as well as any detainees. This should be done under the international surveillance, and all measures should be taken for the return of those displaced from home;
8- All the Syrian territories will be open to all types of local and international humanitarian relief;
9- The current president leaves the country along with five hundred people whom he will select along with their families and children to any other country that may choose to host them;
10- There are no legal guarantees for the current president or any of those five hundred departing because this matter should be referred to a legal council agreed upon by the Syrian people;
11- The General Secretary of the United Nations is to delegate an international mediator with the responsibility of overseeing the interim phase in Syria, ensuring commitment to it and supervising the transition of authorities.
12- All parties involved in the fighting are to halt the usage of heavy weapons under international monitoring.
13- All those involved in what is considered “legal military action” as defined by the international law during the war are issued a general pardon, however, all those commands that were issued regarding killing, the targeting of civilians, torture, rape, and kidnapping are considered as criminal offences and the perpetrators must be put to trial under criminal law, both nationally and internationally;
14- In each governorate a committee will be established consisting of five people who will be selected by the dignitaries of the respective governorates for its management, while under international supervision, and this committee will be given full authority for the management of local affairs, including the administrative, economic, security and military affairs, and is directly affiliated to the person who is assigned as temporary president, or someone else whom he delegates;
15- Following the one hundred days, after implementing the articles of the initiative, all powers of authority are to be transferred to a transitional government which should be agreed upon and negotiated within the framework of international assurances;
16- The subsequent transitional government will be responsible for the preparation and the re-building of the new Syria.
Mouaz Alkhatib
May 23, 2013