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Arab Labor Conference Kicks off in Cairo, Focuses on Integration

Officials at the opening session of the 49th session of the Arab Labor Conference (ALC). (Egyptian government)
Officials at the opening session of the 49th session of the Arab Labor Conference (ALC). (Egyptian government)
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Arab Labor Conference Kicks off in Cairo, Focuses on Integration

Officials at the opening session of the 49th session of the Arab Labor Conference (ALC). (Egyptian government)
Officials at the opening session of the 49th session of the Arab Labor Conference (ALC). (Egyptian government)

The 49th session of the Arab Labor Conference (ALC) kicked off in Egypt with the participation of state representatives, organizations, and trade unions from 21 Arab countries.

The Arab League’s Arab Labor Organization (ALO) is organizing the conference, which is chaired by Mauritania and will run through May 29. It is addressing "New Patterns of Work" and "Vocational Guidance and Training."

Minister of Manpower Hassan Shehata delivered a speech on behalf of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, stressing that the successive challenges and changes require Arab countries to prioritize joint Arab action.

He noted that the Arab nation should remain an honorable model for a distinguished civilization capable of building the future and preserving its rich heritage.

ALO Director General Fayez al-Mutairi said the conference is being held when most of the world's economies, including the developed ones, are suffering from inflation and supply chain disruptions due to successive international crises.

Mutairi noted that societal dialogue is a condition for achieving comprehensive development and social cohesion, as it secures the principles of good governance, develops competitive capabilities, and ensures sustainability.

Furthermore, societal dialogue helps facilitate smooth political transitions and anticipate changes, he added.

The conference is addressing address a four-item report by the Director-General, entitled "Social Dialogue between Current Challenges and Future Prospects."

The report discusses means of beefing up societal dialogue at the national and regional levels, viewing it as the best strategy for reinforcing the economic potential of Arab states in facing current challenges and containing their repercussions.

It will also address adapting transformations in achieving sustainable development goals and invest in creating pathways and understandings that respond to the needs of governments, workers, employers, and society through a comprehensive social contract.

The conference sessions will witness the formation of constitutional and statutory bodies elected by the state members: the Board of Directors, the Financial and Administrative Oversight Authority, the Committee on Trade Union Freedoms, and the Arab Women's Labor Affairs Committee.

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Syria Forms Committee to Draft Transitional Constitutional Declaration

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa talks to attendees during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa talks to attendees during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)
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Syria Forms Committee to Draft Transitional Constitutional Declaration

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa talks to attendees during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)
Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa talks to attendees during a national dialogue, a key milestone in the transition to a new political system after decades of Assad rule, in Damascus, Syria February 25, 2025. (Reuters)

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced on Sunday the formation of a committee to draft a constitutional declaration for the country's transition after the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

The new authorities are focused on rebuilding Syria and its institutions after Assad's removal on December 8, ending more than half a century of his family's iron-fisted rule and 13 years of devastating war.

The presidency announced "the formation of a committee of experts", including one woman, tasked with drafting "the constitutional declaration that regulates the transitional phase" in Syria.

The seven-member committee would "submit its proposals to the president", it said in a statement, without specifying a timeframe.

In late January, Sharaa, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group which spearheaded Assad's overthrow, was appointed interim president for an unspecified period.

Syria's new authorities have repealed the Assad-era constitution, and Sharaa has said rewriting it could take up to three years.

In late January, Sharaa promised a "constitutional declaration" to serve as a "legal reference" during the country's transitional period.

Sunday's announcement came "based on the Syrian people's aspirations in building their state based on the rule of law, and building on the outcomes of the Syrian national dialogue conference", said the presidency.

It also came "with the aim of preparing the legal framework regulating the transitional phase", it added.

A national dialogue conference held this week in Damascus set out a path for the new Syria.

The committee includes Abdul Hamid al-Awak, who holds a doctorate in constitutional law and lectures at a university in Turkiye, and Yasser al-Huwaish, who was appointed this year as dean of Damascus university's law faculty.

It also includes Bahia Mardini, a journalist with a doctorate in law who has been living in Britain, and Ismail al-Khalfan, who holds a doctorate in law specializing in international law, and who this year was appointed law faculty dean at Aleppo university.

Another committee member, Mohammed Reda Jalkhi, holds a doctorate in law specializing in international law from Idlib university, where he graduated in 2023.

The final statement of this week's dialogue conference called for "a constitutional committee to prepare a draft permanent constitution for the country that achieves balance between authorities, sets the values of justice, freedom and equality, and establishes a state of law an institutions".

Syria's conflict broke out in 2011 after Assad brutally repressed anti-government protests.

It spiraled into a complex conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people, displaced millions more domestically and abroad and battered the economy, infrastructure and industry.

In December, a caretaker government was appointed to steer the country until March 1, when a new government was due to be formed.