A number of Syrian athletes, administrators, and sports experts submitted an official memorandum to the General Secretariat of the Syrian Presidency, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the Syrian People's Assembly, demanding a review of the draft of the new bylaws for the Syrian Olympic Committee before its adoption and the holding of any elections based upon it.
The memorandum emphasizes that its aim is not to challenge the principle of the Olympic Committee's independence or to collectively exclude individuals, but rather to ensure that the old centers of influence of the dissolved General Sports Federation are not transferred to the Olympic Committee within a new institutional framework.
Key observations and shortcomings in the draft:
• Connection to the previous system: The signatories point out that Law No. 8 of 2014 made the Olympic Committee part of the General Sports Federation, thus granting figures who previously worked with Assad an electoral and institutional advantage that enables them to continue leading the new phase.
• The Problem of Candidacy Requirements: The memorandum criticizes Article 22, which stipulates that the president and vice president must have prior experience on the boards of federations or committee bodies. It argues that this requirement excludes qualified individuals who were sidelined, defected, or left the country during the years of the revolution from participating.
• Governance of Independent Figures: The Syrian draft increases the number of independent figures to five and grants the current council the right to nominate them, along with the right to vote and run for office. This contradicts the principle of electoral neutrality and creates a conflict of interest, especially when compared to the international draft, which limits the number to two individuals elected by the General Assembly.
• Reduction of Seats for Experts: The draft reduces the number of general seats open to individuals with legal, financial, and administrative expertise compared to the draft proposed by the International Olympic Committee.
Signatories' Demands: The memorandum calls on the relevant authorities not to adopt the system in its current form and to subject it to a comprehensive review that includes:
• Amending the candidacy requirements in Article 22 to prevent the monopolization of leadership positions.
• Establishing transitional provisions specific to the first term that take into account the exceptional circumstances of Syrian sports and ensure the inclusion of new expertise.
• Reinstating the exclusive authority to select independent candidates to the General Assembly.
• Establishing an independent body to oversee the elections to ensure impartiality and equal opportunities.
Names of signatories to the memorandum:
Ahmed Al-Hajj, Haider Wardeh, Muhannad Kharfan, Muhammad Gharib, Abdulkarim Darwish, Ahmed Al-Aqdah, Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, Muhammad Al-Hammadi, Nael Kseiri, Ahmed Al-Haloum, Abdul Wahab Abian, Wael Haj Bakour, Muhammad Haboub, Safwan Ramadan, Muhammad Sheikh Al-Ashtara, Issam Ali, Haitham Ahmed Suleiman, Muhammad Al-Nono, Tayseer Turki, Farid Haj Qaddour, Abdul Latif Al-Rahoum, Ahmed Sherm, Ahmed Al-Zein, Abdul Karim Tala’, Mamoun Al-Shoun, Bilal Al-Saeed, Anas Ghrair, Mustafa Jallou, Mahmoud Al-Rahbi, Rami Hamada, Ahmed Al-Saleem, Hamoud Al-Hajj Ali, Ahmed Mashlah, Mohsen Al-Obeid, Abdul Rahman Abdul Moneim, Saleh Arabo, Ismail Al-Haji, Ahmed Jamil Al-Ali, Abdullah Juma’a, Shihab Al-Din Abu Bakr, Abdul Latif Al-Faj, Mufid Shahin, Akram Al-Hariri, Thaer Jabawi, Shadi Al-Ayoubi, Naji Karsho, Hussein Badr Abdulrahman Al-Shami, Muhammad Al-Aloush, Abdulqader Shamta, Mahdi Al-Zoubi, Muhammad Asaad, Maher Assi, Muhammad Al-Saleem, Ihab Al-Maari, Ahmad Al-Khatib, Murad Kanja, Khaled Al-Khatib, Muhammad Qasim, Muhammad Zaal, Fouad Al-Zamel, Waddah Sweid, Muwaffaq Al-Omar, Muhammad Marai, Rashad Shamma, Fouad Al-Amin, Muhammad Murad, Muhammad Abdul Aziz, Raji Suleiman, Mustafa Al-Ahmad, Mustafa Hamami, Abdulrahman Rihan, and Abdulrahman Jalab.
Full Text of the Memorandum:
Memorandum Regarding the Draft Statutes of the Syrian Olympic Committee
To Guarantee the Renewal of Sports Institutions and Prevent the Reproduction of the Previous Sports Management System
To:
The General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic
The Ministry of Youth and Sports
The Syrian People's Assembly
Subject: Request to Review the Draft Statutes of the Syrian Olympic Committee Before its Adoption
We, the undersigned, Syrian athletes, administrators, and sports experts, based on our responsibility towards the future of Syrian sports during this transitional phase, submit this memorandum regarding the new draft statutes of the Syrian Olympic Committee. We believe that the draft statutes contain issues that necessitate legal and institutional review before their adoption and the holding of any elections based upon them.
This memorandum does not object to the principle of the independence of the Syrian Olympic Committee, which we consider a necessary guarantee for protecting sports from political interference. Nor does it target specific individuals or call for the mass exclusion of all those who have previously worked in sports institutions.
Rather, it stems from the necessity of rebuilding Syrian sports as part of the process of rebuilding state institutions after the fall of the Assad regime, and ensuring that dissolving the General Sports Federation and establishing the Ministry of Youth and Sports does not lead to the transfer of old power centers to the Olympic Committee and their reproduction within a new, more independent institutional framework.
First – The current committee is not historically separate from the previous General Sports Federation system.
When discussing the new system, it is essential not to treat the current Olympic Committee as if it were an institution that arose after the fall of the previous regime.
Law No. 8 of 2014 made the Syrian Olympic Committee part of the organizational structure of the General Sports Federation, making the Federation's Central Council its General Assembly and granting it the authority to elect its members and approve its bylaws.
It also made the head of the General Sports Federation the head of the Syrian Olympic Committee itself.
Consequently, a number of figures who remain present in the current Olympic and sports scene have accumulated their positions, experience, influence, and international connections through the previous sports administration system. We do not consider this sufficient grounds in itself for barring individuals from sports administration, as legal and political responsibility is individual. However, we reject the notion that positions granted to specific individuals by the previous system should become legal and electoral privileges guaranteeing their continued leadership of institutions in the new phase.
Secondly – The candidacy requirements reproduce the existing privileges.The Leadership of the Previous Era
The problem is clearly evident in Article 22 of the draft.
It stipulates that to be eligible to run for the presidency of the committee, a candidate must have served a full term on the board of directors of the Syrian Olympic Committee, or have been president, vice president, or board member of a national sports federation. It also links candidacy for the vice presidency to prior experience on the boards of federations or the committee's bodies and subcommittees.
The danger of this provision does not lie in the requirement of experience—experience is essential—but rather in the definition of experience through institutions that were not equally accessible to all Syrians in the previous era.
During the years of the revolution, Syrian athletes, coaches, and administrators were prevented from participating in official institutions. Others left the country, defected from the regime's institutions, or refused to continue working within them.
Therefore, requiring prior membership in these institutions could lead to an unacceptable paradox:
Those who remained within the institutions of the former regime are eligible to run for leadership of the new institution, while the absence of those who were excluded or distanced themselves from these institutions during the years of the revolution becomes grounds for disqualification. Thus, the previous exclusion becomes a new legal exclusion, and the previous institutional privilege becomes an electoral advantage in the new Syria.
This is incompatible with the requirements of the transitional phase and the principle of equal opportunity.
Third – The sons of the revolution and Syrian talents must not be excluded from the new institutions.
We are not calling for political quotas within sports, nor for replacing one group with another based on political loyalty.
However, the transitional phase loses a fundamental part of its meaning if national institutions are restructured from the same circles that previously monopolized their management, without opening their doors to Syrians who were previously excluded.
Syrian athletes, coaches, administrators, and experts from among the sons of the revolution, defectors from the previous institutions, the displaced and refugees, and Syrian talents who gained their expertise abroad have the right to a genuine and equal opportunity to participate in rebuilding Syrian sports.
The criterion we advocate is not political affiliation, but rather competence, integrity, experience, and the ability to serve Syrian sports, with equal recognition of experience gained inside and outside Syria.
Fourth – Granting the Board of Directors Influence in the Formation of the Electing Body
The article concerning independent sports figures raises an additional governance issue.
The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) draft stipulates a maximum of two independent figures, elected by the General Assembly.
The Syrian draft, however, increases this number to five, granting the Board of Directors the authority to nominate them, while also granting them the right to vote and run for office.
This effectively means that the existing Board of Directors can contribute to forming part of the electorate that will participate in electing the next Board.
We believe this rule contradicts the requirements of electoral neutrality and the prevention of conflicts of interest, regardless of the names of those nominated.
The principle is that the elected body should not participate in selecting its own electors.
Fifth – The draft reduces one of the most important mechanisms for renewal included in the international draft.
The IOC's draft includes four general seats on the Board of Directors, allowing candidates with sports, administrative, legal, financial, and other expertise to run for them without requiring them to have held traditional leadership positions within sports federations. This mechanism is doubly important in the Syrian context because it allows for the inclusion of qualified individuals who were not part of the previous sports system.
Therefore, we see the necessity of preserving and developing this avenue, rather than imposing conditions that make the previous institutions the primary reference for proving the eligibility of those who wish to lead Syrian sports in the new era.
Sixth – The Independence of the Olympic Committee Does Not Mean Monopolizing the Syrian Sports Landscape
We affirm our commitment to the independence of the Syrian Olympic Committee in accordance with the rules of the International Olympic Movement.
However, the intended independence is the independence of sports from illegitimate political interference, not the independence of a national institution from the Syrian legal system or from the principles of transparency, accountability, and equal opportunity.
Furthermore, the establishment of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the new government has created a new institutional reality that necessitates a clear definition of responsibilities.
The Ministry is the governmental body responsible for the general policy of sports and youth, while the Olympic Committee manages the Olympic Movement within its area of expertise.
Neither institution should encroach upon the other's responsibilities, nor should the Olympic Committee's international affiliation be interpreted as a mandate for it to dominate the entire Syrian sports landscape.
Seventh – Signatories' Demands
Based on the foregoing, we urge the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and the People's Assembly not to adopt the draft bylaws in their current form before subjecting them to a transparent legal and institutional review, particularly the articles related to membership, candidacy, elections, the formation of the General Assembly, and the transitional provisions.
We demand that the review include:
1. Amending the candidacy requirements stipulated in Article 22 to prevent the monopolization of leadership positions by those who previously held positions in former sports institutions, while recognizing Syrian sports and administrative expertise acquired both within and outside the country.
2. Establishing transitional provisions specific to the first term following the fall of the previous regime, taking into account the exceptional circumstances that Syrian sports have experienced and ensuring the inclusion of new talent within its institutions.
3. Guaranteeing genuine and equal participation for athletes and qualified individuals who were outside official institutions during the years of the revolution, without quotas or political discrimination.
4. Restoring the authority to select independent sports figures to the General Assembly itself, and not granting the current Board of Directors the right to appoint members with voting and candidacy rights. 5. Maintaining the open seats for independent candidates as outlined in the draft proposed by the Olympic Committee.
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