The Human Rights Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic

A/HRC/RES/40/17No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 4Human rights situations that require the Council's attention, published in 2019.

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13 documents · 2011–2019

2019A/HRC/RES/42/27The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab RepublicCompare with earlier document
2019A/HRC/RES/41/23The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab RepublicCompare with earlier document
2019A/HRC/RES/40/17The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab RepublicCompare with earlier document
2018A/HRC/RES/39/15The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab RepublicCompare with earlier document
2018A/HRC/RES/38/16The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab RepublicCompare with earlier document

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What subjects does this mandate have?

15 topics

Accountability Chemical Weapons Civilian Persons Commissions of Inquiry Detained Persons Gender-Based Violence Human Rights in Armed Conflicts Human Rights Violations Humanitarian Assistance Internal Security International Humanitarian Law Refugee Assistance Sex Crimes Syrian Arab Republic Terrorism

What does this mandate say?

58 operative paragraphs

Deplores the fact that the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic continues in its ninth year with its devastating impact on the civilian population, and urges all parties to the conflict to abstain immediately from any actions that may contribute to the further deterioration of the human rights, security and humanitarian situations;

Calls upon all parties to the conflict and Member States, especially members of the International Syria Support Group, to renew their efforts to create conditions, including a comprehensive nationwide ceasefire, that support continued negotiations for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, under the auspices of the new Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria and his office in Geneva, as only a durable and inclusive political solution to the conflict can bring an end to the systematic, widespread and gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law;

Welcomes the work and the important role played by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, established by the Human Rights Council in its resolution S-17/1 of 23 August 2011, in supporting future accountability efforts by investigating all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law since March 2011 in the Syrian Arab Republic, to establish the facts and circumstances and to support efforts to ensure that all perpetrators of abuses and violations, including those who may be responsible for crimes against humanity, are held accountable;

Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Human Rights Council and the Commission of Inquiry by granting the Commission immediate, full and unfettered access throughout the Syrian Arab Republic;

Strongly condemns all violations and abuses of international human rights law and all violations of international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the conflict, including the continued systematic, widespread and gross violations and abuses of human rights and all violations of international humanitarian law by the Syrian regime and its affiliated State and non-State actors, including foreign terrorist fighters and those foreign organizations fighting on behalf of the Syrian authorities, and expresses deep concern that their involvement further exacerbates the deteriorating situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, including the human rights and humanitarian situation, which has a serious negative impact on the region;

Also strongly condemns the use by the Syrian authorities of banned munitions, the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in populated areas, barrel bombs, aerial bombardment, incendiary weapons, ballistic missiles and cluster bombs, and the use of starvation and siege directed against civilian populations as a method of warfare, and stresses the situation of particular concern in Idlib, where violence continues to cause death and injury among civilians;

Urges all the relevant parties, including the signatories to the memorandum on the stabilization of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area of 17 September 2018, to ensure that the ceasefire in Idlib is upheld in order to prevent further death and injury among civilians, including medical and humanitarian personnel, and damage to civilian objects, as well as to avoid a potential humanitarian catastrophe;

Strongly condemns all attacks on medical and health personnel, first responders, their means of transport and equipment, and hospitals and other medical facilities, and deplores the long-term consequences of such attacks for the population and health-care systems of the Syrian Arab Republic;

Also strongly condemns the attacks against all civilian objects and the negative effects of the ongoing conflict on the rights and welfare of children, including their access to medical care and other humanitarian assistance as well as to education, including schools, decries the violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, as applicable, and deplores in particular the impact of the denial of humanitarian access on their lives and well-being;

Expresses deep concern at the suffering of children resulting from the escalation of violence, harsh weather conditions and lack of safe refuge, and calls upon all parties fighting in the Syrian Arab Republic to allow at all times humanitarian workers to reach children and families in need of life-saving assistance, and to prevent and protect children from all exploitation, violations and abuses, including sexual and gender-based violence and child, early and forced marriage, by, among other actions, ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children in the armed conflict, immediately, safely and unconditionally releasing children and handing them over to civilian child-protection actors and ensuring that such authorities have access to detained children associated with armed groups;

Urges all parties to the conflict to comply with their respective obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and demands that all parties, particularly the Syrian authorities and their State and non-State allies, refrain from carrying out attacks against the civilian population and civilian objects, such as schools, as well as on medical units, personnel, patients and transport and personnel involved in humanitarian assistance;

Expresses deep concern about the human rights situation and humanitarian access throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, particularly in areas that have come under the control of the Syrian authorities, and urges them and their allies to ensure unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access and respect for international human rights law and international humanitarian law;

Expresses its profound concern at the findings of the Commission of Inquiry that sexual and gender-based violence against women, girls, men and boys has been a persistent issue in the Syrian Arab Republic since the uprising in 2011, and that women and girls have been disproportionately affected and victimized on multiple grounds;

Notes the findings of the Commission of Inquiry that such acts of sexual and gender-based violence were committed most commonly by Syrian authorities and associated militia, as well as by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), that they represent a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population, amounting to crimes against humanity, and that such acts constitute the war crimes of rape and other forms of sexual violence, including torture and outrages upon personal dignity;

Strongly condemns all acts of sexual and gender-based violence and abuse, calls for immediate medical and psychosocial support to be provided to all survivors of such crimes and for every effort to be made to ensure justice for those who have suffered as a result of such crimes, and urges all parties to the conflict to respect and protect women’s and girls’ full enjoyment of human rights and to heed the recommendations made by the Commission of Inquiry;

Also strongly condemns the continued widespread practices of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention, notably widespread in areas where the Syrian authorities retook control in 2018, and notes that the Commission of Inquiry has highlighted that the arbitrary detention of tens of thousands of individuals represents an urgent and large-scale crisis of human rights protection, and also strongly condemns the use of sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment, particularly in detention facilities run by the Syrian authorities, including those acts referenced by the Commission of Inquiry in its reports and those depicted in the evidence presented by “Caesar” in January 2014, and recalls that such acts may constitute violations and abuses of international human rights law or violations of international humanitarian law;

Further strongly condemns the reported killing of detainees in Syrian Military Intelligence facilities, in particular in the Mezzeh airport detention facility, and Military Security Branches 215, 227, 235, 248 and 291, and the reported killing of detainees in military hospitals, including Tishreen and Harasta, and expresses deep concern at reports of mass executions of prisoners at the Saydnaya penitentiary complex as well as reports that the Syrian authorities used a crematorium to conceal the mass killings;

Expresses deep concern about the number of deaths among individuals detained by the Syrian authorities, as evidenced by their issuing of thousands of death notifications, which provides further indication of systematic violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and urges them to provide families with death certificates and the remains of their relatives whose fate has been disclosed, including those who have been summarily executed, to take all appropriate measures immediately to protect the lives and rights of all persons currently detained or unaccounted for, and to clarify the fate of those who remain missing or are still in custody;

Notes the continued functioning of the Working Group on the release of detainees/abductees, the handover of bodies and the identification of missing persons, composed of Turkey, the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the United Nations, positively notes reports of the simultaneous release, facilitated by the Working Group, of detainees by the conflicting parties on 24 November 2018 and 12 February 2019, underlines the need for further concrete steps forward on this issue, and reiterates that all parties to the conflict must abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as applicable;

Recognizes the permanent damage that torture and ill-treatment, including sexual abuse and violence, causes to its victims and their families, and condemns the denial of medical services in all prisons and detention facilities;

Calls upon the Syrian authorities and all other parties to the conflict to ensure the effective implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014) of 22 February 2014 and 2254 (2015) and to adhere to their obligations under international law, in particular to end arbitrary detention, torture and sexual and gender-based violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, notably in prisons and detention facilities, and kidnappings, abductions and forced disappearances, as demanded by the Council in its resolution 2139 (2014) and by the Commission of Inquiry in its recommendations;

Urges all parties to take heed of the recommendations on the issue of detainees by the Commission of Inquiry, in particular the calls for the appropriate international monitoring bodies to be granted immediate access without undue restriction to all detainees and detention facilities, and for all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, to publish a list of all detention facilities, to allow access to medical services for all detainees and to provide information on those whom they have detained to their families;

Demands the immediate release of all persons arbitrarily detained, including women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, human rights defenders, humanitarian aid providers, medical personnel, the wounded and sick, and journalists, and notes the importance of ensuring justice for those arbitrarily detained;

Condemns the reported forced displacement of populations in the Syrian Arab Republic, expresses deep concern at reports of social and demographic engineering in areas throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, and calls upon all parties concerned to cease immediately all activities that cause these actions, including any activities that may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity;

Gravely concerned that, according to the Commission of Inquiry in its latest report,1 more than 1.5 million civilians were forced to flee their homes during 2018, and that thousands more were forcibly displaced pursuant to “evacuation agreements” negotiated among warring parties;

Expresses deep concern at the situation of the 6.2 million internally displaced persons across the Syrian Arab Republic, and urges all parties to take note of the recommendations on this matter in the latest report of the Commission of Inquiry and to ensure that any evacuation and movement of civilians is consistent with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as applicable;

Deplores the existence and application of national legislation, in particular Law No. 42/2018, which has a significant detrimental impact on the rights of Syrians displaced by the conflict to claim their property and to return to their homes in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner when the situation on the ground allows it, and calls for its immediate repeal;

Expresses concern that the hostilities have restricted access to or resulted in the loss of civil documentation, thereby limiting freedom of movement and access to essential services, particularly for women, children and persons with disabilities;

Also expresses concern at reports that the Syrian authorities are arbitrarily preventing internally displaced persons from accessing and returning to their homes, with no apparently valid security reason and without providing alternatives to the displaced communities, which may amount to forced displacement;

Urges all parties to take note of the recent recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry on ensuring that the right of return is fully respected and facilitated by guaranteeing that all return movements are voluntary, safe and dignified and subject to informed consent to the places of origin, and protect all property and tenancy rights;

Strongly condemns violence against persons based on their religious or ethnic affiliation, demands that all parties take all appropriate steps to protect civilians, including members of ethnic, religious and confessional communities, and stresses that, in this regard, the primary responsibility to protect the Syrian population lies with the Syrian authorities;

Also strongly condemns the damage and destruction of the cultural heritage of the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular that of Palmyra and Aleppo, and the organized looting and trafficking of Syrian cultural property, as outlined by the Security Council in its resolution 2199 (2015) of 12 February 2015, affirms that attacks intentionally directed against historic monuments may amount to war crimes, and underlines the need to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice;

Further strongly condemns the terrorist acts and violence committed against civilians by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), Al-Nusrah Front (also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham) and other terrorist organizations designated by the Security Council, and their continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, reaffirms that terrorism, including the actions of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality or civilization, and stresses the importance of the full implementation of Security Council resolution 2170 (2014) of 15 August 2014;

Expresses deep concern about the documented cases of civilians, including women and children, being taken hostage by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), calls for their immediate release and notes that hostage-taking and the murder of civilians may constitute a war crime, and condemns the recently reported mass arbitrary arrests and detention of civilians by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and notes that imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of international law, when committed as part of a deliberate widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, may amount to a crime against humanity;

Condemns in the strongest possible terms the repeated use of chemical weapons by the Syrian authorities, in violation of its obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction and Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), and all use of chemical weapons in contravention of well-established international standards and norms against such use, and welcomes in this regard the decisions made on 27 June 2018 at the fourth Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention and on 20 November 2018 at the twenty-third session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention and looks forward to the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons completing the arrangements to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic by identifying and reporting on all information potentially relevant to the origin of those chemical weapons;

Recalls the relevant reports of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, in which it found that the Syrian authorities were responsible for the use of chemical weapons on four occasions, and that the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) was responsible for two chemical weapons attacks between 2014 and 2017;

Expresses grave concern at the findings by the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that sarin and chlorine were very likely used in separate attacks in Ltamenah on 24 and 25 March 2017, and that chlorine was likely used in an attack in Saraqib on 4 February 2018;

Also expresses grave concern that, according to the Commission of Inquiry, a vast body of evidence suggested that chlorine had been dropped by helicopter on a residential building and it had received information on the death of at least 49 individuals and the wounding of up to 650 others in Duma on 7 April 2018, and at the findings of the Commission in the same report that, in a series of ground attacks in Duma on 22 January and 1 February 2018, the Syrian authorities and/or affiliated militias had committed the war crime of using prohibited weapons following a pattern previously documented by the Commission concerning the use of chemical weapons;

Further expresses grave concern at the findings by the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that, on the basis of their evaluation and analysis of all the information gathered, there are reasonable grounds to believe that a toxic chemical was used as a weapon in Duma on 7 April 2018, and that the toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine;

Expresses grave concern at the reports of the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of July 2016, March 2017, July 2017, October 2017, March 2018, July 2018 and October 2018, in which it reported that it had been unable to verify that the declaration made by the Syrian authorities regarding their chemical weapons programme was accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, and calls upon the Syrian Arab Republic to cooperate fully with the Organisation to provide further clarification relating to the gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies that remain concerning the declaration;

Demands that all parties desist immediately from any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, expresses its strong conviction that those responsible for the use of chemical weapons must be held accountable, and expresses its support in this regard for the objectives and commitments of the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons to support accountability for all those responsible for the proliferation or use of chemical weapons;

Reaffirms the importance of establishing appropriate processes and mechanisms to achieve justice, reconciliation, truth and accountability for gross violations and abuses of international law, and reparations and effective remedies for victims, in particular victims of sexual and gender-based violence, detainees, internally displaced persons and disappeared persons, and stresses the prerequisite role that accountability can play in any effort to bring about a sustainable, inclusive and peaceful conclusion to the conflict;

Recalls that the International Criminal Court was established to help to end impunity for applicable crimes in which a State is unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out investigations or prosecutions;

Emphasizes the need to ensure that all those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law or violations and abuses of international human rights law are held to account through appropriate, fair and independent national, regional or international criminal justice mechanisms, and stresses the need to pursue practical steps towards this goal, while noting the important role that the International Criminal Court can play in this regard;

Welcomes the work of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Persons Responsible for the Most Serious Crimes under International Law Committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011, as mandated by the General Assembly in resolution 71/248 of 21 December 2016, including its close cooperation with the Commission of Inquiry and Syrian civil society, so that the voices of victims are heard, any evidence of crimes is collected and criminal prosecution proceeds;

Invites Member States to actively support the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism, including by considering the provision of information and data on the most serious crimes under international law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic, and to provide adequate financial means for its functioning, and at the same time highlights the importance of sustainable funding and notes the steps taken by the Secretary-General in this respect;

Welcomes the steps taken by Member States to prosecute the most serious crimes under international law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic in national courts under the principles of universal jurisdiction and extraterritorial jurisdiction as an important contribution to end impunity and to ensure justice for victims, and notes the contribution that the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism and other accountability mechanisms can make in this regard;

Deplores the grave humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and expresses deep concern at the plight of the 11.7 million people in need of full, immediate and safe humanitarian assistance, including the over 5 million Syrians whose needs are particularly acute;

Strongly condemns the Syrian authorities’ removal of humanitarian aid from United Nations-approved convoys, including medical aid and supplies intended to reach desperate populations deprived of food, medical aid and vital necessities;

Demands that the Syrian authorities facilitate, and all other parties to the conflict do not hinder, the full, immediate and safe access of the United Nations and humanitarian actors, and that they ensure that the delivery of humanitarian aid reaches all those in need, including in hard-to-reach areas, in accordance with relevant Security Council resolutions, and calls upon Member States to fully fund the United Nations appeals;

Expresses deep concern for the more than 5.3 million registered refugees in the region fleeing the violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, welcomes the efforts of the neighbouring countries, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, as well as of Egypt, to host Syrian refugees, acknowledges the socioeconomic consequences of the presence of large-scale refugee populations in those countries and urges the international community to provide urgent financial support to enable the host countries to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of Syrian refugees, including the particular needs of women, girls and persons with disabilities, while emphasizing the principles of responsibility and burden-sharing;

Notes those States outside the region that have put in place measures and policies to assist and to host Syrian refugees, encourages them to do more, and also encourages other States outside the region to consider implementing similar measures and policies, also with a view to providing Syrian refugees with protection and humanitarian assistance;

Welcomes the relevant international conferences on supporting the Syrian people, notably the third conference entitled “Supporting the future of Syria and the region” hosted by the European Union in Brussels from 12 to 14 March 2019, and renews its call for the international community to deliver in full all pledges;

Reaffirms that there can only be a political solution to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, demands that all parties work towards a genuine political transition based on the Geneva communiqué and Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), within the framework of the United Nations-led intra-Syrian talks in Geneva and with the equal voice and full and meaningful leadership and participation of women in decision-making and in all efforts consistent with Council resolution 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000 and subsequent resolutions on women, peace and security, that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people for a civil, democratic and pluralistic State, in which all citizens receive equal protection, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion or belief, and welcomes the inclusion of civil society in this process;

Decides to extend the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry for a period of one year;

Requests the Commission of Inquiry to provide an oral update to the Human Rights Council during the interactive dialogue at its forty-first session, and to present an updated written report during an interactive dialogue at its forty-second and forty-third sessions;

Decides to transmit all reports and oral updates of the Commission of Inquiry to all relevant bodies of the United Nations, recommends that the General Assembly submit the reports to the Security Council for appropriate action, expresses its appreciation to the Commission for its briefings to members of the Security Council, and recommends the continuation of future briefings;

Also decides to remain seized of the matter.

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