Situation of Human Rights in the Syrian Arab Republic

A/RES/76/228View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 74c Human rights situations and reports of special rapporteurs and representatives, published in 2021.

What else is in this group?

34 documents · 2011–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/224	Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic	3,420	–
2025	A/HRC/RES/58/25	Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic	2,313	–
2024	A/RES/79/185	Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic	9,733	–
2024	A/HRC/RES/57/21	Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic	2,527	–
2024	A/HRC/RES/55/22	Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic	3,802	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 6	Legal affairs	8

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

1 entity

Entity	(Sub-)Programme	Title	Total mandates cited	Expenditure
	Programme 6	Legal affairs	8	—

Historical expenditure covers the complete programme or subprogramme, not this mandate. For an overview of all UN entities and programmes, see UN entities and programmes.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2022

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2022	A/76/890	Missing people in the Syrian Arab Republic report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/76/228

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Chemical Weapons Use Human Rights in Armed Conflicts Human Rights Violations Humanitarian Assistance Syrian Arab Republic Terrorism

What’s in this document?

68 operative paragraphs

Strongly condemns the systematic, widespread and gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic and the indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks against the civilian population and against civilian infrastructure, in particular attacks on medical facilities and schools, which continue to claim civilian lives, and demands that all parties comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law;

Deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the continued armed violence by the Syrian regime against the Syrian people since the beginning of the peaceful protests in 2011, and demands that the Syrian regime immediately put an end to all attacks against civilians, take all feasible precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects and meet its responsibilities to protect the Syrian population and immediately implement Security Council resolutions 2254 (2015), 2258 (2015) and 2286 (2016);

Urges all Member States, especially the members of the International Syria Support Group, to create conditions for continued negotiations for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, under the auspices of the United Nations, by working towards the nationwide ceasefire, to enable safe, full, immediate, unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access and to lead to the release of those arbitrarily detained and ensure the assessment of the number of people who remain in prisons, consistent with Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), 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;

Strongly condemns any use of chemical weapons, such as chlorine, sarin and sulfur mustard, by any party to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, emphasizes that the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons anywhere, at any time, by anyone, under any circumstances, is unacceptable, constitutes one of the most serious crimes under international law, and is a violation of 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 expresses its strong conviction that individuals responsible for the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons must and should be held accountable;

Demands that the Syrian regime and ISIL (also known as Da’esh) immediately desist from any further use of chemical weapons;

Welcomes the establishment and operationalization of the Investigation and Identification Team of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is authorized to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, thereby making an important contribution towards the ultimate goal of holding such perpetrators to account, and in this regard also welcomes the memorandum of understanding concluded between 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 and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as well as the ongoing cooperation between them;

Recalls the issuance of the Secretary-General’s bulletin on the records and archives of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, and calls upon the Secretary-General, Member States and other relevant actors to ensure that the relevant materials are processed expeditiously to be shared with the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism without any further delays;

Demands that the Syrian regime adhere fully to its international obligations, including the requirement that it declare in full its chemical weapons programme, with special emphasis on the need for the Syrian Arab Republic to urgently resolve the verified gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies pertaining to its declaration in respect of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction and to eliminate its chemical weapons programme in its entirety;⁴⁶

⁴⁶Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), annex I.

Requests that the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons consider additional procedures for stringent verification pursuant to article IV, paragraph 8, and article V, paragraph 10, of the Convention, in order to ensure the complete destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons programme and prevent any further use of chemical weapons;

Deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the continued widespread and systematic gross violations and abuses of human rights and fundamental freedoms and all violations of international humanitarian law by the Syrian regime, the government-affiliated militias and those who fight on their behalf, including those deliberately targeting civilians or civilian objects, attacks on schools, hospitals, civilian water stations and places of worship, indiscriminate attacks with heavy weapons, aerial bombardments, cluster munitions, ballistic missiles, barrel bombs, chemical or other weapons and other force targeting civilians, as well as the starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare, massacres, arbitrary executions, extrajudicial killings, the killing of peaceful protesters, human rights defenders and journalists, individuals and members of communities on the basis of their religion or belief, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, forced displacement of members of minority groups and of those opposed to the Syrian regime, unlawful interference with access to medical treatment, failure to respect and protect medical personnel, torture, systematic sexual and gender-based violence, including rape in detention, and ill-treatment, other violations and abuses of human rights, including those of women and children, and violations of international humanitarian law;

Condemns unequivocally all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers by the Syrian regime, the government-affiliated militias and non-State armed groups, urges all parties to respect the professional independence and rights of journalists, and recalls in this regard that journalists and media workers engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered civilians and shall be protected as such, provided that they take no action adversely affecting their status as civilians;

Strongly condemns all violations and abuses of human rights and all violations of international humanitarian law, including the killing and persecution of individuals and members of communities on the basis of their religion or belief, by armed non-State actors, as well as any human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law by non-State armed groups, including Hizbullah and those designated as terrorist groups by the Security Council;

Deplores and strongly condemns the terrorist acts and violence committed against civilians by ISIL (also known as Da’esh), Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as the Nusrah Front), Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups, terrorist groups, such as Hurras al-Din, designated by the Security Council and other violent extremist groups and their continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and reaffirms that terrorism cannot and should not be associated with any religion, gender, ethnicity, nationality or civilization;

Condemns in the strongest terms the gross and systematic abuse of women’s and children’s rights by terrorist groups and armed groups, including so-called ISIL (also known as Da’esh), in particular those involving the killing of women and girls, sexual and gender-based violence, including the enslavement and sexual exploitation and abuse of women and girls and the recruitment, use and abduction of children;

Condemns the reported forced displacements of the population in the Syrian Arab Republic, including forced displacement of civilians as a result of local truce agreements, as highlighted by the Commission of Inquiry, and the alarming impact thereof on the demography of the country, which amounts to a strategy of radical demographic change initiated by the Syrian regime, its allies and other non-State actors, calls upon all parties concerned to cease immediately all activities related to these actions, including any activities that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, notes that impunity for such crimes is unacceptable, reaffirms that those responsible for such breaches of international law, must be brought to justice, and supports efforts to collect evidence in view of future legal action;

Emphasizes the importance of creating conditions conducive to voluntary, safe, dignified and informed movements of internally displaced persons within the Syrian Arab Republic, and strongly urges all parties to work with the United Nations to ensure that any such movements are in line with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement,⁴⁷ and that displaced persons receive the information they need to make informed and voluntary decisions about their movement and safety;

⁴⁷E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, annex.

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 country, 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;

Reminds the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic of its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,⁴⁸ including its obligation to take effective measures to prevent acts of torture in any territory under its jurisdiction, and calls upon all States parties to the Convention to comply with any relevant obligations under the Convention, including with respect to the obligation to extradite or prosecute contained in article 7 of the Convention;

⁴⁸United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1465, No. 24841.

Encourages the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to remain seized of the urgent human rights and humanitarian situation of internally displaced persons in the Syrian Arab Republic, with a view to helping Member States, the United Nations, including the High-level Panel on Internal Displacement established by the Secretary-General, and other humanitarian and human rights actors to improve their responses to internal displacement in the Syrian Arab Republic, with a focus on identifying durable solutions for displaced persons, reducing the significant gap between needs and available resources, improving the collection and coordination of data on displacement, including on displaced children, and providing more effective assistance through well-planned programmes;

Deplores the continued closure of the Bab al-Salam and Ya‘rubiyah border crossings for the purpose of cross-border humanitarian aid, and urges the Security Council to reauthorize the use of these border crossings and to continue to consider additional crossing points to meet humanitarian needs, considering that humanitarian needs have risen 38 per cent in north-east Syrian Arab Republic since the closing of the Ya‘rubiyah border crossing alone, according to the United Nations, emphasizes that more than 6.9 million people live in areas not under the control of the Syrian regime and 5.3 million require humanitarian assistance in the north-east and north-west, and also considers the multiplier effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and that the cross-border mechanism remains an indispensable tool to address the humanitarian needs of the population, including to deliver vaccines and supplies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which cannot be adequately reached through existing operations within the Syrian Arab Republic, in the light of the limitations of cross-line assistance;

Demands that the Syrian regime and all other parties to the conflict not hinder safe, full, timely, immediate, unrestricted and sustained humanitarian access, and calls for the continuation of cross-border humanitarian support beyond July 2022;

Strongly condemns the persistent and widespread use of sexual and gender-based violence, abuse and exploitation, including in government detention centres, including those run by the intelligence agencies, notes that such acts may constitute violations of international humanitarian law, violations of international human rights law and abuses of human rights, in this regard expresses deep concern at the prevailing climate of impunity for sexual and gender-based violence, urges all parties to the conflict, especially the Syrian regime, to immediately cease the perpetration of sexual and gender-based violence, and urges the Syrian regime to ensure that victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence have access to holistic support and are able to seek reparations and redress;

Also strongly condemns all violations and abuses committed against children in contravention of applicable international law, including those involving their recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and all other forms of sexual and gender-based violence, abductions, denial of humanitarian access and education for children, and attacks on civilian objects, including schools and hospitals, as well as their arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention, torture and ill-treatment and their use as human shields;

Expresses grave concern at the deprivation of liberty of children for their association or alleged association with armed groups or armed forces, and urges the Syrian regime to comply with its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as applicable, in particular that the arrest, detention and imprisonment of children should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, and that in actions concerning children the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration;

Reaffirms the Syrian regime’s responsibility for the systematic use of enforced disappearances, takes note of the assessment of the Commission of Inquiry that the Syrian regime’s use of enforced disappearances amounts to a crime against humanity, and condemns the targeted disappearances of young men and boys and the exploitation of ceasefires as an opportunity to forcibly recruit and arbitrarily detain them;

Notes with deep concern the March 2021 report of the Commission of Inquiry and its comments that widespread enforced disappearance has been deliberately perpetrated by all parties to the conflict and first and foremost the Syrian regime security forces throughout the past decade on a massive scale;

Expresses deep concern that, according to the recent findings of the Commission of Inquiry, the Syrian regime forces continue to deliberately conceal the fate and whereabouts of forcibly disappeared persons, intentionally prolonging the suffering of hundreds of thousands of family members of the forcibly disappeared, which is gravely concerning as evidence suggests that the Syrian regime maintains a detailed bureaucracy and high degree of centralized control with regard to those it has detained, including records on who is detained and where, noting the potential value of such information to family members of those who are missing, including those forcibly disappeared, and calls upon the Syrian regime to provide information on detained, missing or forcibly disappeared persons to their families;

Encourages all parties to the conflict to enhance their engagement with the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria to hasten the release of all arbitrarily detained persons by the Syrian regime and to make progress on the issue of missing persons;

Demands that the Syrian regime, consistent with its obligations under relevant provisions of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, promote non-discriminatory access to health services and respect and protect the wounded and sick as well as medical and health personnel from obstruction, threats and physical attacks, and notes with concern the limited access to health-care services in the light of COVID-19, particularly in the north of the Syrian Arab Republic, where health-care networks have been severely damaged and in many cases destroyed by the regime and its allies’ aerial attacks;

Strongly condemns all attacks on the wounded and sick as well as medical and health personnel, their means of transport and equipment, as well as on hospitals and other medical facilities, deplores the long-term consequences of such attacks for the population and health-care systems of the Syrian Arab Republic, and reaffirms the obligations under international humanitarian law related to the protection of medical personnel and humanitarian personnel, their means of transport and equipment;

Also strongly condemns the targeting of humanitarian workers and persons engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment and hospitals and other medical facilities, which may constitute war crimes, including the attack against the deconflicted Atarib cave hospital on 21 March 2021 and the terrorist attack against Al-Shifa’ hospital on 12 June 2021;

Urges all parties to the conflict to develop effective measures to prevent acts of violence, attacks and threats of attacks against sick and wounded persons, internally displaced persons, as well as medical personnel and humanitarian personnel, hospitals and other medical facilities, including through the conduct of full, prompt, impartial and effective investigations to hold those responsible for any such acts to account;

Expresses its profound concern about the findings contained in the report of July 2020 of the Commission of Inquiry regarding at least 1,500 air strikes, predominantly air-to-ground missiles and barrel bombs launched in south-eastern Idlib and western Aleppo between 1 November 2019 and 5 March 2020, which damaged medical facilities, schools and markets and killed civilians, and the conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry that there exist “reasonable grounds to believe that pro-government forces committed the war crimes of deliberately attacking medical personnel and facilities by conducting air strikes”, as well as “the war crime of launching indiscriminate attacks resulting in death or injury to civilians”, causing the displacement of over 560,000 people from the north-west of Idlib, in addition to the previous displacement of more than half of the 2.5 million people residing in Idlib who have been displaced since the onset of conflict, often multiple times, stresses that the situation in Idlib is of particular concern, expresses its support for the current agreement to cease hostilities in order to avoid a further humanitarian catastrophe, and calls upon the guarantors of that agreement to ensure that the ceasefire is upheld and that humanitarian access is granted in a safe, full, rapid, unimpeded and sustainable manner;

Demands that the Syrian regime cooperate fully with the Commission of Inquiry, including by granting it immediate, full, safe, unhindered and sustained access throughout the Syrian Arab Republic;

Strongly condemns the intervention in the Syrian Arab Republic of all foreign terrorist fighters and those foreign organizations and foreign forces fighting on behalf of the Syrian regime, 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, and further demands that all foreign terrorist fighters, and those who are fighting in support of the Syrian regime, including all militias sponsored by foreign Governments, must immediately withdraw from the Syrian Arab Republic;

Demands that all parties immediately put an end to all violations of international human rights law, abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, recalls, in particular, the obligation under international humanitarian law to distinguish between civilians and combatants and the prohibition against indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks and all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, further demands that all parties to the conflict take all appropriate steps to protect civilians, in compliance with international law, including by desisting from attacks directed against civilian objects, such as medical centres, schools and water stations, and refrain from militarizing such facilities, seek to avoid establishing military positions in densely populated areas and enable the evacuation of the wounded and all civilians who wish to leave areas of conflict, including besieged areas, and recalls in this regard that the Syrian regime bears primary responsibility for protecting its population;

Condemns in the strongest terms all attacks on protected objects, including indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks and those which may constitute a war crime, taking place in the Syrian Arab Republic, requests the Commission of Inquiry to continue to investigate all such acts, and demands that the Syrian regime meet its responsibility to protect the Syrian population;

Demands that the Syrian regime immediately cease any attacks on civilians, any disproportionate attacks and any indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas, and recalls in this regard the obligation to respect international humanitarian law in all circumstances;

Emphasizes the need for accountability for crimes involving breaches of international law, in particular of international humanitarian law and human rights law, some of which may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, committed in the Syrian Arab Republic since March 2011, through fair and independent investigations and prosecutions at the domestic or international level;

Requests the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to submit an annual report to the General Assembly, starting at its seventy-fifth session, on the implementation of its mandate while preserving the confidential nature of its substantive work, in time for the annual presentation of the report by the Head of the Mechanism in April at a plenary meeting of the Assembly under the agenda item entitled “Prevention of armed conflict”;

Welcomes efforts by the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to assist in the search for missing persons in the Syrian context, as stated in the Mechanism’s reports to the General Assembly, and further encourages the Mechanism to identify additional ways and means to contribute to this end;

Also welcomes the inclusion of the full funding for the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism in the budget proposal of the Secretary-General for 2020, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 73/182, and emphasizes the need to fully implement its previous decisions on the funding of the Mechanism in order to ensure that the Mechanism can operate at its full capacity as soon as possible;

Emphasizes the need to ensure that all those responsible for violations of international humanitarian law or violations and abuses of human rights law are held to account through appropriate, fair and independent domestic or international criminal justice mechanisms, stresses the need to pursue practical steps towards this goal, and for that reason encourages the Security Council to take appropriate action to ensure accountability, noting the important role that the International Criminal Court can play in this regard in accordance with complementarity;

Welcomes the efforts by States to investigate conduct in the Syrian Arab Republic and to prosecute crimes within their jurisdiction committed in the Syrian Arab Republic, encourages them to continue to do so and to share relevant information between States in accordance with their national legislation and international law, and also encourages other States to consider doing the same;

Urgently requests the Commission of Inquiry to present its latest reporting to the General Assembly during an interactive dialogue at its seventy-seventh session on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic, and encourages United Nations monitoring and reporting to further document violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights, including those that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes, to provide recommendations to facilitate improvements in civilian protection and accountability measures, and to feature witness testimony of Syrian human rights defenders, survivors of torture and sexual and gender-based violence, former detainees, and other Syrian voices through appropriate and safe means, and where informed consent has been provided;

Deplores the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, and urges the international community to assume its responsibility for providing urgent financial support to enable the host countries and communities to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of Syrian refugees, while emphasizing the importance of burden-sharing;

Calls upon all members of the international community, including all donors, to fulfil their previous pledges and continue to provide much-needed support to the United Nations, its specialized agencies and other humanitarian actors to provide humanitarian and medical assistance to the millions of Syrians who are in need, including those displaced both internally and in host countries and communities;

Welcomes the efforts of those countries outside the region that have put in place measures and policies to assist and host Syrian refugees, encourages them to do more, also encourages other States outside the region to consider implementing similar measures and policies, with a view to providing Syrian refugees with protection and humanitarian assistance, acknowledges the need to improve the conditions on the ground to facilitate the return of refugees in a safe, voluntary, informed and dignified manner to their place of origin or another location of their choice, and takes note of the recent finding of the Commission of Inquiry that the Syrian Arab Republic does not yet offer a safe and stable environment for the sustainable and dignified return of refugees or for the 6.7 million displaced persons inside the country;

Strongly condemns the intentional denial of humanitarian assistance to civilians, from whatever quarter, and in particular the denial of medical assistance and the withdrawal of water and sanitation services to civilian areas, which has recently worsened, stressing that the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited under international law, and noting especially the primary responsibility of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in this regard;

Demands that the Syrian regime and all other parties to the conflict ensure the full, immediate, unimpeded and sustained safe and unhindered access of the United Nations and humanitarian actors, including to besieged and hard-to-reach areas such as Rukban, that the Syrian regime cease to impede the ability of the United Nations and humanitarian actors to move through the north-east of the Syrian Arab Republic and beyond, especially in the light of the restricted humanitarian space and worsened humanitarian situation following the failure to reauthorize the Ya‘rubiyah border crossing in Security Council resolutions 2504 (2020), 2533 (2020) and 2585 (2021) and that all parties preserve the Fish Khabur border crossing and other crossing points along the Turkish borders with the Syrian Arab Republic, and allow sustained deliveries of humanitarian assistance to persons in need across the Syrian Arab Republic, including through commercial routes, consistent with Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2254 (2015), 2258 (2015), 2332 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018), 2449 (2018), 2504 (2020), 2533 (2020) and 2585 (2021);

Strongly condemns practices including abduction, hostage-taking, arbitrary detention, torture, and murder of civilians carried out by non-State armed groups and terrorist groups designated by the Security Council, most notably Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as the Nusrah Front), as well as ISIL (also known as Da’esh) and Al-Qaida affiliates such as Hurras al-Din, and underlines that such acts may amount to crimes against humanity;

Deplores the suffering and torture in detention centres throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, as depicted in the reports of the Commission of Inquiry and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as in the evidence presented by “Caesar” in January 2014, and in the reports of widespread killing of detainees by Syrian military intelligence;

Strongly condemns the reported killing of detainees in Syrian military intelligence facilities, and calls upon the Syrian regime to release all unlawfully held detainees, including women, children and the elderly, and to facilitate information about those still in detention as well as those who died while in detention by the Syrian regime, returning their remains, with full transparency regarding what happened to these individuals, and urges the regime to immediately reverse its abhorrent use of mass detentions and torture as means of silencing and repressing political opposition, journalists and other media workers and of depriving Syrian citizens of their rights to freedom of expression;

Calls for the appropriate international monitoring bodies to be granted access to detainees in all prisons and detention centres, including all military facilities referred to in the reports of the Commission of Inquiry;

Demands in this respect the immediate release of all persons arbitrarily or unlawfully detained by the Syrian regime, notes in particular the additional life-threatening risks to health created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the high risks that exacerbate the already dire situation of detainees, and notes in this regard the statements made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Envoy and the Commission of Inquiry;

Also demands that all parties take all appropriate steps to protect civilians and persons hors de combat, including persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities, and stresses that, in this regard, the primary responsibility to protect the population lies with the Syrian regime;

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 resolutions 2199 (2015) of 12 February 2015 and 2347 (2017) of 24 March 2017, 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;

Deplores the military offensive that began in Idlib Province and surrounding areas in December 2019 and caused large-scale injuries, deaths, displacement and suffering in the civilian population and devastating damage to civilian infrastructure, recalls the findings of the United Nations Board of Inquiry established by the Secretary-General in this regard, notes with grave concern the recent findings of the Commission of Inquiry that there are reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed during the said offensive, also notes the Commission’s comments on the gendered impact of the military offensive, and remains extremely concerned about the situation;

Notes with concern the continued insecurity in the north-east of the Syrian Arab Republic, the significant increase in humanitarian needs and the restricted humanitarian space following the failure to reauthorize the Ya‘rubiyah border crossing, in Security Council resolutions 2504 (2020), 2533 (2020) and 2585 (2021), further compounded by lack of access to water and electricity, which continues to undermine the stability and security of the whole region, eroding progress in the fight against ISIL (also known as Da’esh) and worsening the humanitarian situation and humanitarian actors’ ability to respond to humanitarian needs;

Stresses the situation of particular concern in north-west Syrian Arab Republic, particularly Idlib, strongly condemns the attacks on civilians and first responders and civilian infrastructure where ongoing violence, including air strikes, continues to cause death and injury among civilians and first responders, as well as devastating damage to civilian infrastructure, including health-care and educational facilities, and welcomes the establishment of the United Nations board of inquiry mandated to investigate the destruction of and damage to facilities on the United Nations deconfliction list and United Nations-supported facilities;

Expresses concern about reports of attacks on civilians in areas such as Daraa that supported peaceful protests in 2011, and the siege-like conditions in Daraa that have displaced 40,000 people and resulted in acute food and medicine shortages, and, targeted assassinations of civilian leaders including former judges, medical workers and others engaged in reconciliation negotiations, noting that the Chair of the Commission of Inquiry reported in June 2021 that at least 130 such incidents had been recorded between July 2020 and April 2021, underscoring the pervasively unstable environment;

Expresses deep concern in particular about the recent increase in violence in the north-west, including air strikes, and the impact on civilians of that violence, including the reported deaths and injuries of at least 45 children since the beginning of July 2021, stresses the urgent need for the immediate cessation of military hostilities in Idlib and the surrounding areas, for the prioritization of the protection of all civilians, including those displaced, and for full, timely, immediate, unrestricted and safe humanitarian access, including cross-border access, recalls the Additional Protocol to the Memorandum on the Stabilization of the Situation in the Idlib De-escalation Area, signed by the Russian Federation and Turkey on 5 March 2020, and stresses the importance of continuing work towards preserving calm on the ground and creating the necessary conditions for the safe, dignified and voluntary returns of displaced people;

Notes the recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry that an independent mechanism be created with an international mandate to coordinate and consolidate claims regarding missing persons, including persons subjected to enforced disappearance, the briefing of the Secretary-General to the General Assembly on 30 March 2021 in which he noted the lack of progress on those issues in the absence of an international mandate, and the endorsement of an independent mechanism by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on 24 September 2021, and reiterates the importance of not tampering with or contaminating mass grave sites in the Syrian Arab Republic in this regard;

Requests the Secretary-General to conduct a study on how to bolster efforts, including through existing measures and mechanisms, to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing people in the Syrian Arab Republic, identify human remains and provide support to their families, in consultation with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and based on the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, with the full and meaningful participation of victims, survivors and their families and in consultation with other relevant actors, and to present an interim oral update to the General Assembly by 1 March 2022, to be followed by a report within the first half of 2022;

Calls on all Member States, relevant United Nations bodies, international organizations and civil society to coordinate further efforts and proactively focus attention on the issue of missing persons in the Syrian Arab Republic, including those subjected to enforced disappearance, and recalls the importance of the full and meaningful participation of victims, survivors and their families in such efforts;

Urges all parties to the conflict to take all appropriate steps to ensure the safety and security of United Nations and associated personnel, personnel of the specialized agencies and all other personnel engaged in humanitarian relief activities, including national and locally recruited personnel, as required by international humanitarian law, without prejudice to their freedom of movement and access, stresses the need not to impede or hinder these efforts, recalls that attacks on humanitarian workers may amount to war crimes, and notes in this regard that the Security Council has reaffirmed that it will take further measures in the event of non-compliance with its resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014), 2191 (2014), 2234 (2015), 2258 (2015), 2286 (2016), 2393 (2017), 2401 (2018), 2449 (2018) and 2585 (2021) by any Syrian party;

Urges the international community to support the leadership and full, effective and meaningful participation of women in all efforts aimed at finding a political solution to the Syrian crisis, as envisaged by the Security Council in its resolution 1325 (2000) and all subsequent resolutions of the women, peace and security agenda;

Reaffirms that there can only be a political solution to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, reiterates its commitment to the national unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic, and urges the parties to the conflict to abstain from actions that may contribute to the continuing deterioration of the human rights, security and humanitarian situation, in order to reach a genuine political transition, based on the final communiqué of the Action Group for Syria of 30 June 2012, consistent with Security Council resolutions 2254 (2015), 2268 (2016) and 2585 (2021), that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people for a civil, democratic and pluralistic State, with the full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership of all women at all levels, where there is no room for sectarianism or discrimination on ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender or any other grounds, and where all persons receive equal protection, regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity, and further demands that all parties work urgently towards the comprehensive implementation of the final communiqué, including through the establishment of an inclusive transitional governing body with full executive powers, which shall be formed on the basis of mutual consent while ensuring the continuity of governmental institutions.

54th (resumed) plenary meeting

24 December 2021

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