RES/33/23 The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic

GE.16-17322(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-third session

Agenda item 4

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 30 September 2016

33/23. The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming all previous Human Rights Council resolutions on the Syrian Arab

Republic,

Welcoming the adoption by the Security Council of its resolution 2268 (2016) on 26

February 2016,

Reaffirming its strong commitment to the full respect of sovereignty, independence,

unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic,

Demanding that the Syrian authorities meet their responsibility to protect the Syrian

population,

Condemning the grave deterioration of the human rights situation and the

indiscriminate or deliberate targeting of civilians as such, in violation of international

humanitarian law, and acts of violence that foment sectarian tensions,

Recalling the statements made by the Secretary-General and the United Nations

High Commissioner for Human Rights that crimes against humanity and war crimes are

likely to have been committed in the Syrian Arab Republic,

Recalling also that, amid expressions of popular discontent over restrictions on the

enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, civilian protests erupted

in Dar’a in March 2011, and noting that the excessive and violent suppression of civilian

protests by the Syrian authorities, which later escalated to the direct shelling of civilians,

fuelled the escalation of armed violence and extremist groups,

Expressing its deepest concern about the findings of the Independent International

Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic,

Deploring the lack of cooperation by the Syrian authorities with the Commission of

Inquiry,

United Nations A/HRC/RES/33/23

General Assembly

Expressing full support for the efforts of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General

for Syria with a view to the full implementation of the Syrian political process that

establishes credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance, in accordance with the

Geneva communiqué and consistent with Security Council resolutions 2254 (2015) of 18

December 2015 and 2258 (2015) of 22 December 2015, urging the Special Envoy to

continue to push the parties to negotiate a political transition, demanding that all parties to

the cessation of hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic fulfil their commitments, and urging

all Member States, especially the members of the International Syria Support Group, to use

their influence with the parties to the cessation of hostilities to ensure fulfilment of those

commitments and the full implementation of those resolutions, to support efforts to create

conditions for a durable and lasting ceasefire, which is essential to achieving a political

solution to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic and to bringing to an end the

systematic, widespread and gross violations and abuses of human rights and violations of

international humanitarian law,

Acknowledging the ongoing efforts by human rights defenders active in the Syrian

Arab Republic to document violations and abuses of international human rights law and

violations of international humanitarian law, despite grave risks,

1. Expresses its deep concern at the serious, continued violations of the

cessation of hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic, demands that all parties to the cessation

of hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic redouble their efforts to fulfil their commitments,

and urges all Member States, especially the members of the International Syria Support

Group, to use their influence with the parties to the cessation of hostilities to ensure

fulfilment of those commitments, and to support efforts to create conditions for a durable

and lasting ceasefire, which is essential to achieving a political solution to the conflict in

the Syrian Arab Republic and to bringing to an end the systematic, widespread and gross

violations and abuses of human rights and violations of humanitarian law;

2. Strongly condemns the military offensive on eastern Aleppo being conducted

by forces loyal to the Syrian authorities, and calls upon them to halt immediately the

indiscriminate bombing of the civilian population;

3. Also strongly condemns the airstrikes on 19 September 2016 on a United

Nations/Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy in rural Aleppo, which may constitute a

serious violation of international humanitarian law, supports the call by the United Nations

for an immediate, impartial and independent investigation into this incident, and calls upon

all parties to the conflict to respect all humanitarian organizations, including personnel,

facilities and other relief assets;

4 Welcomes the work of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry

on the Syrian Arab Republic to investigate 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 perpetrators of abuses and violations,

including those who may be responsible for crimes against humanity, are held accountable,

and notes the importance of the work of the Commission of Inquiry and the information it

has collected in support of future accountability efforts, in particular the information on

those who have allegedly violated international law;

5. Also welcomes the statement of the International Syria Support Group of 17

May 2016 in Vienna, including its request for the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General

for Syria to facilitate agreements between the Syrian parties for the release of detainees and

its call for any party holding detainees to protect the health and safety of those in their

custody;

6. Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Human Rights

Council and the Commission of Inquiry by granting it immediate, full and unfettered access

throughout the Syrian Arab Republic;

7. Strongly condemns the continued systematic, widespread and gross violations

and abuses of human rights and all violations of international humanitarian law by the

Syrian authorities and affiliated militias, including foreign terrorist fighters and those

foreign organizations fighting on behalf of the Syrian authorities, in particular Hizbullah,

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;

8. Also 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 or

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;

9. Further strongly condemns all attacks against the Syrian moderate

opposition, and calls for their immediate cessation, given that such attacks benefit the so-

called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) and other terrorist groups, such as al-

Nusrah Front, and contribute to a further deterioration in the humanitarian situation;

10. Condemns in the strongest terms the gross and systematic abuse of women’s

and children’s rights by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), in

particular the enslavement and sexual abuse of women and girls, enforced disappearances

and the forced recruitment and abduction of children;

11. Condemns all violations and abuses of international human rights law and all

violations of international humanitarian law, including against women and children, and

persons with disabilities, and urges all parties to the conflict not to commit indiscriminate

attacks against the civilian population and civilian objects, including against medical

facilities, personnel and transport and schools as such, to comply with their obligations

under international humanitarian law and to respect international human rights law;

12. Expresses its profound concern about the findings of the report of the

Commission of Inquiry regarding the tragic and relentless level of indiscriminate and

disproportionate attacks on civilians in the Syrian Arab Republic, including on medical

facilities, personnel and transport, the blocked humanitarian convoys, enforced

disappearances, summary executions and other violations and abuses;

13. Also expresses its profound concern at the findings of the Commission of

Inquiry that violence has reached unprecedented levels in Aleppo and other parts of the

Syrian Arab Republic, and that civilians have suffered profoundly from aerial and shelling

bombardments, primarily by regime forces and its supporters;

14. Strongly condemns the widespread practice of enforced disappearance and

arbitrary detention and the use of sexual violence, torture and ill-treatment, especially in

detention centres run by the Syrian authorities, including those acts referenced in the

reports of the Commission of Inquiry, as well as those depicted in the evidence presented

by “Caesar” in January 2014, and notes that such acts may constitute violations or abuses of

international human rights law or violations of international humanitarian law;

15. Condemns the denial of medical services in all prisons and detention

facilities;

16. Recognizes the permanent damage that torture and ill-treatment causes to its

victims and their families;

17. Calls for the appropriate international monitoring bodies to be granted

immediate access without undue restriction to all detainees, and for the Syrian authorities to

publish a list of all detention facilities;

18. Demands the immediate release of all persons arbitrarily detained, including

women, children, human rights defenders, humanitarian aid providers, medical personnel

and journalists;

19. Recalls the decision of the Security Council that the Syrian Arab Republic

shall not use, develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons,

or, transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to other States or non-State actors1

and, in keeping with the decision of the Council, expresses its strong conviction that those

individuals responsible for the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic should

be held accountable;

20. Strongly condemns any use of any toxic chemical, such as chlorine, as a

weapon in the Syrian Arab Republic, while noting with outrage that civilians continue to be

killed and injured by toxic chemicals used as weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic;

21. Welcomes the report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical

Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism,2 and notes with deep concern its

findings that the Syrian authorities were responsible for the use of chemical weapons

(chlorine) in at least two attacks in the Syrian Arab Republic, in Talmenes in 2014 and

Sarmin in 2015, and that the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) was

responsible for one mustard gas attack in the Syrian Arab Republic, in Marea in 2015;

22. Demands that the Syrian Arab Republic immediately cease the use of

chemical weapons and 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;

23. 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 in particular to end the arbitrary detention and torture of

civilians in the Syrian Arab Republic, notably in prisons and detention facilities, as well as

kidnappings, abductions and forced disappearances, as demanded by the Council in its

resolution 2139 (2014);

24. Strongly condemns all use of starvation of civilians as a method of combat,

and all besiegement directed against civilian populations;

25. Condemns the Syrian authorities’ indiscriminate use of heavy weapons and

aerial bombardments, including cluster munitions, incendiary weapons, ballistic missiles

and barrel bombs, and calls for an immediate end to all attacks against civilians and civilian

infrastructure, including medical facilities;

1 See Security Council resolution 2235 (2015).

2 See S/2016/738.

26. Condemns in the strongest terms the increasing number of mass casualty

incidents, including any that may constitute a war crime, taking place in the Syrian Arab

Republic, and requests the Commission of Inquiry to continue to investigate all such acts;

27. Stresses the need to promote accountability for those responsible for the

unlawful killings of civilians, and also stresses the importance of holding to account those

responsible for all violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of

international human rights law;

28. Strongly condemns violence against all persons based on their religious or

ethnic affiliation;

29. 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;

30. Strongly condemns the damage and destruction of the cultural heritage of the

Syrian Arab Republic, and the organized looting and trafficking of its cultural property, as

outlined by the Security Council in its resolution 2199 (2015) of 12 February 2015;

31. Also strongly condemns the reported forced displacement of the population in

the Syrian Arab Republic, most recently from Dar’a, in August 2016, and the alarming

impact on the demography of the country, and calls upon all parties concerned to cease

immediately all activities related to these actions, including any activities that may amount

to crimes against humanity;

32. Calls upon the international community to support the leadership and full and

meaningful participation of women in all efforts, including decision-making, with the aim

of finding a political solution to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, as envisaged by

the Security Council in its resolutions 1325 (2000) of 31 October 2000, 2122 (2013) of 18

October 2013 and 2254 (2015), and welcomes the participation of the Women’s Advisory

Board and civil society in the United Nations-led talks, in order to ensure that all resulting

peacebuilding efforts are gender-responsive and consider the differential impact of conflict

on women and girls, and their specific needs and interests;

33. Recalls that the International Criminal Court was established to help to end

impunity for such crimes where the State is unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out

investigations or prosecutions;

34. 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 domestic or international

criminal justice mechanisms, and stresses the need to pursue practical steps towards this

goal, noting the important role that the International Criminal Court can play in this regard;

35. Reaffirms that, in the context of an inclusive and credible dialogue, the Syrian

people should determine the appropriate process and mechanisms to achieve justice,

reconciliation, truth and accountability for gross violations and abuses of international law,

and reparations and effective remedies for victims;

36. Emphasizes that all efforts to bring a peaceful conclusion to the ongoing

conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic must fully reflect the importance of ensuring

accountability for the crimes committed in the country as a prerequisite to bring about

reconciliation and sustainable peace;

37. Expresses deep concern at the growing number of refugees and internally

displaced persons fleeing the violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, welcomes the efforts by

neighbouring countries to host Syrian refugees, and acknowledges the socioeconomic

consequences of the presence of large-scale refugee populations in those countries;

38. Deplores the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab

Republic, 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,

while emphasizing the principle of burden-sharing;

39. 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, including to hard-to-reach and besieged areas, in accordance with

Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014) of 14 July 2014, 2191 (2014) of 17

December 2014, 2254 (2015), 2258 (2015) and 2268 (2016), and calls upon Member States

to fully fund the United Nations appeals;

40. Welcomes the initiative of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland, Germany, Norway, Kuwait and the United Nations to co-host the London

conference on supporting the Syrian Arab Republic and the region on 4 February 2016,

which raised new funding to meet the immediate and long-term needs of those affected by

the Syrian crisis, and renews its call upon all members of the international community to

respond expeditiously to the Syrian humanitarian appeals and to fulfil all previous pledges,

including from the London conference;

41. Takes note of those countries outside the region that have put in place

measures and policies to assist and to host Syrian refugees, and encourages them to do

more, and 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;

42. Reaffirms that there can only be a political solution to the conflict in 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 Geneva communiqué,

and consistent with Security Council resolutions 2254 (2015) and 2268 (2016), that meets

the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people for a civil, democratic and pluralistic State,

where all citizens receive equal protection, regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity;

43. Demands that all parties work urgently towards the comprehensive

implementation of the Geneva 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;

44. Decides to convene a high-level panel discussion on the situation of human

rights in the Syrian Arab Republic at its thirty-fourth session, in consultation with the

Independent International Commission of Inquiry, including on the issue of enforced

disappearances and arbitrary detention, and the need for accountability for related

violations and abuses, featuring witness testimony and Syrian voices, and requests the

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to liaise with States

and all stakeholders, including relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes,

special procedures of the Human Rights Council, national human rights institutions and

civil society with a view to ensuring their participation in the panel discussion;

45. Requests the Office of the High Commissioner to prepare a report, in the

form of a summary, on the high-level panel discussion, to be presented to the Human

Rights Council at its thirty-fifth session;

46. Decides to remain seized of the matter.

41st meeting

30 September 2016

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 26 to 7, with 14 abstentions. The voting was as follows:

In favour:

Albania, Belgium, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, El Salvador, France, Georgia,

Germany, Ghana, Latvia, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco,

Netherlands, Panama, Paraguay, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Saudi

Arabia, Slovenia, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,

United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern

Ireland

Against:

Algeria, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Burundi, China, Cuba, Russian

Federation, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)

Abstaining:

Bangladesh, Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan,

Namibia, Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Togo, Viet Nam]