A/RES/69/189 GA

United Nations A/RES/69/189 General Assembly Distr.: General 29 January 2015 Sixty-ninth session Agenda item 68 (c) 14-67678 (E) *1467678* Please recycle Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 18 December 2014 [on the report of the Third Committee (A/69/488/Add.3)] 69/189. Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic The General Assembly, Guided by the Charter of the United Nations, Reaffirming the purposes and principles of the Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1 and relevant international human rights treaties, including the International Covenants on Human Rights,2 Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and to the principles of the Charter, Recalling its resolutions 66/176 of 19 December 2011, 66/253 A of 16 February 2012, 66/253 B of 3 August 2012, 67/183 of 20 December 2012 and 67/262 of 15 May 2013, Human Rights Council resolutions S-16/1 of 29 April 2011,3 S-17/1 of 23 August 2011,3 S-18/1 of 2 December 2011,4 19/1 of 1 March 2012,5 19/22 of 23 March 2012,5 S-19/1 of 1 June 2012,6 20/22 of 6 July 2012,7 21/26 of 28 September 2012,8 22/24 of 22 March 2013,9 23/1 of 29 May 2013,10 23/26 of 14 June 2013,10 24/22 of 27 September 2013,11 25/23 of 28 March 2014,12 26/23 of 27 June 201413 and 27/16 of 25 September 201414 and Security Council resolutions 2042 (2012) of 14 April 2012, 2043 (2012) of 21 April 2012, 2118 (2013) of 27 September 2013, 2139 (2014) of 22 February 2014, 2165 (2014) _______________ 1 Resolution 217 A (III). 2 Resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex. 3 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/66/53), chap. I. 4 Ibid., Supplement No. 53B and corrigendum (A/66/53/Add.2 and Corr.1), chap. II. 5 Ibid., Sixty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 53 and corrigendum (A/67/53 and Corr.1), chap. III, sect. A. 6 Ibid., chap. V. 7 Ibid., chap. IV, sect. A. 8 Ibid., Supplement No. 53A (A/67/53/Add.1), chap. III. 9 Ibid., Sixty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/68/53), chap. IV, sect. A. 10 Ibid., chap. V, sect. A. 11 Ibid., Supplement No. 53A (A/68/53/Add.1), chap. III. 12 Ibid., Sixty-ninth Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/69/53), chap. IV, sect. A. 13 Ibid., chap. V, sect. A. 14 Ibid., Supplement No. 53A and corrigendum (A/69/53/Add.1 and Corr.1), chap. IV, sect. A. A/RES/69/189 Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic 2/7 of 14 July 2014, 2170 (2014) of 15 August 2014 and 2178 (2014) of 24 September 2014 and the statements by the President of the Council of 3 August 201115 and 2 October 2013,16 Condemning the grave deterioration of the human rights situation and the indiscriminate killing and deliberate targeting of civilians as such, in violation of international humanitarian law, and acts of violence that may foment sectarian tensions, Noting with concern the culture of impunity for serious violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights law committed during the present conflict, which has provided a fertile ground for further violations and abuses, Recalling that, amid expressions of popular discontent over restrictions on the enjoyment of civil, political, economic and social rights, civilian protests erupted in Dar’a in March 2011, and noting that the excessive and violent oppression of civilian protests by the Syrian authorities, which later escalated to the direct shelling of civilian population areas, fuelled the escalation of armed violence and extremist groups, Expressing outrage at the continuing escalation of violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, which has caused more than 191,000 fatalities, and in particular at the continued widespread and systematic gross violations, as well as abuses, of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, including those involving the continued use of heavy weapons and aerial bombardments, such as the indiscriminate use of ballistic missiles, cluster munitions, barrel and vacuum bombs, and chlorine gas, and starvation of civilians as a method of combat by the Syrian authorities against the Syrian population, Expressing grave concern at the disproportionate use of force by the Syrian authorities against civilians, which has caused immense human suffering and fomented the spread of extremism and extremist groups and which demonstrates the failure of the Syrian authorities to protect the Syrian population and to implement the relevant resolutions and decisions of United Nations bodies, Expressing grave concern also at the spread of extremism and extremist groups, terrorism and terrorist groups, and strongly condemning all violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic by any party to the conflict, in particular the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, militias fighting on behalf of the regime, Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups and other extremist groups, Expressing support for the work carried out by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, and strongly condemning the lack of cooperation by the Syrian authorities with the Commission of Inquiry, Recalling the statements made by the Secretary-General, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the special procedures of the Human Rights Council that crimes against humanity and war crimes are likely to have been committed in the Syrian Arab Republic, noting the repeated encouragement by the High Commissioner for the Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, and regretting that a draft resolution17 was not adopted despite broad support from Member States, _______________ 15 S/PRST/2011/16. 16 S/PRST/2013/15. 17 S/2014/348. Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic A/RES/69/189 3/7 Expressing its deepest concern about the findings of the Commission of Inquiry and also the allegations contained in the evidence presented by “Caesar” in January 2014 regarding the torture and execution of persons incarcerated by the Syrian authorities, and underlining the need for those allegations and similar evidence to be collected, examined and made available for future accountability efforts, Welcoming Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014) and 2165 (2014) and expressing grave concern that implementation remains largely unfulfilled, and noting the urgent need to strengthen efforts to address the humanitarian situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, including through protection of civilians and rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access, Recalling its commitment to Security Council resolutions 2170 (2014) and 2178 (2014), Expressing deep concern at the more than 3 million refugees who have been forced to flee the Syrian Arab Republic, of whom more than 750,000 are women and more than 1.5 million are children, and at the 10.8 million people in the Syrian Arab Republic requiring urgent humanitarian assistance, of whom 6.45 million are internally displaced, as well as at the impact of the influx of Syrian refugees into neighbouring countries and other countries in the region, and at the risk the situation presents to regional stability, Expressing its profound indignation at the death of well over 10,000 children and the many more injured since March 2011, Expressing its deep appreciation for the significant efforts that have been made by neighbouring countries and other countries in the region to accommodate Syrian refugees, while acknowledging the increasing political, socioeconomic and financial impact of the presence of large-scale refugee populations in those countries, notably in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt and Libya, Welcoming the hosting by the Government of Kuwait of the First and Second International Humanitarian Pledging Conferences for Syria on 30 January 2013 and 15 January 2014, and expressing its deep appreciation for the significant pledges of humanitarian assistance that have been made, Welcoming also the efforts of the United Nations and the League of Arab States and all diplomatic efforts to achieve a political solution to the Syrian crisis based on the final communiqué of the Action Group for Syria (Geneva communiqué) of 30 June 2012, 18 and welcoming further the appointment of Mr. Staffan de Mistura as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria and expressing its full support for his mission, Expressing its regret that the parties to the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the Syrian authorities, have failed to take advantage of the opportunities to achieve a political solution and form a transitional government with full executive powers based on the Geneva communiqué, 1. Strongly condemns all violations and abuses of international human rights law and all violations of international humanitarian law committed against the civilian population, in particular all indiscriminate attacks, including those involving the use of barrel bombs against civilian populated areas and civilian infrastructure, and demands that all parties immediately demilitarize medical facilities and schools and comply with their obligations under international law; _______________ 18 Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), annex II. A/RES/69/189 Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic 4/7 2. Deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the continued armed violence by the Syrian authorities against the Syrian people since the beginning of the peaceful protests in 2011, and demands that the Syrian authorities immediately put an end to all indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and public spaces, including those involving the use of terror tactics, airstrikes, barrel and vacuum bombs, chemical weapons and heavy artillery; 3. Also deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms and all violations of international humanitarian law by the Syrian authorities and the Government-affiliated shabbiha militias, including those involving the use of heavy weapons, aerial bombardments, cluster munitions, ballistic missiles, barrel bombs, chemical weapons and other force against civilians, including starvation of the civilian population as a method of combat, attacks on schools, hospitals and places of worship, massacres, arbitrary executions, extrajudicial killings, the killing and persecution of protestors, human rights defenders and journalists, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, violations of women’s and children’s rights, unlawful interference with access to medical treatment, failure to respect and protect medical personnel, torture, systemic sexual and gender-based violence, including rape in detention, and ill-treatment, and further strongly condemns all human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law by armed extremists, as well as any human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law by armed anti-Government groups; 4. Further deplores and condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist acts and violence committed against civilians by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, its violent extremist ideology and its continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, and reaffirms that terrorism, including the actions of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality or civilization; 5. Reminds the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic of the obligations of the Syrian Arab Republic under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 19 including 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, including with respect to the extradite or prosecute principle contained in article 7 of the Convention; 6. Strongly condemns the reported persistent and widespread use of sexual violence, abuse and exploitation, including in government detention centres, including those run by the intelligence agencies, and notes that such acts may constitute violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and in this regard expresses deep concern at the prevailing climate of impunity for sexual violence crimes; 7. Also strongly condemns all violations and abuses committed against children in contravention of applicable international law, such as their recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and all other forms of sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, as well as their arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, ill-treatment and their use as human shields; _______________ 19 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1465, No. 24841. Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic A/RES/69/189 5/7 8. Recalls the statement made by the Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic on 16 September 2014 that the Syrian authorities remain responsible for the majority of the civilian casualties, killing and maiming scores of civilians daily, and decides to transmit the reports of the Commission of Inquiry to the Security Council; 9. Reaffirms the Syrian authorities’ responsibility for enforced disappearances, and takes note of the assessment of the Commission of Inquiry that the Syrian authorities’ use of enforced disappearances amounts to a crime against humanity, and condemns the targeted disappearances of young men following Government-brokered ceasefires; 10. Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Commission of Inquiry, including by granting it immediate, full and unfettered access throughout the Syrian Arab Republic; 11. Also demands that the Syrian authorities meet their responsibilities to protect the Syrian population; 12. Strongly condemns the intervention in the Syrian Arab Republic of all foreign terrorist fighters and those foreign organizations fighting on behalf of the Syrian regime, particularly militia groups such as Hizbullah, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and Liwa’ Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, 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; 13. Demands that all foreign terrorist fighters, including those who are fighting in support of the Syrian authorities, immediately withdraw from the Syrian Arab Republic; 14. Also demands that all parties immediately put an end to all violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, recalls, in particular, the obligation under international humanitarian law to distinguish between civilian populations 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, including by desisting from attacks directed against civilian objects, such as medical centres, schools and water stations, immediately demilitarize such facilities, avoid establishing military positions in populated areas and enable the evacuation of the wounded and all civilians who wish to do so from besieged areas, and recalls in this regard that the Syrian authorities bear primary responsibility for protecting the population; 15. Strongly condemns practices including abduction, hostage-taking, incommunicado detention, torture, brutal murder of innocent civilians and summary executions carried out by non-State armed groups and terrorist groups, most notably the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and al-Nusra Front, and underlines that such acts may amount to crimes against humanity; 16. 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, demands that the Syrian authorities immediately release all persons arbitrarily detained, including the members of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, and ensure that detention conditions are consistent with international law, and calls upon the Syrian authorities to publish a list of all detention facilities; A/RES/69/189 Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic 6/7 17. Demands that the Syrian authorities, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, al-Nusra Front, and all other groups halt the arbitrary detention of civilians and release all civilians detained; 18. Calls for the appropriate international monitoring bodies to be granted access to detainees in government prisons and detention centres, including the military facilities referred to in the reports of the Commission of Inquiry; 19. Strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons and all indiscriminate methods of warfare in the Syrian Arab Republic, which is prohibited under international law, and notes with grave concern the Commission of Inquiry’s findings that the Syrian authorities have repeatedly used chlorine gas as an illegal weapon, which constitutes a violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction20 and is prohibited under international law; 20. Demands that the Syrian Arab Republic respect fully its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the decision of 27 September 2013 of the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons21 and Security Council resolution 2118 (2013) requiring it to declare its programme in full and eliminate it in its entirety, and strongly urges the Syrian Arab Republic to provide full cooperation to the fact-finding mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons looking at the allegations of the use of chlorine as a weapon of war and to the declaration assessment team working to verify the chemical weapon declarations of the Syrian Arab Republic and seeking to clarify the gaps and discrepancies discovered therein; 21. Also 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; 22. 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, national or international, criminal justice mechanisms in accordance with the principle of complementarity, and stresses the need to pursue practical steps towards this goal, and for this 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; 23. Strongly condemns the intentional denial of humanitarian assistance to civilians, from whatever quarter, 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 combat is prohibited under international law and noting especially the primary responsibility of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in this regard, and deplores the deteriorating humanitarian situation; 24. Reaffirms its commitment to international efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people for a civil, democratic and pluralistic State, with the full and effective participation of women, and where there is no room for sectarianism or discrimination on ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender or any other grounds, and _______________ 20 Ibid., vol. 1974, No. 33757. 21 Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), annex I. Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic A/RES/69/189 7/7 urges those countries with influence over the Syrian parties, in particular over the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, to take all measures to encourage the parties to the conflict to negotiate constructively and on the basis of the call made in the Geneva communiqué18 for the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers; 25. Urges the international community, including all donors, 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; 26. 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, the specialized agencies and other humanitarian actors to provide humanitarian assistance to the millions of Syrians displaced both internally and in host countries; 27. Urges all Syrian 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 as required by international humanitarian law, without prejudice to their freedom of movement and access, stresses the need not to impede or hinder those efforts, recalls that attacks on humanitarian workers may amount to war crimes, and notes in this regard that the Security Council affirmed in its resolution 2165 (2014) that it will take further measures in the event of non-compliance with resolutions 2139 (2014) or 2165 (2014) by any Syrian party. 73rd plenary meeting 18 December 2014

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