A/HRC/RES/49/27 Acknowledging the importance of including victims’ perspectives, including the perspectives of women victims and survivors, and their demands for truth and justice in the international community’s efforts with regard to the Syrian Arab Republic, Welcoming 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, 2 and noting with appreciation the work of the United Nations Board of Inquiry, Reiterating its deep concern at the situation of the tens of thousands of individuals forcibly disappeared and those missing and detained in the Syrian Arab Republic, first and foremost by the Syrian regime, and demanding that all parties immediately cease the use of involuntary or enforced disappearance or kidnappings, in accordance with Security Council resolution 2474 (2019) of 11 June 2019 and the applicable international law, and demanding that all parties to the conflict cease the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and sexual and gender-based violence in places of detention, and all related human rights violations and abuses and violations of international humanitarian law, Expressing its profound concern about 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, that rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence continue to be perpetrated and that women and girls have been disproportionately affected and victimized on multiple grounds, and noting with deep regret the finding of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that more than one in 13 of those who have died as a result of the conflict were women,3 Condemning the fact that children continue to be subjected to grave violations, as identified by the Secretary-General, and that the scale and recurrent nature of such violations and abuses will affect generations to come, and noting with deep regret the finding of the Office of the High Commissioner that almost one in 13 of those who have died as a result of the conflict were children,4 1. Expresses grave concern that the crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic continues and that the conflict has been marked by consistent patterns of gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, strongly condemns all violations and abuses and the ongoing human rights situation, demands that all parties to the conflict immediately comply with their respective obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and emphasizes the need to ensure that all those responsible for such violations and abuses are held to account; 2. Strongly reiterates the call of the Secretary-General for a global ceasefire, the call of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria for a complete, immediate and nationwide ceasefire throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, and the recommendation made by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic to immediately institute a permanent ceasefire in order to provide the space for Syrian-led negotiations and for the restoration of respect for human rights, and urges all parties to the conflict to direct their efforts to enact such a ceasefire, and in this regard 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; 5 3. Strongly supports the efforts of the Special Envoy to make progress in the political process and to advance further aspects of Security Council resolution 2254 (2015) of 18 December 2015, including free and fair elections, pursuant to the new constitution, with all Syrians, including members of the diaspora, eligible to participate, urges all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, to engage meaningfully and in good faith in the political process under the auspices of the Special Envoy and his Office in Geneva, including in the 2 3 4 5 2 See A/75/743. Statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights of 24 September 2021, “Oral update on the extent of conflict-related deaths in the Syrian Arab Republic”. Available from www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?LangID=E&NewsID=27531. Ibid. S/2020/187, annex.