A/HRC/RES/50/19 Noting with deep concern also the findings in the Commission of Inquiry’s papers entitled “‘I lost my dignity’: sexual and gender-based violence in the Syrian Arab Republic”, from 2018, and “Out of sight, out of mind: deaths in detention in the Syrian Arab Republic”, from 2016,2 including that significant violence, including rape and sexual abuse, is taking place in places of detention with impunity, and during ground operations and house raids and at checkpoints, and that such acts were committed most commonly by Syrian authorities, Recognizing that all women and girls have been disproportionately affected by the crisis and continue to be among the worst affected, and on multiple grounds, including that many women have become the main or sole breadwinners for their families, a situation that may be exacerbated by the enforced disappearance of members of their families, while they face increased caring responsibilities and alarming levels of violence, Noting with regret the findings of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that more than 1 in 13 of those who have died as a result of the conflict were women, and that almost 1 in 13 of those who have died as a result of the conflict were children, Noting with deep concern that internally displaced Syrian women and children are disproportionately affected by the loss of livelihoods during displacement, including inequitable access to assistance, education, adequate hygiene, including menstrual hygiene, and health-care services, and that they experience sexual and gender-based violence such as exploitation, abuse, trafficking in persons, forced recruitment and abduction, Noting with deep concern also the findings of the Commission of Inquiry that children have suffered sexual and gender-based violence since the early days of the Syrian conflict and recognizing the profound effect that the conflict has had on children, and in this regard, noting the Commission of Inquiry’s paper of 2020 entitled “‘They have erased the dreams of my children’: children’s rights in the Syrian Arab Republic”,3 Acknowledging that sexual and gender-based violence against men and boys in the Syrian Arab Republic has been perpetrated on male detainees, including boys as young as 11 years, who were subjected to a range of forms of sexual and gender-based violence including rape, sexual torture, and humiliation, often in regime detention facilities during interrogations to force confessions, and occasionally even after detainees have confessed so as to further humiliate or punish them, and recognizing the need to raise awareness of sexual violence against men and boys, Noting with deep regret that women, girls, men and boys subjected to sexual and gender-based violence often lack access to immediate health care, particularly in detention facilities where reports of sexual violence continue to be prevalent, and that authorities often deny medical care to persons in detention, Noting with concern the situation of internally displaced persons in camps, the majority of whom are women and children, who are especially vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, which includes killings, physical, verbal and sexual abuse, neglect, movement restrictions, child, early and forced marriage, child labour and trafficking, and who often lack access to food, education, a livelihood and health care, including mental health care, Noting the remarks of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the unique impact that the protracted issue of enforced disappearances and missing and arbitrarily detained persons has had on Syrian women,4 which includes carrying out the often terrifying and demoralizing search for their loved ones as well as the financial and legal challenges they face due to persisting discriminatory laws and practices, Acknowledging the importance of fully, equally, effectively and meaningfully engaging survivors and providing a platform for their perspectives to be heard, including the perspectives of women and child survivors, and their demands for truth and justice in the international community’s efforts with regard to the Syrian Arab Republic, 2 3 4 2 Available from www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/iici-syria/documentation. Ibid. See www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2022/04/update-general-assembly-missing-persons-syria.