A/RES/74/169
Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic
6.
Expresses grave concern at the chemical weapons attack in Duma on
7 April 2018, and notes the report of the Independent International Commission of
Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic that a vast body of evidence suggested that
chlorine had been dropped by helicopter on a residential building, as well as the report
of the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons on that attack, 35 in which it was stated that the evaluation and analysis of a ll
the information gathered by the mission provided reasonable grounds to believe that
the use of a toxic chemical as a weapon had taken place;
7.
Calls for a significant enhancement of the verification measures of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, welcomes the establishment
and operationalization of the Investigation and Identification Team of the Organisation,
which is authorized to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons, looks
forward to the first report to be issued by the Team, which will be an important first
step towards the ultimate goal of bringing the perpetrators of the use of chemical
weapons to justice, 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;
8.
Welcomes 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, 39 and calls upon the Secretary-General to
ensure that the relevant materials are processed expeditiously to be shared with the
International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism without any further delays;
9.
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 pertain ing 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, as referred to in the
report of the Director General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons dated 22 February 2016 40 indicating that the Technical Secretariat is at
present unable to verify fully that the declaration and related submissions of the
Syrian Arab Republic are accurate and complete, as required by the Convention and
decision EC-M-33/DEC.1 of the Executive Council of the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons; 41
10. Requests 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;
11. 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, including attacks on schools,
hospitals and places of worship, with heavy weapons, aerial bombardments, cluster
munitions, ballistic missiles, barrel bombs, chemical or other weapons and other force
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8/14
ST/SGB/2019/4.
EC-81/HP/DG.1.
Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), annex I.
19-22312