A/HRC/RES/55/22
been heightened by impediments to the rapid, safe, unhindered and sustainable delivery of
humanitarian aid to all people in need in the Syrian Arab Republic through all available
modalities,
Noting with great concern that, following the reduction of Security Councilauthorized cross-border access in January and July 2020, Security Council authorization
expired entirely in July 2023, despite growing humanitarian needs, especially in the northwest of the Syrian Arab Republic, where aid access remains a lifeline for 4.1 million people,
especially following the devastating earthquakes of February 2023, including those displaced
in camps, 80 per cent of whom are women and children,
Noting the decisions by the Syrian Arab Republic to consent to the use of the Bab alHawa crossing for two consecutive periods of six months and of the Bab al-Salam and Ra‘i
crossings for three consecutive periods of three months by the United Nations and its
specialized agencies for the purpose of delivering humanitarian assistance, while remaining
concerned by the limited time frames, which are insufficient for ensuring sustainable aid
delivery to the north-west of the Syrian Arab Republic, and emphasizing the need for all
actors to ensure that such access is sustained and unhindered, as requested by humanitarian
agencies, and is in line with international humanitarian law, and for United Nations
humanitarian operations in the country to remain guided by the humanitarian principles of
humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence,
Expressing its deepest concern at the increase in violence across the Syrian Arab
Republic throughout 2023, the loss of at least a further 556 civilian lives and damage to
civilian infrastructure reported in 2022, especially in the context of the findings of the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that, of the 350,209 deaths in
the conflict recorded from 2011 to 2021, 143,350 were identified as civilians, in addition to
an estimated 163,537 undocumented civilian deaths, representing 1.5 per cent of the total
population of the Syrian Arab Republic at the beginning of the conflict,3
Strongly condemning the fact that a devastatingly high number children continue to
be subjected to grave violations and abuses of human rights law, as well as violations of
international humanitarian law, as identified by the Secretary-General,4 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 was a child,5
Noting with concern the findings of the Commission of Inquiry that, throughout the
conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, women and girls have been targeted on the basis of their
gender and that, according to its 2023 paper entitled “Gendered impact of the conflict in the
Syrian Arab Republic on women and girls”, further harm has been inflicted through obstacles
to their exercise of their rights, including property and inheritance rights and freedom of
expression, and a lack of justice and redress for victims and survivors of sexual and genderbased violence,
Strongly condemning the reported killing of detainees in Syrian government facilities
and the reported widespread practice of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and the
use of sexual and gender-based violence, torture and ill-treatment at detention centres, as
documented by the Commission of Inquiry in, inter alia, its 2023 paper entitled “No end in
sight”: torture and ill-treatment in the Syrian Arab Republic 2020–2023,6 including in Branch
215, Branch 227, Branch 235, Branch 261, Branch 271, the Air Force Intelligence
Investigation Branch at Mezzeh military airport and Sednaya military prison, as well as the
killing of detainees in military hospitals, including in Tishrin and Harasta hospitals,
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 and child labour and trafficking, and
3
4
5
6
2
See A/HRC/50/68.
See A/76/871-S/2022/493.
See A/HRC/50/68.
Available at https://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/regular-sessions/session53/list-reports.