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.

Select target paragraph3