A/HRC/RES/42/27
personnel involved in humanitarian assistance, in violation of international humanitarian
law, recalls the primary responsibility of the Syrian authorities to protect the civilian
population, and deplores the long-term consequences of such attacks for the population and
health-care systems of the Syrian Arab Republic;
12.
Expresses deep concern at the number of civilians, including children, killed
or maimed by landmines, explosive remnants of war and improvised explosive devices used
by all parties to the conflict;
13.
Takes note of the recent conclusions of the Working Group on Children and
Armed Conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic, 2 notes with deep concern the negative effects
of the ongoing conflict, including the rapidly increasing instances of child, early and forced
marriage, child labour and forced recruitment, and the denial of humanitarian assistance on
the rights and welfare of children, including their access to medical care and to education,
including schools, and strongly condemns the use of schools for military purposes, such as
training, ammunition storage, detention facilities and accommodation, or as military bases;
14.
Calls upon all parties to respect and protect the full enjoyment by children of
all their human rights, and to allow at all times humanitarian workers to reach children and
families in need of life-saving assistance, and to prevent, and protect children from, all
exploitation, violations and abuses, including sexual and gender-based violence and child,
early and forced marriage, trafficking and torture by, among other actions, ending and
preventing the recruitment and use of children in the armed conflict, immediately, safely
and unconditionally releasing children and handing them over to civilian child-protection
actors, and ensuring that such authorities have access to detained children associated with
armed groups;
15.
Deplores the escalation of violence in the north-west of the country, stresses
the situation of particular concern in the province of Idlib, and strongly condemns the
attacks by the Syrian authorities and their State and non-State allies on civilians and first
responders and civilian infrastructure where ongoing violence, including airstrikes,
continues to cause death and injury among civilians and first responders, as well as
devastating damage to civilian infrastructure, including health-care and educational
facilities, causing immense suffering to the civilian population, with more than 600,000
people displaced since May 2019, and 3 million people – half of whom children – reliant
upon humanitarian support, and which has caused the death of more than 1,000 civilians
and damage to educational and health facilities, as well as water stations and markets;
16.
Urges all relevant parties, including the signatories to the memorandum on
the stabilization of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area of 17 September 2018, to
respect and uphold the ceasefire in Idlib in order to prevent further death and injury among
civilians, and welcomes the decision by the Secretary-General to establish a United Nations
board of inquiry to investigate attacks on de-conflicted and United Nations-supported
facilities in the north-west of the Syrian Arab Republic since the signing of the
memorandum;
17.
Calls upon the Syrian authorities and all other parties to the conflict to ensure
the effective implementation of Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014) of 22 February
2014 and 2254 (2015) and 1325 (2000) and to adhere to their obligations under
international law, in particular to end arbitrary detention, torture and sexual and genderbased violence in the Syrian Arab Republic, notably in prisons and detention facilities, as
well as kidnappings, abductions and forced disappearances, as demanded by the Council in
its resolution 2139 (2014) and by the Commission of Inquiry in its recommendations;
18.
Expresses deep concern at reports of mass executions and torture of prisoners
and at the number of deaths among individuals detained by the Syrian authorities, including
in Syrian Military Intelligence facilities and military hospitals, as evidenced by the issuing
of thousands of death notifications, which provides further indication of systematic
violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and urges
2
4
S/AC.51/2019/1.