A/HRC/RES/42/27
seizures, forced conscription, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances and political
violence;
37.
Expresses concern at reports that the Syrian authorities are arbitrarily
preventing internally displaced persons from accessing and returning to their homes, with
no apparently valid security reason and without providing alternatives to the displaced
communities, which may amount to forced displacement;
38.
Deplores in this regard the existence and application of national legislation,
in particular Law No. 42/2018 and other legislation and practices concerning housing, land
and property rights, which have a significant detrimental impact on the rights of Syrians
displaced by the conflict to claim their property, as evidenced by recent reports of
widespread property demolitions throughout the Syrian Arab Republic, calls for the
immediate repeal of that legislation, and stresses the right of displaced Syrians to return to
their homes in a safe, voluntary and dignified manner when the situation on the ground
allows it;
39.
Expresses concern that the hostilities have restricted access to or resulted in
the loss of civil documentation, including through confiscation, thereby limiting freedom of
movement, access to essential services, and housing, land and property rights, particularly
for children, persons with disabilities, women and female-headed households, and notes
that the lack of official death certificates can seriously affect inheritance and custody rights
and severely restricts freedom of movement;
40.
Urges all parties to implement the recommendation of the Commission of
Inquiry on ensuring that the right of return is fully respected and facilitated by guaranteeing
that all return movements are safe, voluntary and dignified and subject to informed consent
to the places of origin and protect all property and tenancy rights, in cooperation with
competent organizations, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees;
41.
Condemns in the strongest possible terms the repeated use of chemical
weapons by the Syrian authorities, in violation of its obligations under the Convention on
the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons
and on Their Destruction and Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), and all use of
chemical weapons in contravention of well-established international standards and norms
against such use;
42.
Expresses grave concern at the reports of the Technical Secretariat of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which state that it continues to be
unable to verify that the declaration made by the Syrian authorities regarding their chemical
weapons programme was accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons
Convention, and calls upon the Syrian Arab Republic to cooperate fully with the
Organisation to provide further clarification relating to the gaps, inconsistencies and
discrepancies that remain;
43.
Welcomes the fact that the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has completed its arrangements for the deployment of
the Investigation and Identification Team established to identify the perpetrators of the use
of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic by identifying and reporting on all
information potentially relevant to the origin of those chemical weapons, and calls upon the
Syrian authorities to provide all necessary access and authorizations to the members of the
Team;
44.
Recalls the relevant reports of the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, in which they found
that the Syrian authorities were responsible for the use of chemical weapons on four
occasions, and that the Joint Investigative Mechanism also confirmed that so-called Islamic
State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) was responsible for two chemical weapons attacks
between 2014 and 2017;
45.
Expresses grave concern at the findings by the fact-finding mission of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that sarin and chlorine were very
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