A/HRC/RES/44/21 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 23 July 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-fourth session 30 June–17 July 2020 Agenda item 4 Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 17 July 2020 44/21. Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic The Human Rights Council, Guided by the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations, Reaffirming its previous resolutions on the Syrian Arab Republic, Condemning the grave situation of human rights across the Syrian Arab Republic, and demanding that the Syrian authorities meet their responsibility to protect the Syrian population and to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all persons within its jurisdiction, Recognizing that persons who are unlawfully or arbitrarily deprived of their liberty are vulnerable to extrajudicial killings, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, enforced disappearance, and to other human rights violations and abuses, Noting that, under applicable international law, and in line with Security Council resolution 2474 (2019) of 11 June 2019, parties to armed conflict bear the primary responsibility to take all feasible measures to account for persons reported missing as a result of hostilities, and to provide their family members with any information the parties have on their fate, and noting also that the Council in its resolution 2474 (2019) called upon parties to the conflict to take steps to prevent people going missing in armed conflict, 1. Deplores the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the fact that the ongoing conflict continues to have a devastating impact on the civilian population, including consistent patterns of gross violations and abuses of international human rights law and international humanitarian law; 2. Strongly condemns all violations and abuses of international human rights law and all violations of international humanitarian law, demands in this respect that all parties to the conflict immediately comply with their respective obligations, and emphasizes the need to ensure that all those responsible for such violations and abuses are held to account, reaffirms the importance of establishing appropriate processes and mechanisms to achieve justice, reconciliation, truth and accountability for such crimes, and reparations and effective remedies for victims, and welcomes the significant endeavours of the International Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of GE.20-09790(E) 