A/RES/71/203
Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic
2 July 2015, 16 30/10 of 1 October 2015, 17 31/17 of 23 March 2016, 18 32/25 of 1 July
2016,19 33/23 of 30 September 2016 20 and S-25/1 of 21 October 2016 21 and Security
Council resolutions 2042 (2012) of 14 April 2012, 2043 (2012) of 21 April 2012,
2118 (2013) of 27 September 2013, 2139 (2014) of 22 February 2014, 2165 (2014) of
14 July 2014, 2170 (2014) of 15 August 2014, 2178 (2014) of 24 September 2014,
2191 (2014) of 17 December 2014, 2209 (2015) of 6 March 2015, 2235 (2015) of
7 August 2015, 2258 (2015) of 22 December 2015, 2268 (2016) of 26 February 2016
and 2286 (2016) of 3 May 2016, and the statements by the President of the Council
of 3 August 2011, 22 2 October 2013 23 and 17 August 2015, 24
Condemning the grave deterioration of the human rights situation and the
indiscriminate killing and deliberate targeting of civilians as such, in violation of
international humanitarian law, and acts of violence that foment sectarian tensions,
Noting with deep concern the culture of impunity for serious violations of
international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights law
committed during the present conflict, which has provided a fertile ground for
further violations and abuses,
Recalling that, amid expressions of popular discontent over restrictions on the
enjoyment of civil, political, economic and social rights, civilian protests erupted in
Dar’a in March 2011, and noting that the excessive and violent oppression of
civilian protests by the Syrian authorities, which later escalated to the direct shelling
of civilians, fuelled the escalation of armed violence and extremist groups, including
so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL-Da’esh),
Expressing outrage at the continuing escalation of violence in the Syrian Arab
Republic, which has caused more than 400,000 fatalities, including the killing of
many more than 15,000 children, and in particular at the continued widespread and
systematic gross violations, as well as abuses, of human rights and violations of
international humanitarian law, including those involving the continued
indiscriminate use of heavy weapons and aerial bombardments, such as the
indiscriminate use of ballistic missiles, bunker-busting bombs, cluster munitions and
barrel and vacuum bombs, and by the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare
and the use of chlorine gas, which are prohibited under international humanitarian
law, by the Syrian authorities against the Syrian population,
Expressing outrage and grave concern at the escalation of violence in eastern
Aleppo as a result of the recent offensive by the Syrian authorities and their allies,
which has caused hundreds of civilian casualties, including rescue workers, first
responders, women and more than 100 children, and nearly 2,000 injured and has
included repeated attacks against medical facilities, medical personnel and patients
and on critical civilian infrastructure,
_______________
16
Ibid., chap. V, sect. A.
Ibid., Supplement No. 53A (A/70/53/Add.1), chap. II.
18
Ibid., Seventy-first Session, Supplement No. 53 (A/71/53), chap. II.
19
Ibid., chap. IV, sect. A.
20
Ibid., Supplement No. 53A and corrigendum (A/71/53/Add.1 and Corr.1), chap. II.
21
Ibid., Supplement No. 53B and corrigendum (A/71/53/Add.2 and Corr.1), chap. II.
22
S/PRST/2011/16; see Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council, 1 August 2011–31 July 2012
(S/INF/67).
23
S/PRST/2013/15; see Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council, 1 August 2013–31 July 2014
(S/INF/69).
24
S/PRST/2015/15.
17
2/11