A/HRC/RES/40/21
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
17 April 2019
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Fortieth session
25 February–22 March 2019
Agenda item 7
Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council
on 22 March 2019
40/21.
Human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan
The Human Rights Council,
Deeply concerned at the suffering of the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian
Golan due to the systematic and continuous violation of their fundamental and human rights
by Israel since the Israeli military occupation of 1967,
Recalling Security Council resolution 497 (1981) of 17 December 1981,
Recalling also all relevant General Assembly resolutions, the most recent being
resolutions 73/23 of 30 November 2018 and 73/100 of 7 December 2018, in which the
Assembly declared that Israel had failed to comply with Security Council resolution 497
(1981) and demanded that it withdraw from all the occupied Syrian Golan,
Recalling further General Assembly resolutions 72/86 of 7 December 2017 and
73/98 of 7 December 2018,
Reaffirming once more the illegality of the decision by Israel of 14 December 1981
to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan, which has
resulted in the effective annexation of that territory,
Reaffirming the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by
force, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of
international law,
Deploring the announcement by the Israeli occupying authorities in July 2017 that
municipal elections would be held on 30 October 2018 in the four villages in the occupied
Syrian Golan, which constitutes another violation to international humanitarian law and to
relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 497 (1981),
Taking note with deep concern of the report of the Special Committee to Investigate
Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of
the Occupied Territories,1 and in this connection deploring the Israeli settlements in the
occupied Arab territories, and expressing regret at the constant refusal of Israel to cooperate
with and to receive the Special Committee,
1
A/73/499.
GE.19-06476(E)