Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic
A/RES/70/234
23. Strongly condemns the intentional denial of humanitarian assistance to
civilians, from whatever quarter, and in particular the denial of medical assistance
and the withdrawal of water and sanitation services to civilian areas, which has
recently worsened, stressing that the starvation of civilians as a method of combat is
prohibited under international law, noting especially the primary responsibility of
the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in this regard, and deplores the
deteriorating humanitarian situation;
24. Demands that the Syrian authorities and all other parties to the conflict
do not hinder the full, immediate and safe access of the United Nations and
humanitarian actors, including to besieged and hard -to-reach areas, consistent with
Security Council resolutions 2139 (2014), 2165 (2014) and 2191 (2014);
25. Strongly condemns practices including abduction, hostage-taking,
incommunicado detention, torture, the brutal murder of innocent civilians and
summary executions carried out by non-State armed groups and terrorist groups,
most notably so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da’esh) and Al-Nusrah
Front, and underlines that such acts may amount to crimes against humanity;
26. Deplores the suffering and torture in detention centres throughout the
Syrian Arab Republic, as depicted in the reports of the Commission of Inquiry and
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as
in the evidence presented by “Caesar” in January 2014, demands that the Syrian
authorities immediately release all persons arbitrarily detained and ensure that
detention conditions are consistent with international law, and calls upon the Syrian
authorities to publish a list of all detention facilities;
27. Demands that the Syrian authorities, so-called Islamic State in Iraq and
the Levant (Da’esh), Al-Nusrah Front and all other groups halt the arbitrary
detention of civilians and release all detained civilians;
28. Calls for the appropriate international monitoring bodies to be granted
access to detainees in government prisons and detention centres, including all
military facilities referred to in the reports of the Commission of Inquiry;
29. Strongly condemns the use of chemical weapons and all indiscriminate
methods of warfare in the Syrian Arab Republic, which is prohibited under
international law, and notes with grave concern the Commission of Inquiry's
findings that the Syrian authorities have repeatedly used chlorine ga s as an illegal
weapon, which constitutes a violation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the
Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their
Destruction 24 and is prohibited under international law;
30. Welcomes the unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution
2235 (2015), in which the Council established an Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism to identify those
involved in certain uses of toxic chemicals as weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic,
and emphasizes the need to hold those responsible to account;
31. Demands that the Syrian Arab Republic respect fully its obligations
under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the decision of 2 7 September 2013 of the
Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons 25
and Security Council resolutions 2118 (2013) and 2235 (2015) requiring it to
declare its programme in full and eliminate it in its entirety;
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25
Ibid., vol. 1974, No. 33757.
Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), annex I.
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