Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic
A/RES/72/191
38. Calls upon all members of the international community, including all
donors, to fulfil their previous pledges and continue to provide much -needed support
to the United Nations, its specialized agencies and other humanitaria n actors to
provide humanitarian assistance to the millions of Syrians displaced both internally
and in host countries and communities;
39. Welcomes the efforts of those countries outside the region that have put in
place measures and policies to assist and host Syrian refugees, encourages them to do
more, and also encourages other States outside the region to consider implementing
similar measures and policies, with a view to providing Syrian refugees with
protection and humanitarian assistance;
40. 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 warfare 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;
41. Demands that the Syrian authorities and all other parties to the conflict do
not hinder the full, immediate, unimpeded and sustained 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), 2191 (2014), 2254 (2015),
2258 (2015) and 2332 (2016);
42. Strongly condemns practices including abduction, hostage-taking, arbitrary
and incommunicado detention, torture, the murder of innocent civilians and summary
executions carried out by non-State armed groups and terrorist groups, most notably
so-called ISIL (also known as Da’esh) and Al-Nusrah Front, and underlines that such
acts may amount to crimes against humanity;
43. 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, and in the reports of widespread
killing of detainees in Syrian military intelligence facilities, in particular in Mezzeh
military airport detention facilities, and Military Security Branches 215, 227, 248 and
291, as well as the reported killing of detainees at military hospitals, including
Tishreen and Harasta, expresses deep concern that the regime concealed a mass
killing of prisoners at the Sednaya penitentiary complex, demands that the Syrian
authorities immediately halt the arbitrary detention of individuals, release all those
unlawfully detained, including women, children, human rights defenders,
humanitarian aid providers, medical personnel and journalists, and ensure that
conditions in detention facilities are consistent with international law, and calls upo n
the Syrian authorities to publish a list of all detention facilities and to provide
information on those they have detained to their families;
44. 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;
45. Demands that all parties take all appropriate steps to protect civilians and
persons hors de combat, including members of ethnic, religious and confessional
communities, and stresses that, in this regard, the primary responsibility to protect its
population lies with the Syrian authorities;
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