Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic A/RES/72/191 Recalling also the specific obligations under international humanitarian law to respect and protect, in situations of armed conflict, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel exclusively engaged in medical duties, their means of transport and equipment, and hospitals and other medical facilities, and to ensure that the wounded and sick receive, to the fullest extent practicable and with the least possible delay, the medical care and attention required, recalling also that, under international law, attacks intentionally directed against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided that they are not military objectives, as well as attacks intentionally directed against buildings, material, medical units and transport and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 28 in conformity with international law are war crimes, and recalling the applicable rules of international humanitarian law relating to the non -punishment of any person for carrying out medical activities compatible with medical ethics, Expressing grave concern at the disproportionate use of force by the Syrian authorities against civilians, which has caused immense human suffering and fomented the spread of extremism and extremist groups and which demonstrates the failure of the Syrian authorities to protect its population and to implement the relevant resolutions and decisions of United Nations bodies, Expressing grave concern also at the remaining presence of extremism and violent extremist groups, terrorism and terrorist groups, and strongly condemning all violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law committed in the Syrian Arab Republic b y any party to the conflict, in particular so-called ISIL (also known as Da’esh), Al-Nusrah Front, Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups, and militias fighting on behalf of the regime, and other violent extremist groups, Expressing its deepest concern about the latest findings of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were responsible for the use of sarin as a chemical weapon in Khan Shaykhun in April 2017, and that so-called ISIL (also known as Da’esh) used sulfur mustard in Umm Hawsh in September 2016, as well as previous findings of at least three chlorine attacks by the Syrian Arab Republic and one mustard attack by so-called ISIL (also known as Da’esh), reaffirming the principles of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, 29 and the determination of the States parties to the Convention “for the sake of all mankind, to exclude completely the possibility of the use of chemical weapons, through the implementation of the provisions of this Convention”, and noting that the Convention entered into force in the Syrian Arab Republic on 14 October 2013, Expressing support for the work carried out by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, and strongly condemning the lack of cooperation by the Syrian authorities with the Commission of Inquiry, Noting with serious concern the observation of the Commission of Inquiry that, since March 2011, the Syrian authorities have conducted widespread attacks against the civilian population as a matter of policy, Noting with serious concern also the observation of the Commission of Inquiry that non-State armed groups still resort to the use of force against civilians, Strongly condemning the reported killing of detainees in Syrian military intelligence facilities and the widespread practice of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and the use of sexual and gender-based violence and torture in __________________ 28 29 17-23188 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, Nos. 970–973. Ibid., vol. 1974, No. 33757. 3/12