Situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic A/RES/71/203 Recalling 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, and 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 25 in conformity with international law are war crimes, 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 spread of extremism and 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 by any party to the conflict, in particular so -called ISIL-Da’esh, Al-Nusrah Front and militias fighting on behalf of the regime, Al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups and other extremist groups, Expressing its deepest concern about the findings of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism that the Syrian Arab Armed Forces were responsible for the use of chemical weapons in at least three attacks and so-called ISIL-Da’esh was responsible for one attack, reaffirming the principles of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, 26 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, Strongly condemning the widespread practice of enforced disappearance, arbitrary detention and the use of sexual and gender-based violence and torture in detention centres referred to in the reports of the Commission of Inquiry, including, but not limited to, Branch 215, Branch 227, Branch 235, Branch 251, Air Force Intelligence Investigation Branch at Mezzeh military airport, and Sednaya prison, as well as military hospitals, including Tishreen and Harasta hospitals, _______________ 25 26 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, Nos. 970–973. Ibid., vol. 1974, No. 33757. 3/11