The Situation in the Syrian Arab Republic

A/RES/67/262View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 33 Prevention of armed conflict, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 2012–2016

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/71/130

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2016	A/RES/71/130	The situation in the Syrian Arab Republic	2,298	15%Compare
2013	A/RES/67/262	The situation in the Syrian Arab Republic	3,315	—
2012	A/RES/66/253 B	The situation in the Syrian Arab Republic	—	—
2012	A/RES/66/253 A	The situation in the Syrian Arab Republic	—	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

13 subjects

Biological Weapons Chemical Weapons Cooperation Between Organizations Democracy Displaced Persons Financial Assistance Human Rights in Armed Conflicts Human Rights Violations Humanitarian Assistance Internal Security International Humanitarian Law Refugee Assistance Syrian Arab Republic

What’s in this document?

31 operative paragraphs

International humanitarian law and human rights

Strongly condemns the continued escalation in the use by the Syrian authorities of heavy weapons, including indiscriminate shelling from tanks and aircraft, and the use of ballistic missiles and other indiscriminate weapons against population centres, as well as the use of cluster munitions;

Strongly condemns also all violations of international humanitarian law and the continued widespread and systematic gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms by the Syrian authorities and the Government-affiliated shabbiha militias, such as those involving the use of heavy weapons, aerial bombardments and other force against civilians, attacks on schools, hospitals and places of worship, massacres, arbitrary executions, extrajudicial killings, the killing and persecution of protestors, human rights defenders and journalists, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, violations of the rights of the child, including the recruitment and use of children in the conduct of hostilities in violation of international law, unlawful interference with access to medical treatment, failure to respect and protect medical personnel, torture, systematic sexual violence, including rape in detention, and ill-treatment, including against children, as well as any human rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian law by anti-Government armed groups;

Condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from, and calls upon all parties to immediately put an end to all forms of violence, including terrorist acts and acts of violence or intimidation that may foment sectarian tensions, and to comply strictly with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law;

Demands that all parties immediately put an end to all violations of international humanitarian law, including those involving attacks against civilians, also demands that the Syrian authorities immediately end all violations of international human rights law and meet their responsibility to protect the population and comply fully with their obligations under applicable international law, including international law applicable to the rights and protection of women and girls, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child,¹¹ calls upon all parties to the conflict to issue clear orders against sexual violence through their respective chains of command and to undertake investigations to hold perpetrators of sexual violence to account, also calls upon all parties to facilitate the immediate access for survivors of sexual violence to available services, and urges donors to support services that address the health, psychosocial and protection needs of survivors;

¹¹United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1577, No. 27531.

Demands that the Syrian authorities immediately release all persons arbitrarily detained, including the members of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, publish a list of all detention facilities, ensure that conditions of detention comply with applicable international law, and immediately allow access of independent monitors to all detention facilities;

Strongly condemns the shelling as well as the shooting by the Syrian armed forces into neighbouring countries, which led to casualties and injuries of the civilians of those countries as well as of Syrian refugees, underlines that such incidents violated international law, stresses the grave threat of the crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic on the security of its neighbours and on regional peace and stability, as well as its grave implications for international peace and security, and calls upon the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to respect the sovereignty of neighbouring States and meet its international obligations in this regard;

Demands that the Syrian authorities grant the independent international commission of inquiry and individuals working on its behalf immediate, full and unfettered entry and access to all areas of the Syrian Arab Republic, and also demands that all parties cooperate fully with the commission of inquiry in the performance of its mandate to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law since March 2011, as well as with other United Nations special procedures, and invites the commission of inquiry to brief the General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic;

Stresses again the importance of ensuring accountability and the need to end impunity and hold to account all those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law and serious violations and abuses of international human rights law, including those that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, as recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights;

Encourages the Security Council to consider appropriate measures in this regard;

Underlines the importance that the Syrian people, on the basis of broad, inclusive and credible consultations, should determine, within the framework provided by international law and based upon the complementarity principle, the domestic process and mechanisms to achieve reconciliation, truth and accountability for gross violations, as well as reparations and effective remedies for the victims;

Demands that the Syrian authorities strictly observe their obligations under international law with respect to chemical and biological weapons, including Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) of 28 April 2004 and the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925,¹² and also demands that the Syrian authorities refrain from using or transferring to non-State actors any chemical and biological weapons or any related material, and that the Syrian authorities meet their obligations to account for and to secure all chemical and biological weapons and any related material;

¹²League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. XCIV, No. 2138.

Also demands that the Syrian authorities grant full and unfettered access to the investigation of the Secretary-General into all alleged uses of chemical weapons, and calls upon all parties to cooperate with the investigation;

Humanitarian situation

Deplores the deteriorating humanitarian situation and the failure to ensure the safe and timely provision of humanitarian assistance to all areas affected by the fighting;

Reiterates its call upon the Syrian authorities to immediately and fully implement the agreed humanitarian response plan, and for all parties to the conflict to grant immediate, safe, full and unimpeded access of humanitarian personnel to all populations in need of assistance in all parts of the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular to medical facilities, and calls upon those parties to cooperate fully with the United Nations and relevant humanitarian organizations to facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance through the most effective routes;

Demands that the Syrian authorities facilitate the access of humanitarian organizations to all people in need through the most effective routes, including by providing authorization for cross-border humanitarian operations as an urgent priority, and encourages all parties in the Syrian Arab Republic to facilitate the delivery of assistance in areas under their control, including across conflict lines, in order to implement fully the humanitarian response plan;

Strongly condemns all attacks and threats of violence against humanitarian and medical personnel and against medical facilities and vehicles, in violation of international law, and the use of medical civilian facilities, including hospitals, for armed purposes, and calls for all medical facilities to be free of weapons, including heavy weapons, consistent with applicable international law;

Condemns all attacks on, detentions of and threats of violence against United Nations personnel, and calls upon all parties in this regard to respect the human rights, privileges and immunities of United Nations and other personnel carrying out activities in fulfilment of the mandate of a United Nations operation;

Expresses grave concern at the increasing numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons as a result of the ongoing violence, which could undermine the capacities of the neighbouring countries to provide Syrian refugees with adequate humanitarian needs;

Reiterates its appreciation of the significant efforts that have been made by neighbouring countries and the countries of the region to assist those who have fled across the borders of the Syrian Arab Republic as a consequence of the violence, and urges all relevant United Nations agencies, in particular the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and other donors and humanitarian actors to provide urgent and coordinated support to Syrian refugees and their host countries;

Welcomes the hosting by the Government of Kuwait on 30 January 2013 of the pledging conference for the United Nations joint appeal;

Requests the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, in cooperation with the Secretariat, to submit a written report to the General Assembly, within 90 days, on the very dire situation of internally displaced persons in the Syrian Arab Republic in terms of safety and their basic rights and livelihoods, and to provide recommendations with a view to meeting assistance and protection needs and strengthening the effectiveness of the international response to displacement;

Urges the international community to provide urgent financial support to the host countries to enable them to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of Syrian refugees and affected communities, and to consider addressing the refugee issue through appropriate means and measures, in accordance with the principle of burden-sharing;

Urges all donors to provide expeditiously financial support in the context of the humanitarian response plan and the regional refugee response plan to United Nations and international humanitarian organizations, as well as the host countries, so that they can implement more actively the humanitarian response plan inside the country;

Calls upon Member States to provide all support to the Syrian people, and encourages Member States to contribute to the United Nations humanitarian response efforts;

Political transition

Reiterates its call for an inclusive Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, pluralistic political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations, ethnicities or beliefs, including through the commencement of a serious political dialogue between credible, empowered and mutually acceptable interlocutors representing the Syrian authorities and the Syrian opposition;

Welcomes the establishment of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces on 11 November 2012 in Doha as effective representative interlocutors needed for a political transition, as well as its commitment, expressed in its communiqués dated 15 and 23 February 2013 and 20 April 2013, to the principle of a political transition leading to a civil, democratic and pluralistic Syrian Arab Republic, where all citizens are equal regardless of gender, religion or ethnicity, and notes the wide international acknowledgement, notably at the fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People, of the Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people;

Also welcomes the efforts of the League of Arab States towards a political resolution of the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, and its relevant resolutions in this regard;

Reaffirms its support for the mission of the Joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for Syria, and demands in this regard that all Syrian parties work with his office to implement rapidly the transition plan set forth in the final communiqué issued by the Action Group for Syria on 30 June 2012,¹³ in a way that assures the safety of all in an atmosphere of stability and calm, provides for clear and irreversible steps in the transition according to a fixed time frame and establishes a consensus transitional governing body with full executive powers to which all functions of the presidency and Government are transferred, including those pertaining to military, security and intelligence issues, as well as a review of the constitution on the basis of an inclusive national dialogue and free and fair multiparty elections held in the framework of this new constitutional order;

¹³A/66/865-S/2012/522, annex.

Requests the Secretary-General to provide support and assistance for the implementation of the transition plan set forth in the final communiqué of the Action Group for Syria, and encourages Member States to provide active diplomatic support in this regard;

Requests that the Secretary-General, working in close coordination with international financial institutions, relevant regional and international organizations, including the League of Arab States, other relevant international actors and Syrian representatives, initiate planning to provide support and assistance to Syrian-led transition and be granted appropriate resources in this regard;

Requests the Secretary-General to report within 30 days on the implementation of the present resolution.