A/HRC/RES/38/16 25. Strongly condemns violence against all persons based on their religious or ethnic affiliation, demands that all parties take all appropriate steps to protect civilians, including members of ethnic, religious and confessional communities, and stresses that, in this regard, the primary responsibility to protect the Syrian population lies with the Syrian authorities; 26. Also strongly condemns the damage and destruction of the cultural heritage of the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the destruction of the cultural heritage in Palmyra and Aleppo, and the organized looting and trafficking of Syrian cultural property, as outlined by the Security Council in its resolution 2199 (2015) of 12 February 2015, affirms that attacks intentionally directed against historic monuments may amount to war crimes, and underlines the need to bring the perpetrators of such crimes to justice; 27. Further strongly condemns the terrorist acts and violence committed against civilians by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), Al-Nusrah Front and other terrorist organizations designated by the Security Council, and their continued gross, systematic and widespread abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, reaffirms that terrorism, including the actions of the socalled Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh), cannot and should not be associated with any religion, nationality or civilization, and stresses the importance of the full implementation of Security Council resolution 2170 (2014) of 15 August 2014; 28. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the continued use of chemical weapons by the Syrian authorities, in violation of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and Security Council resolution 2118 (2013), and all use of chemical weapons in contravention of well-established international standards and norms against such use; 29. Recalls the relevant reports of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, in which it found the Syrian authorities responsible for the use of chemical weapons on four occasions, and that the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Daesh) was responsible for two chemical weapons attacks between 2014 and 2017; 30. Expresses grave concern at the recent finding by the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that sarin and chlorine were very likely used in separate attacks in Ltamenah on 24 and 25 March 2017, and that chlorine was likely used in an attack in Saraqib on 4 February 2018; 31. Also expresses grave concern at the reported chemical weapons attack in Douma on 7 April 2018, resulting in the death of more than 70 people and injury to many more, and looks forward to the findings of the fact-finding mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on that attack; 32. Further expresses grave concern at the reports of the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of July 2016, March 2017, July 2017, October 2017 and March 2018, in which the Technical Secretariat reported that it had been unable to verify that the declaration made by the Syrian authorities regarding their chemical weapons programme was accurate and complete in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, and calls upon the Syrian Arab Republic to cooperate fully with the Organisation to provide further clarification relating to the gaps, inconsistencies and discrepancies that remain concerning the declaration; 33. Demands that all parties desist immediately from any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, expresses its strong conviction that those responsible for the use of chemical weapons must be held accountable, and also expresses its support in this regard for the objectives and commitments of the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use of Chemical Weapons to support accountability for all those responsible for the proliferation or use of chemical weapons; 34. Reaffirms the importance of establishing appropriate processes and mechanisms to achieve justice, reconciliation, truth and accountability for gross violations and abuses of international law, and reparations and effective remedies for victims, and 5