A/HRC/39/65 assistance or food. Evacuees reported that at least one woman perished during the 25-hour journey. 77. Civilians consistently reported how they had not been informed about certain terms of the “evacuation agreement”, such as the exact destination of sites and possible alternative routes. One man recalled that, on 16 May, a bus detoured through areas controlled by pro-government forces, whereupon civilians came under fire from unidentified shooters. The bus was subsequently damaged, and a woman and child were injured. 78. The evacuation process in northern Homs appears to have been similar to patterns previously documented by the Commission.23 For every one of the more than 35,000 men, women and children unable to choose his or her destination, the decision to evacuate that person amounts to the war crime of forced displacement. Damascus and Rif Damascus governorates 79. On 29 April, government forces and FSA-affiliated armed groups positioned in Yarmouk camp reached an evacuation agreement for both fighters and civilians. The following day, an agreement to evacuate fighters and civilians from Yarmouk was also reached with Haya’t Tahrir al-Sham; evacuations began soon after and were completed by early May. Although the terms of the agreement were not conveyed to displaced civilians, population swaps were agreed upon concerning the predominantly Shia towns of Fu’ah and Kafraya in Idlib,24 and the release in two stages of some 40 civilians kidnapped by armed groups in Eshtabraq village in Jisr al-Shughur, Idlib. 80. On 20 April, reports emerged that some 7,000 civilians, the vast majority of them Palestinian refugees, had been displaced since 13 April to the towns of Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham in southern Damascus (see para. 7 above);25 more than 1,300 civilians, mainly women and children, were subsequently evacuated from the areas to northern rural Aleppo. Up to 10,000 civilians have been evacuated from southern Damascus since 4 May. 81. Civilians evacuated from Yarmouk camp and its environs between late April and early May described the deplorable living conditions in the camps to which they were sent. Each family evacuated to Aleppo, for example, was provided with only a plastic tent measuring 4 metres by 4 metres, while outdoor temperatures climbed to as much as 50˚C. Warring parties did not provide internally displaced persons with food or water, nor did they facilitate access to basic sanitation facilities. 82. Most of Yarmouk camp was severely damaged by hostilities, temporarily nullifying the feasibility of return for those displaced. Thousands of internally displaced Palestinians from Yarmouk camp and the neighbouring areas moreover lack legal status, which contributes even further to the uncertainty regarding their future both within and outside the Syrian Arab Republic. 83. In Rif Damascus, more than 16,000 of those displaced during the battle to recapture eastern Ghouta, many of whom unlawfully interned by government forces, 26 continue to subsist across seven severely overcrowded and/or underserved sites (see para. 66 above). Dara’a governorate 84. In late June, scores of civilians began fleeing their homes from flashpoint areas, including Busra al-Harir, towards safer areas in Dara’a governorate. Civilians reported that, 23 24 25 26 See “Sieges as a weapon of war” (see footnote 21). In March 2015, armed groups primarily under the Jaish al-Fatah formation overtook Idlib city and laid siege to both Fu’ah and Kafraya. Seewww.un.org/unispal/document/military-operations-in-syrias-yarmouk-camp-displace-7000mostly-palestinian-refugees-daily-press-briefing-by-secgen-spokesman-excerpts. See A/HRC/38/CRP.3, paras. 63–67. 15