A/HRC/18/53 obtained from both private sources and the media. It reviewed information compiled by national and international non-governmental organizations, the media and other information in the public domain. In addition, the mission considered public statements made by Government officials or submitted to OHCHR in the form of notes verbales. 13. In interpreting its mandate and examining the facts obtained through its investigations, the mission applied an international legal framework. During its investigations, the mission compiled a list of 50 alleged perpetrators at various levels of Government and its agencies in connection with incidents documented herein. This information remains confidential but may be presented by OHCHR in the context of future investigations and possible indictments by a competent prosecutor. C. Legal framework 1. International human rights law 14. The Syrian Arab Republic is party to most of the core international human rights treaties, and has made international voluntary pledges, including to “continue working to raise promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms”.5 Four of the international instruments ratified by the State and which apply to the events described in the present report are particularly relevant: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Human Rights; the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Human Rights; the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Syrian Arab Republic is not a party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, although it is bound by the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Human Rights that also prohibit enforced disappearances. 2. International criminal law 15. The Syrian Arab Republic signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on 29 November 2000, but it has yet not ratified it. The Rome Statute establishes four categories of international crimes: war crimes; crimes against humanity; genocide; and the crime of aggression. In the present context, crimes against humanity are particularly relevant to the events in the country since mid-March 2011, in particular the provisions referring to murder, torture, enforced disappearances, persecution, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, and other inhumane acts. Despite non-ratification, the Syrian Arab Republic is still obliged to refrain from acts that would “defeat the objects and purpose of [the] treaty” according to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (art. 18), to which the State acceded in 1970. 3. Domestic law 16. While the Constitution of 1973 sets out basic freedoms that reflect international standards, Syrian domestic law cannot be adequately relied on because it violates constitutional guarantees and encourages impunity on two fronts. 17. First, the Penal Code (Law 148/1949, as amended) sets out various crimes that are broadly defined and may result in the violation of freedom of expression and association, among others. These include “spreading false or exaggerated information with the aim of harming the State”, “publishing mendacious information liable to weaken the nation’s moral” (arts. 285-286) and “belonging to a secret society that aims to change the State’s 5 A/65/784, annex. 5