A/HRC/RES/40/17 3. Welcomes the work and the important role played by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, established by the Human Rights Council in its resolution S-17/1 of 23 August 2011, in supporting future accountability efforts by investigating all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law since March 2011 in the Syrian Arab Republic, to establish the facts and circumstances and to support efforts to ensure that all perpetrators of abuses and violations, including those who may be responsible for crimes against humanity, are held accountable; 4. Demands that the Syrian authorities cooperate fully with the Human Rights Council and the Commission of Inquiry by granting the Commission immediate, full and unfettered access throughout the Syrian Arab Republic; 5. Strongly condemns all violations and abuses of international human rights law and all violations of international humanitarian law committed by all parties to the conflict, including the continued systematic, widespread and gross violations and abuses of human rights and all violations of international humanitarian law by the Syrian regime and its affiliated State and non-State actors, including foreign terrorist fighters and those foreign organizations fighting on behalf of the Syrian authorities, and expresses deep concern that their involvement further exacerbates the deteriorating situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, including the human rights and humanitarian situation, which has a serious negative impact on the region; 6. Also strongly condemns the use by the Syrian authorities of banned munitions, the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in populated areas, barrel bombs, aerial bombardment, incendiary weapons, ballistic missiles and cluster bombs, and the use of starvation and siege directed against civilian populations as a method of warfare, and stresses the situation of particular concern in Idlib, where violence continues to cause death and injury among civilians; 7. Urges all the relevant parties, including the signatories to the memorandum on the stabilization of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation area of 17 September 2018, to ensure that the ceasefire in Idlib is upheld in order to prevent further death and injury among civilians, including medical and humanitarian personnel, and damage to civilian objects, as well as to avoid a potential humanitarian catastrophe; 8. Strongly condemns all attacks on medical and health personnel, first responders, their means of transport and equipment, and hospitals and other medical facilities, and deplores the long-term consequences of such attacks for the population and health-care systems of the Syrian Arab Republic; 9. Also strongly condemns the attacks against all civilian objects and the negative effects of the ongoing conflict on the rights and welfare of children, including their access to medical care and other humanitarian assistance as well as to education, including schools, decries the violations and abuses of international human rights law and violations of international humanitarian law, as applicable, and deplores in particular the impact of the denial of humanitarian access on their lives and well-being; 10. Expresses deep concern at the suffering of children resulting from the escalation of violence, harsh weather conditions and lack of safe refuge, and calls upon all parties fighting in the Syrian Arab Republic to allow at all times humanitarian workers to reach children and families in need of life-saving assistance, and to prevent and protect children from all exploitation, violations and abuses, including sexual and gender-based violence and child, early and forced marriage, by, among other actions, ending and preventing the recruitment and use of children in the armed conflict, immediately, safely and unconditionally releasing children and handing them over to civilian child-protection actors and ensuring that such authorities have access to detained children associated with armed groups; 11. Urges all parties to the conflict to comply with their respective obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and demands that all parties, particularly the Syrian authorities and their State and non-State allies, refrain from carrying out attacks against the civilian population and civilian objects, such as schools, as 3