A/HRC/31/68 groups originally from the rebel-held locality of Busra al-Harir (Dar’a) were detained by government forces and subsequently released as part of a swap. Armed groups and Jabhat al-Nusra have sometimes executed detainees after determining that the Government had no interest in negotiating their release. 101. Cultural disincentives, including social stigma, alienation and feelings of guilt and shame, inhibit victims of sexual violence from speaking out. Some female victims have been rejected or killed by their own families. Throughout the conflict, reports of the rape of male and female detainees in government detention facilities have been documented. Women’s greater freedom of movement through checkpoints has increased their vulnerability to sexual and physical assault by warring parties and by individual criminal elements. Trauma of this type, which often remains unspoken, can be an obstacle to the healing of the survivor, the family and the wider community. 102. In areas controlled by ISIS, Syrian women and girls continue to live under almost unbearable restrictions, their access to education, work and freedom of movement severely curtailed or completely denied. Rigidly defined gender forces, harshly enforced, have removed women and girls from public life, limiting their ability to contribute to their community beyond the accepted roles of wife and mother. 103. In areas not controlled by ISIS, gender roles have shifted. Owing to the absence of men from the familial home because of their involvement in fighting, or of having been killed or disappeared, women are increasingly the head of their households. That so many men are no longer with their families has had a detrimental impact on the women and, particularly, the children left behind. This is especially the case in the context of enforced disappearance, a violation perpetrated by government forces, where the severe mental anguish endured by the relatives is a human rights violation. Nonetheless, while born out of tragedy, the renewed agency of women as a result of the war may, if sustained, underpin the recovery of a post-conflict Syrian Arab Republic. B. Fracturing of communities 104. Civilians have been deliberately killed in attacks where the belligerents have conflated a community’s ethnic and/or religious backgrounds and its perceived political loyalties. In some cases, there has been intentional targeting of various ethnic, religious and professional communities, as well as sexual minorities. The backing of external actors, including foreign fighters on all sides, has exacerbated ethno-sectarian tensions on the ground. 105. Following an air strike on a vegetable market in Duma on 30 October in which at least 50 civilians were killed, Jaysh al-Islam used metal cages to parade men and women belonging to the Alawite sect through the streets of their stronghold in eastern Ghutah (Rif Damascus). In an attempt to deter further aerial attacks and to send a clear message to the Government, the captured civilians and government soldiers were used as human shields. 106. In September, fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra and anti-government armed groups executed seven men in Rastan city (Homs) on accusations of homosexuality. An unauthorized court, functioning on behalf of all armed groups from the area, ordered the executions. 107. In September, Jabhat al-Nusra and some anti-government armed groups overtook the Abu Duhur airbase (Idlib) from the Syrian air force. Upon capture, the terrorist group and its affiliates executed more than 70 government soldiers who had been detained and rendered hors de combat. A video of the executions that surfaced in November shows a 15