A/HRC/24/46 I. Introduction 1. In the present report, the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic 1 sets out its findings based on investigations conducted from 15 May to 15 July 2013. 2. In its resolution 22/24, the Human Rights Council extended the mandate originally established by the Council in its resolution S-17/1 for a period of one year. 3. The present report should be read in conjunction with the previous reports of the commission.2 4. On 21 June 2013, the commission was invited to brief the Security Council on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic. On 29 July, pursuant to General Assembly resolution 67/262, the Chairperson of the commission briefed the Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic. A. Challenges 5. The commission’s ability to reach victims from all sides and to present a full picture of the conflict was significantly curtailed by the denial of access to the Syrian Arab Republic. A thorough investigation requires access to the location of incidents, to all available information and to all available witnesses. Recent missions to the country by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict and the United Nations investigation mission to investigate allegations of the use of chemical weapons give rise to hopes that the commission will be able to visit the country in the near future. 6. On 2 July, the commission addressed a request to the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic in which it reiterated its request to have access to the country and sought information on the events in Al Qusayr in May and June (see annex I). On 16 July, the commission addressed a request to the Minister for Foreign Affairs that the members of the commission be granted access to the Syrian Arab Republic to examine the modalities for a future visit. No responses were received. On 5 August, a note verbale was sent to the Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations requesting information from the Government. B. Methodology 7. The methodology employed for the present report was based on the standard practices of commissions of inquiry and human rights investigations, adapted to the above challenge. The commiss ion relied primarily on first-hand accounts to corroborate its findings. 8. The information contained in the present report is based on 258 interviews conducted in the region and from Geneva, including via Skype and telephone. The total number of interviews conducted since the mandate began in September 2011 now stands at 2,091. 1 2 T he commissioners are Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro (Chairperson), Karen Koning AbuZayd, Vitit Muntarbhorn and Carla Del Ponte. S-17/2/Add.1, A/HRC/19/69, A/HRC/21/50, A/HRC/22/59 and A/HRC/23/58. 3