A/HRC/S-19/2 I. Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council at its nineteenth special session S-19/1. The deteriorating situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic, and the recent killings in El-Houleh The Human Rights Council, Recalling General Assembly resolutions 66/176 of 19 December 2011 and 66/253 of 16 February 2012, Human Rights Council resolutions S-16/1 of 29 April 2011, S-17/1 of 22 August 2011, S-18/1 of 2 December 2011, 19/1 of 1 March 2012 and 19/22 of 23 March 2012, and Security Council resolutions 2042 (2012) of 14 April 2012 and 2043 (2012) of 21 April 2012, Condemning the killings, confirmed by United Nations observers, of dozens of men, women and children and the wounding of hundreds more in the village of El-Houleh, near Homs, in attacks that involved the wanton killing of civilians by shooting at close range and by severe physical abuse by pro-regime elements and a series of Government artillery and tank shellings of a residential neighbourhood, and reiterating that all violence in all its forms by all parties must cease, Recalling that, in a statement made on 27 May 2012, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the atrocities in El-Houleh may amount to crimes against humanity, and noting her repeated encouragement to the Security Council to refer the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic to the International Criminal Court, Reaffirming its strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, 1. Condemns in the strongest possible terms such an outrageous use of force against the civilian population, which constitutes a violation of applicable international law and of the commitment of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic, under Security Council resolutions 2042 (2012) and 2043 (2012), to cease violence in all its forms, including the cessation of the use of heavy weapons in population centres; 2. Condemns in the harshest terms the outrageous killing of forty-nine children, all under the age of 10; 3. Deplores the fact that the recent killings in El-Houleh occurred in a context of continued human rights violations in the Syrian Arab Republic, including ongoing arbitrary detentions, hindered access for the media and restrictions of the right to peaceful assembly; 4. Emphasizes the continued failure of the Syrian authorities to protect and promote the rights of all Syrians, including through repeated and systematic violations of human rights; 5. Reiterates its urgent call upon the Syrian authorities to put an immediate end to all violence and all human rights violations, and to meet their responsibility to protect their populations; 6. Calls once again upon the Syrian authorities to immediately allow United Nations human rights mechanisms and missions full and unfettered access and freedom of movement within the Syrian Arab Republic; 3