A/HRC/31/68 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 11 February 2016 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-first session Agenda item 4 Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic * Summary As the war is poised to enter its sixth year, its horrors are pervasive and everpresent. The lives of Syrian men, women and children have been ravaged as they suffer the destruction of their country and the devastation of the Syrian mosaic. As the conflict has intensified, civilians remain the primary victims, and are often the object of deliberate attacks by the warring parties. Flagrant violations of human rights and international humanitarian law continue unabated, aggravated by blatant impunity. Relevant Security Council resolutions remain largely unheeded and unimplemented. Crimes against humanity continue to be committed by government forces and by Islamic State in Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS). War crimes by the belligerents are rampant. The call for peace is imperative. Momentum must be sustained to ensure an all-inclusive, Syrian-led process to end the armed conflict and transition towards peace. Accountability is an essential part of this process. Ensuring humanitarian access and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms remains paramount. Local and international actors, with their underlying constituencies, bear a shared responsibility to bring this process to fruition, while countering the spread of terrorism and extreme violence in the region. * The annexes to the present report are circulated as received. GE.16-01721(E) *1601721*