A/HRC/RES/41/23
38.
Recalls the relevant reports of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, in which it found that the Syrian
authorities were responsible for the use of chemical weapons on four occasions, and that the
Joint Investigative Mechanism also confirmed that so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the
Levant (Daesh) was responsible for two chemical weapons attacks between 2014 and 2017;
39.
Expresses grave concern at the findings by the fact-finding mission of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that sarin and chlorine were very
likely used in separate attacks in Ltamenah on 24 and 25 March 2017, and that chlorine was
likely used in an attack in Saraqib on 4 February 2018;
40.
Also expresses grave concern that, according to the Commission of Inquiry, a
vast body of evidence suggested that chlorine had been dropped by helicopter on a residential
building, and that it had received information on the death of at least 49 individuals and the
wounding of up to 650 others in Duma on 7 April 2018, and at the findings of the Commission
in the same report that, in a series of ground attacks in Duma on 22 January and 1 February
2018, the Syrian authorities and/or affiliated militias had committed the war crime of using
prohibited weapons, following a pattern previously documented by the Commission
concerning the use of chemical weapons;
41.
Further expresses grave concern at the findings of the fact-finding mission of
the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in its report of 1 March 2019 that,
on the basis of its evaluation and analysis of all the information gathered, there are reasonable
grounds that a toxic chemical was used as a weapon in Duma on 7 April 2018, and that the
toxic chemical was likely molecular chlorine;
42.
Expresses grave concern at the reports of the Technical Secretariat of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of July 2016, March 2017, July 2017,
October 2017, March 2018, July 2018, October 2018 and March 2019, in which it continues
to report that it is unable to verify that the declaration made by the Syrian authorities
regarding their chemical weapons programme was accurate and complete in accordance with
the Chemical Weapons Convention, and calls upon the Syrian Arab Republic to cooperate
fully with the Organisation to provide further clarification relating to the gaps,
inconsistencies and discrepancies that remain concerning the declaration, to issue the
necessary visas to members of the Investigation and Identification Team, and to grant it all
required access and authorizations;
43.
Demands that all parties desist immediately from any use of chemical weapons
in the Syrian Arab Republic, expresses its strong conviction that those responsible for the use
of chemical weapons must be held accountable, and expresses its support in this regard for
the objectives and commitments of the International Partnership against Impunity for the Use
of Chemical Weapons to support accountability for all those responsible for the proliferation
or use of chemical weapons;
44.
Reaffirms the importance of establishing appropriate processes and
mechanisms to achieve justice, reconciliation, truth and accountability for gross violations
and abuses of international law, and reparations and effective remedies for victims, in
particular victims of sexual and gender-based violence, detainees, internally displaced
persons and disappeared persons, and stresses the prerequisite role that accountability can
play in any efforts to bring about a sustainable, inclusive and peaceful conclusion to the
conflict;
45.
Recalls that the International Criminal Court was established to help to end
impunity for applicable crimes in which a State is unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out
investigations or prosecutions;
46.
Emphasizes the need to ensure that all those responsible for violations of
international humanitarian law or violations and abuses of international human rights law are
held to account through appropriate, fair and independent national, regional or international
criminal justice mechanisms, and stresses the need to pursue practical steps towards this goal,
while noting the important role that the International Criminal Court can play in this regard,
and noting the authority of the Security Council to refer such situations to the Court;
7
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