RES/40/21 Human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan

GE.19-06476(E)



Human Rights Council Fortieth session

25 February–22 March 2019

Agenda item 7

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 22 March 2019

40/21. Human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan

The Human Rights Council,

Deeply concerned at the suffering of the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian

Golan due to the systematic and continuous violation of their fundamental and human rights

by Israel since the Israeli military occupation of 1967,

Recalling Security Council resolution 497 (1981) of 17 December 1981,

Recalling also all relevant General Assembly resolutions, the most recent being

resolutions 73/23 of 30 November 2018 and 73/100 of 7 December 2018, in which the

Assembly declared that Israel had failed to comply with Security Council resolution 497

(1981) and demanded that it withdraw from all the occupied Syrian Golan,

Recalling further General Assembly resolutions 72/86 of 7 December 2017 and

73/98 of 7 December 2018,

Reaffirming once more the illegality of the decision by Israel of 14 December 1981

to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan, which has

resulted in the effective annexation of that territory,

Reaffirming the principle of the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by

force, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of

international law,

Deploring the announcement by the Israeli occupying authorities in July 2017 that

municipal elections would be held on 30 October 2018 in the four villages in the occupied

Syrian Golan, which constitutes another violation to international humanitarian law and to

relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 497 (1981),

Taking note with deep concern of the report of the Special Committee to Investigate

Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of

the Occupied Territories,1 and in this connection deploring the Israeli settlements in the

occupied Arab territories, and expressing regret at the constant refusal of Israel to cooperate

with and to receive the Special Committee,

1 A/73/499.

United Nations A/HRC/RES/40/21

Guided by the relevant provisions of the Charter, international law and the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, and reaffirming the applicability of the Geneva Convention

relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949 and the

relevant provisions of the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 to the occupied Syrian

Golan,

Reaffirming the importance of the peace process, which started in Madrid on the

basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967 and 338 (1973) of

October 1973, and the principle of land for peace, and expressing its concern at the halting

of the peace process in the Middle East and its hope that peace talks will be resumed on the

basis of the full implementation of resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) for the

establishment of a just and comprehensive peace in the region,

Reaffirming also the previous relevant resolutions of the Commission on Human

Rights and the Human Rights Council, the most recent being Council resolutions 34/27 of

24 March 2017 and 37/33 of 23 March 2018,

1. Calls upon Israel, the occupying Power, to comply with the relevant

resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council,

in particular Security Council resolution 497 (1981), in which the Council decided, inter

alia, that the decision of Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the

occupied Syrian Golan was null and void and without international legal effect, and

demanded that Israel rescind forthwith its decision;

2. Also calls upon Israel to desist from its continuous building of settlements,

the most recent of which is the settlement campaign being conducted by the so-called

Golan Regional Council under the slogan “Come to the Golan” and referred to as the

“farms project”, to desist also from the construction of 1,600 new settlement units in the

occupied Syrian Golan as announced by Israel in November 2016, and to desist further

from changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and

legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan, and emphasizes that the displaced persons of the

population of the occupied Syrian Golan must be allowed to return to their homes and to

recover their property;

3. Further calls upon Israel to desist from imposing Israeli citizenship and

Israeli identity cards on the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan, and to desist from

its repressive measures against them and from all other practices that obstruct the

enjoyment of their fundamental rights and their civil, political, economic, social and

cultural rights, some of which are mentioned in the report of the Special Committee to

Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and

Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories;1

4. Calls upon Israel to allow the Syrian population of the occupied Syrian Golan

to visit their families and relatives in the Syrian motherland through the Quneitra

checkpoint and under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and

to rescind its decision to prohibit these visits, as it is in flagrant violation of the Fourth

Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

5. Also calls upon Israel to release immediately the Syrian detainees in Israeli

prisons, some of whom have been detained for more than 30 years, and to treat them in

conformity with international humanitarian law;

6. Further calls upon Israel, in this connection, to allow delegates of the

International Committee of the Red Cross to visit Syrian prisoners of conscience and

detainees in Israeli prisons accompanied by specialized physicians to assess the state of

their physical and mental health and to protect their lives;

7. Determines that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken

or to be taken by Israel, the occupying Power, including the Knesset’s decision of 22

November 2010 to hold a referendum before any withdrawal from the occupied Syrian

Golan and East Jerusalem, that seek to alter the character and legal status of the occupied

Syrian Golan are null and void, constitute a flagrant violation of international law and of

the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12

August 1949, and have no legal effect;

8. Again calls upon States Members of the United Nations not to recognize any

of the above-mentioned legislative or administrative measures;

9. Expresses grave concern about the Israeli practices in the occupied Syrian

Golan described in the report of the Secretary-General submitted to the Human Rights

Council at its fortieth session,2 highlighting the arbitrary arrests of Syrians, the lack of due

process guarantees afforded to Syrians and the unlawful mine-laying practices of the Israeli

occupation forces in the occupied Syrian Golan, expresses regret at the non-cooperation of

Israel with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and

deplores the Israeli settlement expansion plans in the occupied Syrian Golan and Israeli

practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the

occupied territories mentioned in the report;

10. Requests the Secretary-General to bring the present resolution to the attention

of all Governments, the competent United Nations organs, specialized agencies,

international and regional intergovernmental organizations and international humanitarian

organizations, to disseminate it as widely as possible and to report on this matter to the

Human Rights Council at its forty-third session;

11. Decides to continue the consideration of the human rights violations in the

occupied Syrian Golan at its forty-third session.

53rd meeting

22 March 2019

[Adopted by a recorded vote of 26 to 16, with 5 abstentions. The voting was as follows:

In favour:

Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Burkina

Faso, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iraq, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria,

Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa,

Tunisia, Uruguay

Against:

Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Hungary,

Iceland, Italy, Japan, Slovakia, Spain, Togo, Ukraine, United Kingdom of

Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Abstaining:

Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Fiji, Rwanda, Somalia]

2 A/HRC/40/41.