Human Rights in the Occupied Syrian Golan – HRC 55th session – Secretary-General Report – Advance edited version (A/HRC/55/71)

14 March 2024

Human Rights Council

Fifty-fifth session

26 February–5 April 2024

Agenda items 2 and 7

Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories

                Human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan

                   Report of the Secretary-General*

I. Introduction

1.The present report is submitted pursuant to the Human Rights Council resolution 52/33, in which the Council called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to comply with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council on the occupied Syrian Golan, in particular Security Council resolution 497 (1981), in which the Security Council decided, inter alia, that the Israeli decision 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 its decision forthwith.

2.In its resolution 52/33, the Human Rights Council also called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to cease changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan and demanded that it immediately cease all settlement-related plans and activities in the occupied Syrian Golan. The Council also emphasized 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 and requested the Secretary-General to report to the Council on the matter at its fifty-fifth session.

II. Implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 52/33

3. On 23 November 2023, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), on behalf of the Secretary-General, addressed a note verbale to the Government of Israel referring to Human Rights Council resolution 52/33 and requesting information on steps taken or envisaged concerning its implementation. At the time of finalizing the report, no reply had been received.

4. Also on 23 November 2023, on behalf of the Secretary-General, OHCHR addressed a note verbale to all permanent missions in Geneva to draw their attention to Human Rights Council resolution 52/33 and requested that they provide information on any steps taken or envisaged concerning the implementation of the relevant provisions of the resolution. The Permanent Missions of Cuba, Guyana, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Mexico and the Syrian Arab Republic responded to the request.

5. On the same day, on behalf of the Secretary-General and pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 52/33, OHCHR addressed a note verbale to the competent United Nations organs, specialized agencies, international and regional intergovernmental organizations and international humanitarian organizations on measures taken or envisaged to be taken concerning the implementation of the resolution. At the time of finalizing the report, no responses had been received.

III.    Replies received

A. Syrian Arab Republic

6. On 14 December 2023, the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva responded with a note verbale to OHCHR, stressing that Israel had systematically engaged in practices that violated the human rights of the Syrian population in the occupied Syrian Golan since 1967. It highlighted that those actions constituted continuous violations of resolutions of the of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council in relation to the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan, including Security Council resolutions 237 (1967), 242 (1967) and 497 (1981), and all relevant Human Rights Council resolutions adopted since 2006. In addition, the Syrian Arab Republic noted that the actions of Israel constituted a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention) and the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts.

7. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that, despite repeated United Nations resolutions calling on the occupying Power to end the continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and to stop the daily repressive practices against Syrian citizens under occupation, in line with international law, Israel continued to act above international law, benefiting from the protection of some members of the Security Council, including the United States of America.

8. The Syrian Arab Republic highlighted its condemnation of the illegal declaration by the former President of the United States, in which he recognized what he called the “sovereignty of Israel” over the occupied Syrian Arab Golan. The Syrian Arab Republic stated that that illegal declaration constituted a flagrant violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant resolutions of the Organization, foremost of which is Security Council resolution 497 (1981), which was unanimously adopted by the Council. The Syrian Arab Republic considered the declaration to be null and void and with no international legal effect. The Syrian Arab Republic also condemned the fact that the current United States administration has not revoked the decision. The Syrian Arab Republic further recalled the condemnation of 26 March 2019 by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation of the recognition by the former President of the United States of the “sovereignty of Israel” over the occupied Syrian Golan and called upon the international community and the Security Council to assume their responsibilities in that regard.

9. The Syrian Arab Republic further noted that, following the illegal declaration by the former United States administration in the outcome document issued at the Baku Summit held in October 2019, States members of the Non-Aligned Movement had renewed their principled position regarding the occupied Syrian Golan and the protection of the rights of its Syrian citizens. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that the Non-Alignment Movement had condemned the recognition by the United States of the annexation by Israel of the occupied Syrian Golan and called on the international community and the Security Council to assume their responsibility in that context as the declaration constituted a violation of international law, the purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and relevant United Nations resolutions, particularly Security Council resolution 497 (1981).

10. The Syrian Arab Republic referred to the note by the Secretary-General on the economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Syrian population in the Occupied Syrian Golan, in which the Secretary-General reaffirmed the validity of Security Council resolution 497 (1981).[1] In that note the Secretary-General also confirmed previous conclusions that the long-term Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan continued to have a detrimental effect on the living conditions of the Palestinian people and the Syrian population, as well as on social and economic development in the occupied territories. It was also noted that the negative impact of the occupation and Israeli policies and practices was multilayered and that their cumulative repercussions affected the future of the populations living under occupation.

11. The Syrian Arab Republic highlighted the existence of restrictive building and zoning policies, which created a strain on the existing infrastructure and resulted in overcrowding. The Syrian Arab Republic also took note of discriminatory land registration practices, including a new requirement for specific documentation to prove land ownership. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed that serious concerns had emerged over a new wind turbine project that would be implemented by an Israeli energy company on agricultural lands in three Syrian villages. In particular, the Syrian Arab Republic highlighted the following points:

(a)          The so-called Regional Council of Israeli Settlements continued to announce, in its weekly bulletin, the expansion of settlements in the light of the increase in the number of Israeli settlers. As has been the case with the settlements of Trump Heights and Metzar, the pace of the construction of temporary homes or caravans has accelerated, with plans to create longer term residences. This was also seen in the case of the settlements of Odem and Ani’am. Work continued on the construction of so-called service facilities for the settlements in Katzrin, Kidmat Tzvi, Nov, Kanaf, Neve Ativ and Yonatan;

(b)          The continued implementation of a multi-year plan to develop and strengthen agriculture in the Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan had begun, encouraging Israeli youth to join the agricultural sector;

(c)          In April 2019, the Israeli occupation authorities announced plans to expand settlements, which included the construction of 30,000 housing units, the construction of new settlements and the transfer of 250,000 settlers to the occupied Syrian Golan, which would change the demographic composition of the area;

(d)          Israel has supported the seizure of land by Israeli settlers and the exploitation of land by the settlements for the purpose of producing various agricultural products, which constituted an unbearable economic burden on the Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan, noting that unfair competition owing to discriminatory policies threatened the future livelihood of the Syrian population, which depended on agriculture;

(e)          Israel continued to impose restrictions on the Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan, preventing the building and expansion of villages, especially in the village of Majdal Shams; the overcrowding in the area was further exacerbated after the confiscation of more than 80,000 dunums, extending from north of Majdal Shams to Ayn Qinya, reportedly for the Hermon Protectorate project, and the refusal to expand the structural map of the village of Majdal Shams, which is experiencing a crisis in terms of urban expansion;

(f)          On 11 October 2021, in the context of seeking to expand settlement projects in the occupied Syrian Golan, a conference on the theme of strategic economic regional Israeli development in the occupied Syrian Golan was convened at the settlement established in what was previously Khasfeen village; according to the Syrian Arab Republic, one of the objectives of the conference was the expansion of settlement projects in the occupied Syrian Golan, with the aim of reaching half a million settlers by 2048.

12. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that, in its concluding observations on the fourth periodic review of Israel, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had expressed concern about the effects of the work of multinational companies for oil and gas extraction and renewable energy projects in the occupied Syrian Golan.[2] The Syrian Arab Republic stressed the dangerous impact of the project and referred to the following points:

(a)          The Israeli occupation authorities granted an Israeli energy contractor a license to build between 45 and 52 wind turbines to generate power in the occupied Syrian Golan in the context of its policies aimed at land appropriation and the creation of a situation that would prolong the Israeli occupation;

(b)          The wind turbines will be installed to generate energy on an area of 6,000 acres of agricultural land belonging to Syrians from various surrounding villages in the occupied Syrian Golan: large protests by the inhabitants of the Syrian Golan were held to reject the project, which limits the ability of the residents of occupied villages to expand their land holdings and forces residents to live in suffocating and dense residential outposts, causing severe negative health outcomes, including negative impacts on the environment and agriculture. The project will expand over one-fifth of the remaining agricultural lands in the Syrian Golan, to the detriment of the remaining source of livelihood of Syrians living in the occupied Syrian Golan. Israeli authorities are pursuing efforts to establish an additional number of wind turbines, including 42 turbines in the Tall al-Faras region and 30 turbines in the occupied areas of Tall Sahel and Mansurah;

(c)          The Syrian Arab Republic has repeatedly warned against the impact of the wind turbine project, in particular its detrimental impacts on health and the environment, and the fact that it represents a serious violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It also stressed that the insistence of Israeli occupation authorities on pursuing the project reflects its plan to impose a discriminatory colonial policy on the occupied Syrian Golan and its population, in violation of all relevant United Nations resolutions. The Syrian Arab Republic further stated that the negative impacts of the turbine project on health and the environment is meant to cause irreversible damage to the land, with the intention of displacing its population. This represents an illegal de facto annexation of the occupied territory, changing the nature of the territory and imposing irreversible damage to its environment and people, which will also undermine any future possibility for a comprehensive and just peace based on the full withdrawal of Israel from occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and from the occupied Syrian Golan since 1967, in conformity with Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 337 (1973) and 497 (1981).

13. The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirmed that Israeli occupation authorities continued to pressure the residents of the occupied Syrian villages to accept property documents issued by the Israeli Survey Records Office instead of the property documents registered by the Syrian Arab Republic through threats to confiscate their lands. The Syrian Arab Republic also referred to demands by the Israeli authorities for submission of land ownership certificates of the inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan, especially those in Ayn Qinyah and the industrial area in Majdal Shams. The Israeli authorities also reportedly threatened to confiscate those lands if the documents were not submitted.

14. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that Israel had continuously sought to impose Israeli identity and civil documents on the Syrian Arab population as a way to consolidate its occupation. Furthermore, Israel continued to prevent Syrians of the occupied Syrian Golan from visiting and communicating with their families in the Syrian Arab Republic.

15. The Syrian Arab Republic further noted that Israel continued to violate the human rights of Syrians in the occupied Syrian Golan, in particular the rights to health and to work. Those rights have been violated through a set of discriminatory practices and measures taken by Israeli forces. The Syrian Arab Republic recalled examples of those practices.

16. The Syrian Arab Republic drew attention to the report of the Director-General of the International Labour Organization issued in May 2023 on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories,[3] including in the occupied Syrian Golan. In the reports, the continuation of the discriminatory practices of the occupation authorities against Syrian workers in favour of Israeli settlers was emphasized.

17. The Syrian Arab Republic further elaborated that the occupying Power, continued to exploit the health needs of Syrian residents in order to put pressure on them. For example, the occupying Power obliged Syrian citizens to subscribe to the health systems of the occupying Power while obliging them to pay exorbitant health insurance contributions, which are deducted from the salaries of workers and employees. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed that the occupying Power continued to ignore repeated demands to provide Syrian residents in the villages of the occupied Syrian Golan with integrated health centres, including a psychiatric treatment centre in each of the occupied villages, as well as demands related to the construction of a hospital that would accommodate 30 beds and facilities with the capacity to perform minor surgeries. Syrian doctors in the occupied Syrian Golan, 95 per cent of whom had completed their education in Syrian universities, were unable to participate in scientific events and seminars that are held outside the occupied Syrian Golan as a result of restrictions on their movement and travel to the Syrian Arab Republic. Syrian children in the occupied Syrian Golan suffer from the psychological consequences of the ongoing occupation and its discriminatory practices, including those related to the imposition of educational curricula and the severing of social ties with their relatives in the Syrian Arab Republic.

18. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that the World Health Assembly annually adopted a decision calling upon the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide support to the Syrian population in the occupied Syrian Golan through health-related technical assistance. The Syrian Arab Republic indicated that policies implemented by Israel prevented WHO teams from reaching the occupied Syrian Golan to conduct field assessments on the health situation and therefore from fulfilling that aspect of its mandate.

19. The Syrian Arab Republic emphasized that discriminatory practices of the occupying Power had peaked during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Medical supplies diminished in clinics in the occupied villages. Despite the vigorous work of the Syrian medical cadres, the shortage of medical supplies and equipment had exacerbated the suffering of the Syrians and doubled the number of cases of COVID-19. The Syrian Arab Republic indicated that the occupying Power also refrained from providing detailed statistical data on Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan in the context of responding to the pandemic in order to conceal the indicators allowing for an assessment of the response needed.

20. The Syrian Arab Republic renewed its rejection of attempts to perpetuate the occupation of the Syrian Golan by Israel and its continued violation of international law, especially the relevant Security Council resolutions and the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, in the occupied Syrian Golan. The Syrian Arab Republic further rejected any form of support provided by other Member States for this approach, which would be in violation of their international obligations as States Members of the United Nations.

21. The Syrian Arab Republic reiterated its call upon Member States seeking to promote international law to pressure Israel, the occupying Power, to end its occupation of the Syrian Golan and not to recognize any legal status arising from violations of peremptory norms of international law by Israel. Furthermore, the Syrian Arab Republic called upon Member States to refrain from providing any assistance to the occupation.

22. The Syrian Arab Republic reiterated its call upon the Secretary-General and OHCHR to establish and update the report on the database of all business establishments and commercial companies involved in activities that have enabled or would enable, directly or indirectly, and benefit from the construction and growth of settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan, in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions, including resolution 497 (1981), and to submit a follow-up report in that regard.

23. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that agriculture was the pillar of the Israeli settlement project in the occupied Syrian Golan and that Israel had continued to implement the multi-year plan it had approved to develop and support agriculture in the current Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan, encouraging young Israeli settlers to enter into the agricultural sector. That had been done through the provision of subsidies and assistance to the settlers in the fields of agriculture and poultry farming through what is described by the Syrian Arab Republic as racist and discriminatory policies aimed at establishing an agricultural reality that supports Israeli settlers at the expense of the Syrian population, whose main livelihood is agriculture.

24. The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirmed that what it described as the colonial policies and practices of Israel constituted clear violations of the civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights of the Syrian population of the occupied Syrian Golan. The specific rights violated included the right to work, the right to education, the right to adequate housing, the right to own property, the right to freedom of movement, the right to preserve cultural and historical heritage, the right to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health and the right to food. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed that what it described as the racist and discriminatory practices of Israel and the restrictions placed on the Syrian Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan posed a serious threat to their future existence, growth and development.

25. The Syrian Arab Republic called upon the international community to break the silence about the practices and systematic violations of Israel aimed at perpetuating the occupation of the Syrian Golan, including through changing the demographic, geographic, cultural, security and political characteristics of the occupied Syrian Golan.

26. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed, in particular, the need to refrain from providing political and economic support, including through business activities and tourism, which would, in its view, allow Israel to perpetuate its occupation of the occupied Syrian Golan and to continue its violations of the relevant provisions of international law, especially Security Council resolution 497 (1981) and the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, highlighting, in particular, any assistance to the continuation of Israeli settlements or the establishment of new settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan.

27. The Syrian Arab Republic also called upon the international community and international organizations to monitor the flagrant violations by Israel of international law and demanded that effective and concrete measures be taken to stop those violations, especially those related to illegal settlement practices aimed at perpetuating the occupation.

28. The Syrian Arab Republic reiterated its call to allow the inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan to visit their families in their motherland, the Syrian Arab Republic, by opening the Qunaytirah crossing, which is considered to be the sole exit and connection they have with the Syrian Arab Republic, for family visits, the transfer of crops and to allow students to pursue their studies in Syrian universities. The closure of the crossing is a violation of the basic rights of the inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan, and to do otherwise would represent a violation of their fundamental rights.

29. The Syrian Arab Republic affirmed that the occupied Syrian Arab Golan was an inseparable part of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic and that its recovery from the Israeli occupation, by all means guaranteed by international law, was an eternal right that would not be subject to bargaining or concession or a statute of limitation.

30. Finally, the Syrian Arab Republic reiterated that the stability of the Middle East region and the credibility of the United Nations required that measures be taken to ensure the implementation of all international resolutions related to ending the Israeli occupation of the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan, and the withdrawal to the lines of 4 June 1967, in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions, notably 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 497 (1981) and 2334 (2016).

B. Cuba

31. On 12 December 2023, the Permanent Mission of Cuba responded with a note verbale to OHCHR, reiterating its concern about the suffering of the Syrian population of the occupied Syrian Golan as a result of the systematic and continuous violations of human rights by Israel since 1967, while also demanding an end to the occupation.

32. Cuba stated that it considered all actions, measures or legislative or administrative provisions adopted by Israel or which it may take that purport to alter the legal status, physical character and demographic composition of the occupied Syrian Golan and its institutional structure, as well as measures to apply the jurisdiction and administration of Israel in the illegally occupied territory, to be null and void and without legal effect.

33. Cuba rejected the practices and conduct of Israel aimed at controlling and seizing the natural resources of the occupied Syrian Golan, in flagrant violation of General Assembly and Security Council resolutions on the permanent sovereignty of the Syrian population over its natural resources in the occupied Syrian Golan.

34. Cuba emphasized that Israel must cease practices that contravene the full enjoyment of human rights for the Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan, including refraining from the use of repressive measures. Cuba noted that foreign occupation, policies of expansion and aggression, racial discrimination, the creation of settlements, the imposition of faits accomplis and the forcible annexation of foreign territory, such as the Syrian Golan, were practices that violate international instruments and norms and have a negative impact on the human rights of the Syrian population in the occupied Syrian Golan.

35. Cuba stated that Israel must withdraw immediately from all territory of the occupied Syrian Golan to the lines of 4 June 1967, in compliance with Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973), and must renounce its intention to annex the Syrian Golan, which was territory under the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic. Cuba emphasized that the continued illegal occupation by Israel of the Syrian Golan and its de facto annexation constituted an obstacle to the achievement of a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.

36. Cuba condemned the violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel against Syrian detainees in the occupied Syrian Golan and reiterated its concern about the continuation of those practices. It also reiterated its concern over the prevalence of inhumane conditions in Israeli prisons, noting this had led to the deteriorating health of the detainees and in some cases had endangered their lives.

37. Cuba reiterated its strongest condemnation of the declaration of the former United States administration recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the territory of the occupied Syrian Golan, which it considered as constituting a grave violation of the Charter of the United Nations Charter, international law and relevant resolutions adopted by the Security Council, in particular Council resolution 497 (1981). It noted that the recognition was in violation of the legitimate interests of the Syrian people and the Arab and Islamic nations, with serious consequences for stability and security in the Middle East. Cuba urged the Security Council to fulfil its responsibility under the Charter of the United Nations on the maintenance of international peace and security and to take the necessary decisions to stop the actions of the United States that support Israel in its intention to annex the occupied Syrian Golan.

C. Iraq

38. On 6 December 2023, the Permanent Mission of Iraq responded with a note verbale to OHCHR, affirming its position rejecting the principle of forcible expropriation of land and referring to all General Assembly and Security Council resolutions concerning the identity of the occupied Syrian Golan and condemning the illegal occupation of the territory by Israel. In this regard, Iraq stressed the need to respect the aims and purposes of the United Nations, which affirmed respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States, and to implement international resolutions concerning the occupied Syrian Golan.

39. Iraq affirmed its rejection of the expansion of Israeli settlements and other commercial projects of Israel in the occupied Syrian Golan, in addition to rejecting all policies that impact the economic situation of the local population. Iraq further affirmed the right of internally displaced persons to return to their homes and property and noted the illegality of measures taken by Israel with the aim of imposing its laws and jurisdiction over the territories it has occupied, including the occupied Syrian Golan. Iraq categorically rejected the holding of local elections by the Israeli authorities in the occupied Syrian Golan and emphasized the need to comply with the Fourth Geneva Convention in that regard.

40. Iraq expressed concern over United Nations reports documenting the extent of the suffering of the Syrian people of the occupied Syrian Golan and called upon the United Nations to exercise its role in putting an end to such suffering and to the illegal occupation.

D. Islamic Republic of Iran

41. On 14 December 2023, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran responded with a note verbale to OHCHR stressing that the occupied Syrian Golan was an integral part of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic and noting that the continuation of the occupation had resulted in flagrant violations of the human rights of Syrian citizens living in the occupied territory. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted that Israel, despite frequent condemnation by the Human Rights Council, continues to suppress and restrict the Syrian residents of the territory through the construction of illegal settlements, the imposition of its own laws and regulations on the local population and the exploitation of natural resources of the occupied land, which jeopardizes the livelihoods of those living in the territory.

42. The Islamic Republic of Iran set out the following positions and measures with regard to the implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 52/33:

• Condemnation of the policies and practices of Israel in extending its jurisdiction and laws to the occupied Syrian Golan;
• Condemnation of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan and actions forcing the Syrian population to leave their homelands as part of a policy aimed at changing the demographic nature of the territory;
• Support for the right of all displaced persons to return to their homeland in the occupied Syrian Golan;
• Condemnation of Israel for its imposition of Israeli citizenship on the Syrian population of the occupied Syrian Golan;
• Objection to any recognition of the Israeli occupation of the occupied Syrian Golan;
• Condemnation of discrimination against Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan, in particular with regard to housing, working, cultural rights and the right to education;
• Insistence of the need to preserve the civilian nature of the occupied Syrian Golan and the need to ban any military activity by Israel;
• Condemnation of the new settlement plan of Israel, including the construction of wind turbines on the occupied Syrian Golan;
• Demand that the establishment of oil and gas exploration facilities by Israel in the occupied Syrian Golan be stopped.

43. The Islamic Republic of Iran demanded that Israeli air, sea and ground-based military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic from the occupied Syrian Golan be stopped.

44. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted its firm position for the return of the occupied Syrian Golan to the Syrian Arab Republic and invited all States and international organizations to deplore any policy that perpetuated the occupation and the continued human rights violations by Israel, including the rights to self-determination, health, sanitation and safe drinking water, housing, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.

45. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted that Israel continues to oppress the Syrian population living in the occupied Syrian Golan through the construction of illegal Israeli settlements and the imposition of its own laws and regulations on the local population and the misuse of its natural resources. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted that Israel has continued to apply those policies, despite the condemnation of such measures by the international community through countless Security Council resolutions.

E. Guyana

46. On 19 December 2023, the Permanent Mission of Guyana responded with a note verbale to OHCHR from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Guyana, stressing that the occupied Syrian Golan is an integral part of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.

F. Mexico

47. On 14 December 2023, the Permanent Mission of Mexico responded with a note verbale to OHCHR, stressing that the actions of Mexico in the bilateral political sphere are in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, mainly resolution 497 (1981) in relation to the occupied Syrian Golan.

                                *    The present report was submitted to the conference services for processing after the deadline so as to include the most recent information.

                   [1]  A/78/127-E/2023/95.

                   [2]  E/C.12/ISR/CO/4, para. 14.

                   [3]  International Labour Organization, “The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories”, May 2023, available at https://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/111/reports/reports-to-the-conference/WCMS_883198/lang–en/index.htm.