Australia thanks the Commission for its report and extends our deepest condolences to all those affected by the devastating earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria.

The report offers a painful reminder of Syria’s worsening humanitarian situation.

The protracted conflict in Syria continues to cause unspeakable suffering.

We condemn the indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure by the Assad regime. Reports of the use of cluster munitions on densely populated camps, unguided rockets on the city of Bab, and shelling of villages including Kafr Ammah and Kafr Latah are utterly reprehensible. 

Moreover, the severely disproportionate impact the conflict is having on women and girls cannot be ignored. We are horrified by accounts of sexual and gender-based violence, including rapes in Syrian Government-controlled detention facilities and sexual violence committed by armed groups.

This pattern of violations of international humanitarian law, and violations and abuses of international human rights law, has gone on for far too long. The perpetrators of these violations must be brought to account. 

Given the scale of violations committed, how does the international community ensure safe and effective judicial avenues for victims of sexual and gender-based violence?