On 6 July 2018 the UN Human Rights Council passed Resolution 38/16 on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic. The resolution “Demands…that the Syrian authorities meet their responsibility to protect the Syrian population.” The resolution also “​strongly condemns violence against all persons based on their religious or ethnic affiliation, demands that all parties take all appropriate steps to protect civilians, including members of ethnic, religious and confessional communities, and stresses that, in this regard, the primary responsibility to protect the Syrian population lies with the Syrian authorities.”