400
Amnesty International Report 2017/18
5. Viet Nam: Hundreds of peaceful marchers attacked by police (
ASA
41/5728/2017
)
YEMEN
Republic
of Yemen
Head of state: Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi
Head of government: Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr
All parties to the continuing armed conflict
committed war crimes and other serious
violations of international law, with
inadequate accountability measures in
place to ensure justice and reparation to
victims. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition
supporting the internationally recognized
Yemeni government continued to bomb
civilian infrastructure and carried out
indiscriminate attacks, killing and injuring
civilians. The Huthi-Saleh forces
indiscriminately shelled civilian residential
areas in Ta’iz city and fired artillery
indiscriminately across the border into
Saudi Arabia, killing and injuring civilians.
The Yemeni government, Huthi-Saleh forces
and Yemeni forces aligned to the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) engaged in illegal
detention practices including enforced
disappearance and torture and other ill-
treatment. Women and girls continued to
face entrenched discrimination and other
abuses, including forced and early marriage
and domestic violence. The death penalty
remained in force; no information was
publicly available on death sentences or
executions.
BACKGROUND
Yemen’s territorial divisions and controls
became deeply entrenched as the armed
conflict continued between the internationally
recognized government of President Hadi,
supported by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition,
and the Huthis and allied forces, which
included army units loyal to former President
Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Huthi-Saleh
authorities continued to control large parts of
the country including the capital, Sana’a,
while President Hadi’s government officially
controlled southern parts of Yemen including
the governorates of Lahj and Aden. On 4
December, Ali Abdullah Saleh was killed by
Huthi forces consolidating their control over
Sana’a.
Meanwhile, rival armed factions proliferated
and vied to assert control against a
background of economic collapse and
widespread lawlessness, in the absence of
functioning state institutions.
The authority of President Hadi, weak or
absent in large swathes of the country,
continued to wane and faced challenges from
multiple actors and entities. Through its
Supreme Political Council, the Huthi-Saleh
alliance undertook, in the areas under their
control, responsibilities and functions of the
state. This included the formation of a
government, the appointment of governors
and the issuing of governmental decrees.
In May, former Governor of Aden Aidarous
al-Zubaydi, and Hani bin Brik, a former
Minister of State, formed a 26-member
Southern Transition Council. The Council,
which expressed the aim of an independent
South Yemen and which enjoyed public
support, held several meetings and
established headquarters in the city of Aden.
The continued conflict led to a political and
security vacuum and the establishment of a
safe haven for armed groups and militias,
assisted by outside states. Some of these
forces were trained, funded and supported
by the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Some local
security forces, including the Hadrami Elite
Forces and Security Belt Forces, were armed
and trained by and reported directly to the
UAE. Such forces were characterized by in-
fighting and competing agendas.
The armed group al-Qa’ida in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) continued to control parts
of southern Yemen and to carry out bomb
attacks in the governorates of Aden, Abyan,
Lahj and al-Bayda. Air strikes and strikes by
remotely piloted vehicles (drones) against
AQAP by US forces increased threefold. US
forces also carried out at least two ground
assault raids. The armed group Islamic State
(IS) continued to operate in parts of the
country, albeit on a small scale.
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401
There was no progress in political
negotiations nor any cessations of hostilities
during the year. As military operations and
fighting continued in and around the port
cities of Mokha and Hodeidah, all parties to
the conflict refused to engage with the UN-
led process at different times depending on
military gains on the ground.
ARMED CONFLICT
According to the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, 5,144
civilians, including more than 1,184 children,
had been killed and more than 8,749
civilians wounded since the conflict began in
March 2015 until August 2017. The UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) reported that more than two
thirds of the population were in need of
humanitarian assistance and at least 2.9
million people had fled their homes. The
WHO reported that more than 500,000
people were suspected of having cholera due
to lack of clean water and access to health
facilities. Nearly 2,000 people had died of
cholera since the outbreak began in 2016.
The ongoing conflict was a major factor in the
prevalence of cholera in Yemen.
VIOLATIONS BY HUTHI-SALEH FORCES AND PRO-
GOVERNMENT MILITIAS
Huthi and allied forces, including army units
loyal to former President Saleh, continued to
employ tactics that appeared to violate the
prohibition of indiscriminate attacks. They
indiscriminately fired explosive munitions
with wide-area effects, including mortars and
artillery shells, into residential areas
controlled or contested by opposing forces,
killing and injuring civilians. The city of Ta’iz
was particularly affected, with such attacks
intensifying at particular times including in
January and May. The UN reported that a
series of attacks from 21 May to 6 June
between Huthi and anti-Huthi forces killed at
least 26 civilians and injured at least 61.The
Huthis and their allies also continued to lay
internationally banned anti-personnel
landmines that caused civilian casualties. On
15 September, the UN reported a further
series of apparently indiscriminate attacks
launched by Huthi-Saleh forces in Ta’iz,
including shelling on a house in the Shab al-
Dhuba district and al-Sameel Market, killing
three children and injuring seven others.
The Huthis and allied forces, as well as pro-
government forces, continued to recruit and
deploy child soldiers.
VIOLATIONS BY THE SAUDI ARABIA-LED COALITION
The UN reported that the Saudi Arabia-led
coalition supporting President Hadi’s
government continued to be the leading
cause of civilian casualties in the conflict.
The coalition continued to commit serious
violations of international human rights law
and humanitarian law with impunity.
Coalition aircraft carried out bomb attacks
on areas controlled or contested by Huthi
forces and their allies, particularly in the
Sana’a, Ta’iz, Hajjah, Hodeidah and Sa’da
governorates, killing and injuring thousands
of civilians. Many coalition attacks were
directed at military targets, but others were
indiscriminate, disproportionate or directed
against civilians and civilian objects,
including funeral gatherings, schools,
markets, residential areas and civilian boats.
In March, a helicopter attacked a boat
carrying 146 Somali migrants and refugees
off the coast of the port city of Hodeidah,
killing 42 civilians and injuring 34 others.
Another attack in August on a residential
neighbourhood in southern Sana’a killed 16
civilians and injured 17 others, the majority of
whom were children.
Coalition forces used imprecise munitions in
some attacks, including large bombs with a
wide impact radius that caused casualties
and destruction beyond their immediate
strike location. They also continued to use
cluster munitions in attacks in Sa’da
governorate, despite such munitions being
widely prohibited internationally because of
their inherently indiscriminate nature. Cluster
munitions scattered explosive bomblets over
wide areas and presented a continuing risk
because of their frequent failure to detonate
on initial impact. In February, the coalition
fired Brazilian-manufactured rockets
containing banned cluster munitions on
residential areas and farmland in Sa’da city,