Amnesty International Report 2017/18

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, 

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