A/HRC/39/43 Assessing the Proportionality 23. The effects on the civilian population of the naval restrictions imposed by coalition forces are clear. The harm to civilians can be and has been accurately estimated, particularly as the naval restrictions have continued and evolved over more than three years. The coalition and the Government of Yemen have had sufficient notice of the harm caused and their responsibility for it, and sufficient opportunity to correct the situation. 24. No possible military advantage could justify such sustained and extreme suffering by millions of people. When the coalition was able to assess that the naval restrictions were causing harm to the civilian population that was excessive in relation to the anticipated concrete and direct military advantage of those restrictions, the coalition was required by law to cancel or suspend those restrictions. It has failed to do so. Closure of Sana’a Airport 25. Sana’a International Airport is the most crucial airport linking Yemen to the world. Since 2015, the coalition has implemented measures to restrict access to the airport, including, at times, requiring flights to first land in Saudi Arabia for inspection. 26. On 9 August 2016, the coalition effectively closed the airport by closing the surrounding airspace, thereby causing the cancellation of all commercial flights. The coalition has acknowledged responsibility for the airport closure by publicly indicating that it has the power to reopen the airport to commercial traffic. 14 Post hoc explanations for the closure of the airport relied on enforcement of resolution 2216 (2015) and purportedly ensuring the safety of passengers.15 27. The November 2017 blockade further closed Sana’a airport to all United Nations and humanitarian flights for three weeks. Impact 28. Before the conflict, thousands traveled abroad each year for medical treatment unavailable in Yemen. Due to the conflict, the healthcare available in Yemen has deteriorated, resulting in even more patients in need of traveling abroad. ‘Yemenia’ Airways, the main commercial airline in Yemen, estimates that prior to the airport closure, at least one-third of passengers were travelling abroad to seek medical care. 16 In a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General dated 22 August 2017, the Ministry of Health in Sana’a reported that more than 13,000 people had died from health conditions that could have been treated abroad but for the airport closure. 17 By June 2018, those casualties are surely higher. 29. The airport closure has created significant issues for those in need of immediate medical care, including the chronically ill, who cannot leave the country by alternative routes. For the majority of the population in areas controlled by the de facto authorities, access to airports in Hadramaut and Aden requires long journeys across active frontlines at often prohibitive costs. Travelers must pass through myriad checkpoints operated by the various parties to the conflict, and are often scrutinized and sometimes harassed and detained. In the aftermath of the Al Kubra Hall airstrike in October 2016, officials of Saudi Arabia and the coalition forces acknowledged that adequate health care is not available in Yemen when they directed the transfer of those wounded in the airstrike “whose cases necessitate medical treatment outside Yemen”.18 14 15 16 17 18 32 www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1655689. www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1527487; www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1655689. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/YEMEN% 202017%20HNO_Final.pdf. On file. www.spa.gov.sa/viewstory.php?lang=en&newsid=1547693.