A/HRC/30/31 B. Humanitarian situation 16. The humanitarian situation began to deteriorate following the Houthi takeover of the capital and other cities, beginning in September 2014. The armed conflict began to escalate on 26 March 2015, when the coalition forces commenced its aerial strikes and imposed a naval blockade on the main seaports in Yemen. This dramatically worsened an already dire humanitarian situation, particularly in the worst affected areas, such as Sa’ada, Hajjah, Taizz, Al-Dhale’e, Aden and Lahj. As at June 2015, the humanitarian country team estimated that 20.4 million people required humanitarian assistance in Yemen, in particular water, protection, food and health care.6 17. Yemen essentially depends on commercial food and fuel imports to meet the basic needs of the population. More than 90 per cent of food is imported. At the end of the period under review, approximately 12.3 million people – about half the country’s population – suffered to some degree from food insecurity. Furthermore, as much as 80 per cent of the population relies on some form of assistance to maintain access to safe drinking water and sanitation.7 Severe import restrictions, caused mainly by the naval blockade imposed by the coalition forces during the conflict, have also aggravated the humanitarian situation, resulting in fuel scarcity, which adversely affects the distribution of food and water, as well as the functionality of hospitals. 18. Given that all domestic fuel refineries were forced to stop operating by to the security situation, the country was heavily dependent on imported fuel.8 In April and May 2015, fuel imports were equivalent to only 1 per cent and 18 per cent respectively of the total estimated fuel needs. 19. The humanitarian country team estimated that, as at June 2015, some 15.1 million people required assistance to obtain basic health care. Some 1.5 million women and children were in need of nutrition supplies, and 2.9 million children required emergency access to education. About 1.2 million people (1 million internally displaced persons and 200,000 vulnerable host communities) required support for access to emergency shelter and essential goods. Moreover, the humanitarian country team reported more 7,000 cases of dengue fever since March 2015.9 C. International legal framework 20. Yemen is a party to seven of the nine core international human rights treaties and to the two Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite approval by the Cabinet, the Parliament has yet to approve the ratification of a number of human rights instruments, namely, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. 6 7 8 9 6 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, 19 June 2015. Ibid. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Reliefweb, “Yemen: Reduced Imports Worsen Crisis”, 23 June 2015. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan, 19 June 2015.