A/HRC/42/17 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 36/31, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish a group of eminent international and regional experts to monitor and report on the situation of human rights in Yemen. The Council mandated the Group to conduct a comprehensive examination of all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights and other appropriate and applicable fields of international law committed by all parties to the conflict since September 2014, to establish the facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged violations and abuses and, where possible, to identify those responsible. 2. In December 2017, the High Commissioner appointed Kamel Jendoubi (Tunisia) (Chair), Charles Garraway (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and Melissa Parke (Australia) as the experts. Following the submission by the Group of Experts of its report to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-ninth session (A/HRC/39/43), the Council, in its resolution 39/16, extended the mandate of the Group for a further year, and requested it to submit a comprehensive report to the High Commissioner for presentation to the Council at its forty-second session. II. Methodology 3. In the present report, the Group of Experts addresses incidents and patterns in Yemen since September 2014, including certain emblematic situations that arose between September 2014 and June 2018 not covered by the Group in its first report, and incidents and patterns occurring between July 2018 and June 2019 as part of the ongoing conflict. In accordance with its mandate, the Group identifies, where possible, those responsible. Owing to the restrictions placed on its access and the limited time and resources available to it, the Group continued to prioritize incidents on the basis of the gravity of allegations. The findings presented do not reflect actual numbers of violations likely to have been committed, but represent only a small sample of the violations committed since September 2014.1 4. In January 2019, the Group addressed its requests for submissions to the Government of Yemen, the de facto authorities2 and the coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates supporting the Government of Yemen.3 In February 2019, the Group of Experts issued an online call for submissions by 1 June 2019. The Group addressed further written requests for specific information to the coalition on 25 March, to the Government of Yemen on 29 March, to the de facto authorities on 10 April, and to all of them on 1 July. As at 24 July, only the de facto authorities had responded. The Group also considered responses from the coalition and the Government of Yemen received in 2018, and letters received from the Governments of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates addressed to the Human Rights Council and senior United Nations officials detailing their positions on the findings of the Group of Experts outlined in its report (A/HRC/39/43). 5. Consistent with established evidentiary standards of United Nations fact-finding bodies, the Group of Experts adopted the “reasonable grounds to believe” standard of proof. It undertook fact-finding practices aimed at ensuring the safety and security of witnesses and victims. 1 2 3 2 A conference room paper containing the detailed findings of the Group of Experts (A/HRC/42/CRP.1) will be made available on its webpage at www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/YemenGEE/Pages/Index.aspx. Following its previous practice, in the present report the Group of Expert uses the term “de facto authorities” to refer to the authorities based in Sana’a, where Ansar Allah as a political movement is the main actor (supported by former President Saleh until his killing in December 2017). The de facto authorities are supported by an armed group, referred to as the “Houthis”, which includes affiliated Popular Committees. Prior to the death of President Saleh, these armed groups were referred to as “Houthi-Saleh” fighters. At the time of its formation, in March 2015, the coalition included Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, the Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. Qatar left the coalition in June 2017; Morocco reportedly left in February 2019.