A/HRC/42/17 mines is prohibited by the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the application of which has been acknowledged by the de facto authorities. 3. Military use and destruction of protected objects, including hospitals and cultural sites 47. All parties to the conflict regularly used civilian objects for military activities, including those with special protection, such as hospitals and religious and cultural sites. In many cases, this had the effect of removing the protection to which these objects were entitled, blurring the distinction between civilian objects and military objectives, and often resulted in damage to civilian property and specially protected sites and killed and injured civilians. This further restricted the extremely limited safe spaces for civilians and exacerbated the dire humanitarian situation. 48. For example, hospitals and cultural heritage sites have been damaged and destroyed after they were used for military purposes by an opposing party, including by coalition airstrikes and from shelling by the Houthis and anti-Houthi resistance groups. For instance, in April 2015, Houthi-Saleh fighters used the Aden People’s Obstetrics Hospital as a position for snipers and military vehicles; a coalition airstrike then damaged it extensively. Resistance (anti-Houthi-Saleh) groups shelled the National Museum of Ta’izz while Houthi-Saleh fighters used it for military purposes in early 2015. After the Resistance took control of the museum in August 2015, the Houthis shelled it in February 2016. In Aden, Houthi-Saleh fighters established a military warehouse and secret detention facility in the Military Museum, which they looted. On 16 July 2015, a coalition airstrike destroyed the north-east wing of the museum. 49. In other cases, parties deliberately destroyed hospitals and cultural sites they controlled. For example, in November 2018, the Houthis occupied the 22 May Hospital in Al-Hudaydah, disrupting services, then used the facility as a firing position before setting fire to parts and destroying medical equipment as they departed. As it was done without apparent military necessity, this amounts to a violation of international humanitarian law. In June 2018, the Al-Fazah Sufi Mosque, built in the seventh century, in Al-Hudaydah was destroyed while the area was under the control of the Giants Brigades, an armed group backed by the United Arab Emirates. The Group of Experts found reasonable grounds to believe that elements of the Giants Brigades were responsible for the intentional destruction of this seventh-century historical religious site, for which no military reason was apparent, which amounts to a violation of international humanitarian law. 50. The Group of Experts also found reasonable grounds to believe that the Houthis deliberately destroyed civilian homes in Hajjah, in March 2019, without apparent military necessity, in violation of international humanitarian law. B. Violations related to the humanitarian situation 51. Actions taken by the parties to the conflict in their military operations and with respect to humanitarian access greatly contributed to the deterioration of the humanitarian situation. These actions and, in some cases, the failure to take action, indicate a profound lack of respect by all parties for the rights of the people in Yemen. The acute humanitarian needs, including relating to famine, are not an incidental result of the armed conflict, but can be avoided, or at least mitigated. 1. Attacks against objects indispensable to the survival of the population 52. All parties to the conflict used and conducted attacks against objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Coalition airstrikes notably destroyed or damaged farmland, water facilities, essential port infrastructure and medical facilities. The Houthis planted landmines on farmland and used hospitals for military purposes, which prevented their use or contributed to their destruction. These attacks considerably compound the effects of the humanitarian crisis and, if perpetrated in order to deprive the civilian population of the sustenance value of these objects, would amount to violations of international humanitarian law. 9