A/HRC/24/34 I. Introduction 1. The present report is the fourth periodic report on the human rights situation in Yemen submitted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) pursuant to Human Rights Council resolutions 18/19, 19/29 and 21/22. It provides an updated assessment of the overall human rights situation in Yemen, from 1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013, particularly against the backdrop of the recommendations contained in previous High Commissioner’s reports and Council resolutions 18/19, 19/29 and 21/22. The information contained in this report is based primarily on human rights monitoring carried out by the OHCHR office in Yemen (OHCHR-Yemen). II. Background A. International legal framework 2. Yemen is party to eight of the nine core international human rights treaties, as well as to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. On 11 June 2013, the Cabinet approved the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and endorsed the accession of Yemen to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Yemen is also party to all four Geneva Conventions, as well as to Additional Protocols I and II, and the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, and is also bound by the customary rules of international humanitarian law. 3. As a State party to the above-mentioned treaties, Yemen is legally bound to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of those within its jurisdiction. In reviewing the implementation by Yemen of its treaty obligations, the relevant human rights treaty bodies have noted that violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights persist on a considerable scale. B. Political developments 4. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative and the Agreement on the implementation mechanism for the transition period (“Transition Agreement”), signed on 23 November 2011, put an end to the 2011 protests and brokered a political settlement in Yemen. The Transition Agreement envisaged a transition period until 2014 divided into two phases: the first phase included an early presidential election, which took place on 21 February 2012 and saw the election of President Abd Rabu Mansur Hadi; the second phase, covering the remaining period until 2014, includes a broad national dialogue, consideration of changes to the Yemeni Constitution, a constitutional referendum, the reform of political and electoral laws, parliamentary and local council elections, and presidential elections, if required. The Transition Agreement affirmed that, once inaugurated, the President and the Government of National Unity would convene the National Dialogue Conference (NDC).1 On 18 March 2013, NDC began, after several postponements. It was originally scheduled to start in mid-November 2012, but was delayed mainly due to the refusal of factions within Al Hirak al-Janoubi (Al Hirak), the Southern Movement, to attend. NDC is a critical 1 Paragraph 20 of the GCC Implementation Agreement, 23 November 2011. 3