A/HRC/45/6 (A/HRC/42/17). Additional limitations arose from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and related restrictions, which impeded the access of victims and witnesses to safe spaces for interviews with investigators. The Group of Eminent Experts and its Beirutbased secretariat were compelled to curtail field missions and substantially alter their working methods. As a result, the Group had to narrow the breadth of matters investigated. Moreover, the 4 August explosion in Beirut caused minor injuries to some personnel, and dislocation to others, delaying the work of the secretariat. 8. The Group of Eminent Experts remains concerned about the climate of fear in Yemen, which deters victims, witnesses and organizations from engaging with investigators and sharing information. In the case of specific violations, such as gender-based violence and child recruitment, the difficulties are compounded for survivors by societal stigmatization, risk of marginalization or reprisals from family and the wider community. 9. The Group of Eminent Experts once again expresses its deepest gratitude to those who shared their experiences and for the assistance provided by government and nongovernmental entities and by United Nations agencies and partners. III. Legal framework 10. In its investigations, the Group of Eminent Experts has applied international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. 11. The Government of Yemen has ratified seven of the nine core international human rights treaties and has obligations with respect to the whole of the territory of Yemen. 5 Where de facto authorities are in control of territory and exercising government-like functions, they are also bound by international human rights norms. Other States operating in Yemen must abide by their extraterritorial human rights obligations. While international human rights law applies at all times, during armed conflict its application may be affected by international humanitarian law as the lex specialis. 12. Yemen continues to experience a non-international armed conflict between the Government of Yemen and the Houthis, to which article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), and relevant customary international humanitarian law apply. All parties to the conflict, including members of the coalition, are bound by these norms, in addition to obligations under other treaties they have ratified. The legal framework governing non-international armed conflict applies equally to other such conflicts occurring in Yemen, between the Government of Yemen and other non-State armed groups and among different armed groups. 13. Although the Group of Eminent Experts is not a criminal adjudicative body, international criminal law has been taken into account for the purpose of considering whether violations amounting to international crimes may have been committed in Yemen, given the Group’s mandate regarding accountability. 5 transitional council, the coalition and the United Arab Emirates submitted observations on the previous report. Yemen has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Racial Discrimination, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has ratified additional instruments, including the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. 3