A/HRC/45/CRP.7 18. In February 2020, the Group of Experts circulated public calls for written submissions from non-governmental and other organizations and individuals interested in bringing information to the attention of the Group. The Group is grateful to all of the victims and witnesses who entrusted their information to the Group, as well as the organizations and individuals that provided information in response to its calls for submissions. 19. Significant constraints limited the Group’s ability to gather information during this reporting period. The Group regretted that for a second consecutive year, it was not able to access Yemen and other coalition countries, despite having sent requests for permission in January and February. The Group sought to mitigate the effects of this limitation through conducting interviews remotely, using secure channels of communication and taking additional precautions to ensure the reliability of sources and the safety of the interviewees. Further limitations arose due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. In Yemen, this environment precluded victims and witnesses being able to move freely, in particular impeding their access to safe spaces to engage in interviews with investigators. The Group of Experts and its supporting Secretariat in Beirut were compelled to curtail further field missions (having had the opportunity in December 2019 and between January and March 2020 to conduct three missions), and substantially alter their working methods. As a result, the Group was forced to narrow the scope of its investigations in terms of the breadth of subject matter covered. The Group continues to be concerned about the climate of fear in Yemen that prevents many witnesses, victims and organisations from engaging and sharing information with the Group of Experts. In the case of specific violations, the difficulties are compounded by additional factors, e.g. societal stigma, risk of marginalisation or reprisals from family members and the wider community in the case of survivors of gender-based violence and children recruited into armed groups. Moreover, the explosion that occurred on 4 August in Beirut caused minor injuries to some personnel, dislocation and property damage to others, and ultimately further delayed and interrupted the work of the Secretariat. 20. Despite the above constraints, the Group of Experts was able to gather sufficient information to make findings in keeping with the standard of proof and methodological requirements. The Group stresses that the findings in this report account only for a fraction of the violations and abuses taking place in Yemen. The Group reiterates once more that its findings, supplementing those made in its two previous reports (A/HRC/39/43 and A/HRC/42/17), necessitate further investigatons to provide a more comprehensive picture of the situation in Yemen. D. Cooperation with the Group of Eminent Experts 21. The Group of Experts remains grateful for the assistance and support it has received from government and non-governmental entities, United Nations agencies and partners working on Yemen, as well as the cooperation provided by individual officials and institutions within Yemen. 22. However, the Group regrets the lack of cooperation from parties to the conflict. As noted above, the Group’s requests to visit Yemen and some members of the coalition were unanswered. Following its previous practice, in June 2020, the Group addressed specific queries to the Government of Yemen, the de facto authorities,4 the Southern Transitional Council (STC), Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the Sudan. As of the time of the preparation of this report, no answers had been received. The Group was, however, able to review the comments and responses taking issue with some of the findings of the Group that were sent by the Government of Yemen through its 35th Brigade, the United The term “de facto authorities” is used to refer to the authorities based in Sana’a, where Ansar Allah as a political movement is the main actor, supported by an armed group referred to as the “Houthis.” The Group uses “STC” to refer to the Southern Transitional Council operating in Aden and southern Governorates, notwithstanding that during part of the reporting period, the STC acted as a de facto authority. 4 9