A/HRC/42/CRP.1 49. Non-State armed groups are bound by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and – provided that the necessary requirements as to level of organization and exercise of territorial control are reached11 – also by Additional Protocol II. The status of party to the conflict applies without distinction to States and non-State actors involved in the conflict, despite the fact that non-State armed groups are by nature not in a position to ratify IHL treaties.12 In its response to the list of issues that the Group of Experts sent out in 2019, the de facto authorities stated that their forces respect their international obligations to protect civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The de facto authorities also stated that it considered itself bound by the 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, to which Yemen is a party. 13 Customary international humanitarian law is also particularly relevant to both State and non-State parties in non-international armed conflicts. The customary rules are the product of State practice, accompanied by a view that the practice is required (opinion juris sive necessitates) or specifically permitted. The ICRC Customary Law Study14 may represent a useful starting point in determining the customary status of any rule. Indeed, as outlined in the Customary Law Study, it is generally accepted that, under customary international humanitarian law, most of the rules applicable to international armed conflicts also apply to non-international armed conflicts.15 50. The involvement of the international coalition in March 2015, pursuant to a request by the Government of Yemen and in support of the latter, does not change the noninternational character of the conflict. Given that the international coalition is supporting Yemen as a State Party, involved in a conflict with a non-State armed group, there is no conflict between two State parties, an essential condition for a conflict to be considered as international. The member States of the coalition supporting the Government of Yemen became parties as “co-belligerents” to the pre-existing non-international armed conflict between Yemen and the Houthis, from the time of the coalition intervention in March 2015. The members of the coalition are bound to respect all applicable international humanitarian law, including Common Article 3 to the Four Geneva Conventions and the second Additional Protocol of 1977, as well as customary law. 51. All members of the coalition have ratified the four Geneva Conventions and both Additional Protocols of 1977. However, the majority of the current coalition members (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates) have not ratified the AntiPersonnel Mine Ban Convention. Except for Senegal, none is a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. With regard to the Convention Prohibiting Certain Conventional Weapons, the situation is more complex. All members of the coalition, except for Egypt and the Sudan, are parties to the Convention and two or more of its Protocols. Jordan, Kuwait and Senegal have ratified Amended Protocol II on the prohibition or restrictions on the use of mines, booby-traps and other devices, but the other coalition members are not party to that Protocol or to its original version. However, the majority of those coalition States that are State parties to the Convention are parties to Protocol I on non-detectable fragments (except for Bahrain and Senegal) and to Protocol V on explosive remnants of war (except for Jordan). 52. Several other non-international armed conflicts of different levels of intensity are also ongoing in Yemen between the Yemeni armed forces and non-State armed groups, such as Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (hereinafter “AQAP”) and the so called “Islamic State”, as well as between different non-State armed groups, sometimes in support of or in opposition to a specific party to the main conflict between the Yemeni armed forces and the Houthis. All groups are bound by relevant provisions of international humanitarian law 11 See Art. 1(1), Additional Protocol II. See e.g. Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, “The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law”, MSF, December 2013, on Non-State Armed Groups, p. 438 ff. 13 31 May 2019 letter from the de facto authorities, response to question no. 15. 14 Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck, “Customary International Humanitarian Law,” ICRC/Cambridge, 2005 (hereinafter “ICRC Study on customary IHL”). 15 Where footnotes refer to the ICRC Study on customary IHL, they should also be taken as referring to the various legal authorities cited in the commentary to the individual rules. 12 13