A/HRC/42/CRP.1
obligation to ensure respect for the rights recognized in the ICCPR also in parts of its
territory that are beyond its effective control, within the limits of its effective power. 60
Indeed, a State’s obligation to protect individuals under its jurisdiction extends to the
threats to the enjoyment of human rights posed by non-State armed groups, including de
facto authorities.61 However, in view of practical constraints, the human rights obligations
of the Government of Yemen in areas currently beyond its control are considered to exist to
the extent possible, i.e. they will depend on the level of control that remains to the State
over these areas. At a minimum, they imply a negative obligation not to impede the
enjoyment of such human rights. The extent of this obligation has been acknowledged by
the Government of Yemen in a memo addressed to the Group of Experts in August 2018, in
which it confirms Yemen’s full commitment to international humanitarian law and
international human rights law, and that it would not tolerate any violation committed
against its citizens within the entirety of the Yemeni territory, whether committed in areas
under its control or under the control of the Houthis. 62
82.
International human rights law also binds Ansar Allah, as the de facto authority
exercising government-like functions and territorial control over certain areas of Yemen. 63
This is the case notwithstanding the continuing human rights obligations of the Government
of Yemen in the entirety of its territory, as mentioned above. It is now widely recognized,
including by various United Nations organs and bodies64, as well as scholars65, that nonState armed entities have human rights obligations, in particular when they exercise
territorial control over certain areas. Such obligations can also be seen as stemming from
the fact that such non-State entities are subject to the law of the State in which they operate
remaining applicable in the territory under their de facto control.66 In its response to the
Group of Experts’ list of issues addressed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sana’a in
January 2019, the latter explicitly refers to the applicability of human rights treaties ratified
by the Government of Yemen.
files/docman-files/InBrief7_web.pdf), p. 15; S. Casey-Maslen, G. Giacca, Dr. A. Bellal,
“International law and armed non-State actors in Afghanistan”, International Review of the Red
Cross, 31 March 2011 (https://www.icrc.org/en/international-review/article/international-law-andarmed-non-state-actors-afghanistan), p.67.
60 Concluding Observations of the Human Rights Committee on the Republic of Moldova, 4
November 2009, para. 5 (CCPR/C/MDA/CO/2).
61 Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, “Human Rights
Obligations of Armed Non-State Actors: An Exploration of the Practice of the UN Human Rights
Council,” Academy In-Brief No. 7, December 2016 (https://www.geneva-academy.ch/joomlatoolsfiles/docman-files/InBrief7_web.pdf), p. 15.
62 See joint memo dated 8 August 2018 addressed to the Group of Experts by the Government of
Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
63 A/HRC/39/43, para. 14.
64 With regard to the human rights obligations of de facto non-State authorities and related practice of
the United Nations organs and bodies, see Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and
Human Rights, “Human Rights Obligations of Armed Non-State Actors: An Exploration of the
Practice of the UN Human Rights Council”, Academy In-Brief No. 7, December 2016
(https://www.geneva-academy.ch/joomlatools-files/docman-files/InBrief7_web.pdf), p. 26-27.
65 See Andrew Clapham, “Human Rights Obligations of non-State actors”, 2006; Daragh Murray,
“Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Armed Groups”, Hart Publishing, May 2016 (see
https://www.ejiltalk.org/book-discussion-introducing-daragh-murrays-human-rights-obligations-ofnon-state-armed-groups-2/); Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights,
“Human Rights Obligations of Armed Non-State Actors: An Exploration of the Practice of the UN
Human Rights Council”, Academy In-Brief No. 7, December 2016 (https://www.genevaacademy.ch/joomlatools-files/docman-files/InBrief7_web.pdf), p. 18-21; S. Casey-Maslen, G. Giacca,
Dr. A. Bellal, “International law and armed non-State actors in Afghanistan”, International Review of
the Red Cross, 31 March 2011 (https://www.icrc.org/en/international-review/article/international-lawand-armed-non-state-actors-afghanistan), p. 23, with references to Nigel Rodley, ‘Can armed
opposition groups violate human rights?’, in Kathleen E. Mahoney and Paul Mahoney (eds), “Human
Rights in the Twenty-first Century”, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1993, p. 300; and Liesbeth
Zegveld, The Accountability of Armed Opposition Groups in International Law, Cambridge Studies
in International and Comparative Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, p. 149.
66 Francoise Bouchet-Saulnier, MSF, “The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law, under ‘Non-State
Armed Groups’” (https://guide-humanitarian-law.org/content/article/3/non-state-armed-groups/).
21
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