A/HRC/42/CRP.1 humanitarian law.807 This may lead to individual criminal responsibility for the war crime of rape and any other form of sexual violence, as well as torture, and outrages upon personal dignity.808 497. The Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the de facto authorities are responsible for the arbitrary killings of people affiliated with the GPC, which amount to arbitrary deprivation of life. As they are linked to the armed conflict, these wilful killings amount to serious violations of international humanitarian law, which may lead to criminal liability for the war crime of murder. The Group of Experts also has reasonable grounds to believe that the de facto authorities violated the right to liberty and security of person, namely through enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and detention, including the violation of fair trial rights, as well as torture and other ill-treatment, and sexual violence. This may lead to criminal responsibility for the war crimes of torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, and denial of fair trial. In addition, the Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the rights to freedom of expression and assembly have been unduly restricted by the de facto authorities, in violation of their human rights obligations. E. The battle of al-Hudaydah (2018 – 2019) 1. Context 498. In 2018, the al-Hudaydah governorate, already one of the most deprived areas in Yemen, suffered intense fighting leading to numerous civilian casualties and damage, and a deterioration of the humanitarian situation during an offensive by Yemeni armed forces and UAE-backed armed groups aimed at regaining control of its capital, al-Hudaydah city. 499. From January 2018, Yemeni armed forces and affiliated UAE-backed armed groups advanced through Ta’izz governorate from the south toward al-Hudaydah city, cutting Houthi supply lines between Ta’izz and al-Hudaydah. They reached the outskirts of alHudaydah city by June. On 13 June 2018, alleging that the Houthis were smuggling weapons through the port of al-Hudaydah, the coalition began “Operation Golden Victory”. Its stated objective was to dislodge the Houthis from the port city. The fighting continued in the whole governorate throughout the second half of 2018. 500. On 13 December 2018, under the auspices of the United Nations Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, the Houthis and the Government of Yemen reached an agreement on the city of al-Hudaydah and the ports of al-Hudaydah, Salif, and Ras ‘Issa (the “Stockholm Agreement”). The accord provided for the redeployment of forces on both sides away from locations near the ports and the city of al-Hudaydah itself. On 16 January 2019, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution creating the United Nations Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (“UNMHA”) to support the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement. 501. The redeployment of troops on both sides did not proceed within the timeframes initially agreed in the Stockholm Agreement, and serious questions remained over the parties’ willingness to adhere to these agreements at the time of writing. However, the Agreement contributed to a significant decrease in the violence in the province and prevented the conflict from fully engulfing the capital of the governorate. Fighting in alHudaydah would have had serious consequences for civilians living in the town and impacted the whole of Yemen, given the importance of the port to the country. 2. Humanitarian situation 502. The fighting resulted in approximately 455,000 people displaced from and within alHudaydah governorate between June and November 2018.809 Many of the internally 807 Art. 7 ICCPR; Art. 3 common to the Geneva Convention, Art. 4 Additional Protocol II, See ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 93. 808 Art. 8 2.(e)(vi) Rome Statute. 123