A/HRC/42/CRP.1 their sustenance value to the civilian population.825 International humanitarian law further provides that the parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, provided that such relief is of impartial nature and conducted without adverse distinction. Also, relief operations remain subject to the parties’ right of control.826 Consent may not be withheld for arbitrary reasons, and restrictions on humanitarian activities may only be justified in case of imperative military necessity and on a temporary basis.827 512. Essential infrastructure, such as water and health facilities are subject to the protection given to civilian objects and, for the latter, the special protection given to medical facilities, unless they have lost that protection. It is also prohibited to attack objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population but it was not clear to the Group of Experts whether these facilities were targeted as such. However, as follows from the principle of precautions in attack, the obligation to take constant care to spare the civilian population can be considered as all the more relevant in such a fragile humanitarian context. 513. Parts of al-Durayhimi district under the control of the de-facto authorities, including its district centre, are facing severe humanitarian access restrictions. These restrictions are caused mainly by the Yemeni armed forces and affiliated UAE-backed groups’ control of access points, and by the presence of landmines around the area. The exact number of individuals still living in the areas of al-Durayhimi district under Houthi control is unknown, also due to the lack of access for humanitarian actors to carry out an independent needs assessment. In practice, it is recognized that the denial of access to undertake the necessary assessments to establish humanitarian needs may already be a violation of the obligation to allow and facilitate humanitarian access, especially in the context of a humanitarian crisis such as Yemen. Hence, the Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the Government of Yemen is violating its obligations to allow and facilitate access to humanitarian relief to people in need in parts of al-Durayhimi district. 514. The Government of Yemen and the de facto authorities have also violated their obligation to allow and facilitate humanitarian access as regards the denial of access to the Red Sea Mills. Within such a context of acute food insecurity and nutrition needs, the refusal to provide humanitarian actors with access to the most important wheat storage facilitiy in Yemen could only be justified by imperative military necessity. The Group of Experts did not find any such justification for the Houthis’ refusal to provide WFP access to the Mills between January and May 2019. The Group welcomes the Houthis’ recent approval of WFP access to the Mills, while noting it remains unclear to date how much of the wheat contained therein remains usable. 515. In such a context of acute insecurity, all violations of provisions related to the access of the population to objects essential to the survival of the population must be examined within the scope of the prohibition of starvation as a method of warfare. (For an analysis of these issues as part of broader patterns, see chapter on Humanitarian crisis and related violations). 3. Violations related to the conduct of hostilities 516. The Group of Experts received numerous allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in relation to the fighting in alHudaydah. These included alleged violations from air strikes and shelling, as well as child recruitment, attacks against fishermen, and the use of landmines. The Group of Experts selected a sample of emblematic cases of the most serious and representative violations to 825 Art. 14 Additional Protocol II, read in conjunction with Art. 54(2) Additional Protocol I. Art. 18(2) Additional Protocol II, see also ICRC Customary IHL Study, rule 55. 827 See ICRC Customary IHL Study, rule 55; See also Art. 71(3) Additional Protocol I; See “Oxford Guidance on the Law Relating to Humanitarian Relief Operations in Situations of Armed Conflict”, Commissioned by OCHA, October 2016 (https://www.unocha.org/sites/unocha/files/Oxford%20Guidance%20pdf.pdf). 826 126