A/HRC/42/CRP.1
586. The above dire situation is made worse by the almost total absence of any judicial
proceedings for detainees. With the exception of two cases, 902 the Group of Experts found
no information suggesting that there had been a judicial process in relation to detentions.
587. The Group of Experts found that, at least for some elements within the de facto
authorities, detention has become an opportunity for income generation. As described
above, individuals have made money by providing information on the whereabouts of
detainees to their desperate relatives.903 In another case, one detainee requested his family
to provide money for the supervisor of his detention facility. 904 The Group of Experts also
received reports from detainees that they were told by other detainees they needed to give
away property to ensure their release from detention.905 This problem is also illustrated by
the abduction of a woman at a checkpoint in the governorate, as described below.
588. The de facto authorities also violated the rights of detained women. One woman was
tortured during detention by male guards.906 Another woman, together with three related
girls, was arrested at a security checkpoint and asked to pay ransom to ensure her release.
After the relatives paid the required amount, only the children were released. 907 With
respect to the impact on female relatives of male detainees, the detentions of the male
relatives have left their families with few options for generating income.
Violations
589. Enforced disappearance is prohibited by international human rights law and
international humanitarian law, notably as a violation of the prohibition of arbitrary
deprivation of liberty and possibly of the prohibition of torture.908 Torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment are also strictly prohibited under both bodies of law and
amount to war crimes.909 International human rights law and international humanitarian law
also prohibit arbitrary detention.910 Considered as arbitrary are deprivations of liberty that
are contrary to international law provisions, mostly those relating to the right to a fair trial
or other procedural guarantees, or to fundamental freedoms. 911 Depriving a person of the
right to a fair trial may be considered a war crime in a non-international conflict.912
590. Among the 17 detention cases investigated by the Group of Experts in al-Hudaydah,
13 detainees913 were victims of enforced disappearance, insofar as the Houthis refused to
acknowledge the detention, the fate or whereabouts of detainees to relatives, or conditioned
such information on financial advantages. Enforced disappearances by the Houthis are
further supported by a network of secret detention facilities. Hence, detainees were placed
outside the protection of the law and rendered vulnerable to further human rights violations,
such as torture and ill-treatment. In addition, in the majority of investigated cases, detainees
were not subject to judicial proceedings, in blatant violation of fair trial rights. In most
cases, it appeared that the detainees had been arrested for exercising their fundamental
freedoms, most notably their freedom of expression. Hence, in all these cases, the
deprivation of liberty is arbitrary.
902
Confidential Sources on File.
Confidential Sources on File.
904 Confidential Sources on File.
905 Confidential Sources on File.
906 Confidential Sources on File.
907 Confidential Sources on File.
908 Art. 9 ICCPR and Art 1 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced
Disappearance (CED); see ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 98.
909 Article 7 ICCPR, See Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment; Art. 3 common to the Geneva Conventions, art. 4 Additional Protocol II,
See ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 90.
910 Art. 9 and 14 ICCPR; Art. 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and Art. 4 Additional Protocol
II; See ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 99.
911 ICCPR, arts. 9 and 14; see also Human Rights Committee general comment No. 35 (2011) on
liberty and security of person; and the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any
Form of Detention or Imprisonment (A/RES/43/173).
912 See ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 100.
913 Confidential Sources on File.
903
142
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