A/HRC/42/CRP.1
Southern Transitional Council is a further element that renders their deprivation of liberty
arbitrary.
250. Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are also strictly prohibited
under both international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and may
lead to individual criminal responsibility for war crimes.346
251. Based on its investigations, the Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe
that torture and ill-treatment has been used in Aden detention facilities, most notably in alBureiqa coalition base detention facility (UAE-controlled), Bir Ahmed II (controlled by the
UAE-backed Security Belt forces), in the unofficial Security Belt facilities and in al-Tin
detention facility (controlled by the Government of Yemen and Saudi armed forces). In all
these facilities, torture has been used during interrogations, mainly in order to coerce
confessions. In al-Bureiqa, it was also reportedly used to recruit.
252. Sexual violence was also used in detention centres, including to torture detainees.
Rape and other forms of sexual violence are also prohibited by international human rights
law and international humanitarian law.347 This may lead to individual criminal
responsibility for the war crime of rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as
torture, and outrages upon personal dignity.348 The Group of Experts has reasonable
grounds to believe that sexual violence was used at al-Bureiqa coalition base detention
facility (UAE-controlled) and at Bir Ahmed II (controlled by the UAE-backed Security Belt
forces).
253. Accordingly, the Group of Experts has reasonable grounds to believe that the
Governments of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates violated the right to
liberty and security of person, namely through enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests
and detention, as well as torture and other ill-treatment, including rape and other forms of
sexual violence. Given the nexus between these violations and the non-international armed
conflict in Yemen, international humanitarian law also applies. Accordingly, pursuant to
determination by a competent judicial authority, individuals involved in the commission,
ordering of, or with command responsibility for the above enumerated acts may be held
responsible for the following war crimes: torture, cruel or inhuman treatment, outrages
upon personal dignity, rape and other forms of sexual violence.
3.
Arbitrary Killing
“I saw him shot and die in front of me. It was horrifying and I can’t stop
replaying it. He was my father and my friend. We are a big family and we
were all reliant on him, emotionally and economically. Now we don’t know
how we are going to carry on.”
Son of an assassination victim
254. Between October 2015 and May 2019, the Group of Experts examined the cases of
at least 90 individuals reportedly assassinated by means of targeted shootings and
explosions in the city of Aden and surrounding governorates. The 90 reported targeted
killings consisted of former Resistance leaders, senior civilian Government staff, religious
leaders, community influencers, and those who have criticised the Southern Transition
Council and United Arab Emirates. Of these, 86 cases occurred between 6 October 2015
and 23 October 2018, with the latter being the date of the most recent targeting of a
religious leader documented by the Group. Since October 2018, there was a marked
decrease in reported targeted killings. However, reports began to emerge again beginning in
May 2019 of targeted killings of Southern Movement members opposed to the Southern
346
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; see Art. 8 2.(c)(i) and (ii) Rome Statute.
347 Art. 7 ICCPR; Art. 3 common to the Geneva Convention, Art. 4 Additional Protocol II, See ICRC
Study on customary IHL, rule 93.
348 Art. 8 2.(e)(vi) Rome Statute.
60
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