A/HRC/42/CRP.1 350. The taking over of al-Dahi passage in March 2016 by Yemeni armed forces and affiliated groups did not relieve the situation, as fighting continued, blocking access through this path. With efforts to break the “siege”, this situation reportedly continued until government-affiliated forces sought to break the blockade on the city by attacking the Houthis’ main supply routes to al-Hudaydah and Ibb governorates. The “siege” was broken with the opening of a road that leads today to Aden, albeit a long and winding road. In what sources referred to as the second phase of the siege, the opening was described as a “breathing space” although the road still did not allow the passage of large and heavily loaded trucks, and distances remained much longer than they used to be prior to the conflict. This, together with the deflation of the Yemeni riyal and the non-payment of salaries, continued to put pressure on the inhabitants of Ta’izz. Restrictions on the free movement of civilians, as well as humanitarian and commercial convoys remained, and the prices of basic goods continued to soar, as the blockade continued to restrict access to food and other essential items, at the expense of civilians living inside Ta’izz 529. 351. Humanitarian restrictions remained and various organisations publicly denounced this situation, including MSF, which announced that hospitals in Ta’izz were “desperately in need of supplies”, stating “[t]he facilitation of moving humanitarian supplies from Sana’a to Taiz city centre is extremely limited by the Houthi authorities, causing major delays for humanitarian operations. On several occasions, humanitarian and medical aid has been denied or delayed from entering both the city centre and surrounding areas. Hospitals lack essential medicines and basic supplies such as oxygen and fuel for generators. Fuel and oxygen are usually available on the local market, but hospitals rarely can afford to buy them.”530 352. The Group of Experts was informed of several challenges faced when delivering humanitarian assistance inside Ta’izz, including aid diversion, obstruction, and theft. Compounding this, humanitarian organisations in many instances run remote operations, and are unable to properly monitor the distributions and track instances of diversion or theft of aid supplies. The Group of Experts was also informed of one instance where armed groups inside Ta’izz were responsible for stealing humanitarian assistance in the spring of 2018, namely more than 570 food baskets destined for people in need inside Ta’izz. Local requests for accountability regarding this specific incident were reportedly met with a lack of responsiveness on the part of the local authorities inside Ta’izz. 531 353. Following the inception of the conflict, Ta’izz city, which once hosted five functioning public hospitals,532 witnessed a rapid collapse of its health system. While hospitals inside Ta’izz city remained open, they were only partially functioning and not providing the level of services they used to, or that were needed by the civilian population inside the city. The presence of the “enclave” within Ta’izz further complicated access to healthcare including for the population residing in the al-Hawban area. Reaching a hospital in Ta’izz from this part, which used to take approximately 15 minutes, is now a journey of several hours according to various sources. The “siege” also complicated the delivery of vaccines inside the city, and limited patients’ access to specialised treatment, including cases requiring dialysis. Access to education has been similarly restricted, with students not being able to reach the university within the city.533 According to one source,534 200 students are not able to attend their courses at the university due to the distance they must travel on the road leading to the city from various districts including al-Hawban, while the number of students joining technical institutes has dropped by 35 per cent since the war began. The Group of Experts was informed that female students were the most affected, as 529 Confidential Sources on File. Médecins Sans Frontières, “Yemen: Healthcare under siege in Taiz”, 30 January 2017, p. 26. 531 Confidential Sources on File. 532 Médecins Sans Frontières, “Complicated Delivery: The Yemeni Mothers and Children Dying Without Medical Care”, 24 April 2019. 533 Confidential Sources on File. 534 Confidential Sources on File. 530 84