A/HRC/42/CRP.1 depending on their level of organization and of territorial control, but at a minimum they are bound by the obligations set out in Article 3 common to the Four Geneva Conventions. 53. Also of relevance to the period under review are operations including the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) by the United States of America in the territory of Yemen within the scope of its operations against AQAP and the Islamic State, Such operations have reportedly been launched in support of the Government of Yemen’s fight against Al Qaeda as a non-State armed group, and are hence to be examined through the lens of a non-international armed conflict. In terms of applicable international humanitarian law, the United States is a party to the four Geneva Conventions, but has not ratified their Additional Protocols of 1977. It is also bound by customary international law. The international humanitarian law obligations of the United States as a third State in relation to the main conflict are examined in the section on Accountability, along with other States 54. The obligations of third States to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, in accordance with Article 1 common to the four Geneva Conventions (hereinafter “Common Article 1”), are also particularly relevant in this context. This is particularly the case for any State that influences or provides support to parties to the conflict, such as France, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.16 2. International Human Rights Law 55. International human rights law remains fully relevant to the present context. The concurrent application of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, i.e. the applicability of human rights law in a situation of armed conflict, has been widely accepted. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) first addressed the issue in its 1996 Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons17, and further confirmed the concurrent application of international humanitarian law and human rights law in its 2004 Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the occupied Palestinian territory. In the latter Advisory Opinion, the ICJ determined that “the protection offered by human rights conventions does not cease in case of armed conflict, save through the effect of provisions for derogation.” 18 Indeed, as provided by Article 4 ICCPR, States may take measures derogating from their obligations under the convention under strict conditions only including the declaration of a state of public emergency. However, derogations are only allowed for certain human rights, and not for the most fundamental ones, a number of which are being regularly violated in Yemen as described in the present report. 56. Yemen’s obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, without any discrimination, are determined by the relevant treaties it has ratified, as well as by customary law. Yemen is a party to the core universal human rights conventions, except the 1990 Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and the 2006 Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. It has acceded to both Optional Protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, one of which is particularly relevant in the present context as it pertains to the involvement of children in armed conflict. However, Yemen has not accepted any individual complaints procedure, except for the one pursuant to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Finally, it has accepted the inquiry procedure under the latter, as well as under the Convention against Torture.19 16 See ICRC 2016 Commentary to common Article 1 to the Geneva Conventions; see ICRC Study on customary IHL, rule 144. 17 ICJ, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion of 8 July 1996, ICJ Reports 1996, para. 25. 18 ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the occupied Palestinian territory, Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2004, ICJ Reports 2004, para. 106. 19 See OHCHR’s website for Yemen’s status of ratification (https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?CountryID=193&Lang=E N). 14

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