A/HRC/42/CRP.1 648. In 2018-2019, the Group of Experts documented an emerging trend of targeted hostage-taking of women and girls, with verified cases committed by a number of parties. Members of the de facto authorities’ security forces and Houthi fighters in Sana’a and alHudaydah kidnapped and detained seven different women and girls for periods of up to eight months to force relatives to accede to demands. In one case, they did so in order to force a Houthi defector to surrender. In others, they detained women and girls on accusations of travelling without a mahram guardian and held them for ransom.1003 In another case, the Government of Yemen army kidnapped a women and her infant son in order to force a terrorist suspect to surrender himself to authorities, and then forced her to divorce the suspect, with profound implications for her.1004 Kidnapping of women and girls places them at risk of sexual violence and attracts particular connotations and stigma in Yemen, placing them at further risk of gender-based violence. 649. There are also unverified reports of wider detention-related violations against women in detention facilities under the control of all parties to the conflict, including sexual violence in detention. These require further investigation.1005 (e) Women human rights defenders “The thing that really annoyed them was my work on women’s rights. They told me to stop, and harassed me and then arrested me. There were days of constant interrogations, blackmail, accusations of prostitution and threats against my family. It was emotionally painful and exhausting. One evening the armed guard came. She called me a ‘bad girl’ whilst she stripped me naked and sexually assaulted me whilst I cried. It was the longest and worst night of my life.” Women’s rights defender1006 650. Prior to September 2014, women in Yemen openly led demonstrations in the street and led demands for progressive change. By the beginning of 2019 this had all but ceased under the control and coercion of parties to the conflict. 1007 The Group has verified numerous gender-based violence violations based upon evidence obtained from at least 40 women activists, human rights defenders, and journalists, either targeting them or their colleagues on the basis of their gender or work on women’s rights, or aggravated on the basis of gender. This included sexualised harassment, threats of rape, accusations of prostitution, detention, an attack on a women’s shelter, dismissal from work, and sexual violence. These violations took place across 2015-2019 with many ongoing over several years and continuing since the Group’s previous report. Of these, 20 women were survivors of such abuse between July 2018 and June 2019. Violations were perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, and notably in several instances the normally divergent conflicting parties have been united when it comes to their repression of women activists.1008 “As a result of standing up to demand our future, end famine and to stop children dying, I and my family are now at risk of being detained or killed, and I am unable to speak to them. I had to flee the country and cannot return to them. My education has been stopped and now as a refugee I am struggling to find some way to continue my life and my education and have a future.” 18-year-old woman, participant in the 6th October 2018 demonstrations1009 1003 Confidential Sources on File. Confidential Sources on File. 1005 Confidential Sources on File. Marie Christian-Heinze, “Criminal Histories, Arrests and Prison Experiences of Women in Yemen”, Yemen Polling Centre, 2018. 1006 Confidential Sources on File. 1007 Confidential Sources on File. This was a common feeling for women activists interviewed. See also Tom Finn, “After the Revolution, The Struggle for Women’s Rights in Yemen”, Dissent, 2015. Inclusive Peace and Transition Initiative (IPTI) “Women in Peace and Transition Processes in Yemen”, 2018. 1008 Confidential Sources on File. 1009 Confidential Sources on File. 1004 156