A/HRC/42/CRP.1 III. Legal framework A. Introduction 43. Human Rights Council resolution 36/31, as extended by resolution 39/16 provides that the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts, is – inter alia – to examine “all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights and other appropriate and applicable fields of international law committed by all parties to the conflict”.9 In view of the conflict situation in Yemen, the Group of Experts chose to examine violations of international human rights law, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law. 44. The situation in Yemen is mainly described as a conflict between the Government of Yemen, supported by the international coalition of States led by Saudi Arabia, and the Houthis. However, it also features a number of other separate but inter-linked noninternational armed conflicts involving different armed groups, whether or not affiliated with or supporting the parties to the main conflict. Both international humanitarian law and international human rights law are applicable in Yemen, based on treaty and customary law. B. 1. Applicable Law International Humanitarian Law 45. International humanitarian law (IHL) is based on certain principles. These principles find expression in detailed rules which are binding on all parties to a conflict. The principles include the principle of distinction between military and civilian and the principle of proportionality. The rules themselves represent a balance between humanitarian concerns and military necessity. There can be no appeal to military necessity outside the rules, because it is already taken into account in their formulation. 10 The treaty rules have been formulated by the representatives of States, including military advisers. 46. The conflict between the armed forces of the Government of Yemen (hereafter “Yemeni armed forces”) and the Houthis qualifies as a non-international armed conflict between a State Party and a non-State armed group, respectively. The conditions for the existence of an armed conflict, in particular the necessary level of intensity in hostilities, have been present for the entire period under review. Non-international armed conflicts are regulated by treaty law, in particular Article 3 Common to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 (hereinafter “Common Article 3”), and Additional Protocol II thereto (also referred to as “the Second Additional Protocol of 1977”), to which Yemen is a party, as well as customary international humanitarian law. 47. In addition to Article 3 Common to the Four Geneva Conventions, Additional Protocol II is applicable to the conflict between the Yemeni armed forces and the Houthis. Indeed, the threshold of application set in the first article of Additional Protocol II has been reached with the level of organization of the de facto authorities and their armed group, the Houthis, as well as their control over parts of the Yemeni territory. 48. Yemen is also bound by other treaties it has ratified, notably with regard to means and methods of warfare. The Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention of 1997, ratified by Yemen, is particularly relevant in the present context. Yemen has not ratified the 1980 Convention prohibiting Certain Conventional Weapons or its Protocols, nor the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. 9 A/HRC/RES/36/31, para. 12(a). At least in international armed conflicts (IAC), the rules are based on the equality of belligerents. In non-international armed conflicts (NIAC), there is, however, no political basis for asserting such equality. Whilst the fighting may often look like the fighting in an international armed conflict, the status of the fighters as criminals in domestic law has a variety of consequences for the rules of NIAC, including for the prospect of their implementation and enforcement by the non-State actors. 10 12