A/HRC/42/CRP.1 at risk of gender-based violence, and 120,000 women and girls were at risk of being killed by different forms of violence.992 (a) Displacement 638. The disproportionate displacement of women and children is a key risk factor for all types of gender-based violence, whether in more secure host environments or informal insecure settlements. In Yemen, at least a third of those displaced have taken shelter in public and abandoned buildings with limited protective factors, and there is no formalised system of camps. In addition, many of the one million displaced women and girls who have returned home have arrived to find insecure and unsafe premises. 993 During 2018-2019, the Group received unverified reports of sexual violence including sexual exploitation committed against internally displaced persons by perpetrators linked to several parties to the conflict, as well as camp management, host communities, and other displaced persons.994 (b) Sexual Violence against marginalized people 639. In total, the Group has verified 37 cases of conflict-related sexual violence from 2016-2019 against members of vulnerable and marginalized communities by armed groups in the south of Yemen.995 This consisted of the rape of 19 different women, six boys, one girl, the attempted rape of two girls and one woman, the sexual assault of a man and a boy, and kidnapping of six women hostages. This involved vaginal, anal, and oral rape, including penile rape and rape with objects, gang rape, and use of weapons. A number of these took place in plain view of others, including family members. 640. Twenty-four of these cases were against refugees and migrants with Somalian or Ethiopian origins, six were against members of “Muhamasheen” communities, and three were against those of unspecified ethnic or caste origins from Yemen but who had other specific vulnerabilities. The perpetrators of this sexual violence, members of the UAEbacked Security Belt and the 35th Armoured Brigade, who had previously been Resistance militias, were incorporated by the Government into their forces in 2016-2019 without any training, vetting, or internal oversight, and placed by the governments of Yemen and the United Arab Emirates in positions of power over disproportionately and increasingly vulnerable populations requiring protection. 641. Women refugees and migrants spoke to the Group about poverty, lack of access to secure housing, the persistent aggressive behaviour of Security Belt forces against their community, and the mental burden of years of discrimination and, in some cases, surviving repeated rapes. Some were single mothers as result of these rapes, and spoke of the stigma placed upon them by their Yemeni host community.996 Those from the “Muhamasheen” community spoke about the perception of non-“Muhamasheen” communities that they are tantamount to slaves which meant that abusing them was more acceptable. 997 In one case this included abusive and demeaning language used by perpetrators during the sexual violence, referring to her as ‘sexually promiscuous’ and calling her the pejorative term al‘Akdham’.998 The customs and laws described above embed the perception that women and children of African and “Muhamasheen” origins are ‘worth less’ than those from Yemeni tribes, and means that these groups are not afforded the same protections by tribal mediation that others are, enabling perpetrators and contributing to impunity. 992 UNFPA, Humanitarian Response in Yemen, 2019. UNFPA, Monthly Situation Report, April 2019. Confidential Sources on File. OCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview, 2019. 994 Confidential Sources on File. 995 For more details on the Group’s findings see the chapter on Control of Aden and the south (20162019). 996 For further discussion on women from African and Muhamasheen communities, see above Section 2 Status of Women and Girls in Yemen. 997 Confidential Sources on File. 998 Confidential Sources on File. A common term used to refer to members of the Muhamasheen community, this term, al-Akhdam, is used to refer pejoratively to the community members as ‘servants’. 993 154