A/HRC/42/CRP.1
202. As the Houthi-Saleh fighters withdrew from Lahij and Aden, they left behind
thousands of landmines that continued at the time of writing to affect negatively the lives of
civilians, including by causing injuries and death.257 As an illustration of the magnitude of
the problem, as indicated by UNDP, 16,198 anti-personnel landmines and 9,476 antivehicle landmines were cleared in Aden during 2016 alone.258 The Group of Experts
examined 20 incidents that occurred during the period of July 2015 – May 2016 in which
35 civilians were killed, among them 11 children and two women, and 26 civilians were
injured, among them five children and five women. In Lahij, 33 anti-personnel landmines
and 1,692 anti-vehicles landmines were cleared during 2016 alone.259 The Group of Experts
examined nine incidents that occurred during the period of August 2015 – June 2018 that
killed two men, one woman and injured six men, three women and four children. The
following cases investigated by the Group of Experts are considered as a sample indicative
of the patterns of serious harm from both anti-vehicle and anti-personnel landmines in
Aden and Lahij.
Incidents near the Airport - Aden
203. The Houthi-Saleh fighters controlled Khormaksar during the period of March – July
2015. The area was not known to be mined prior to this period. As the Houthis withdrew,
they planted landmines in areas that affected civilians. In one case, on 27 July 2015, a
demining engineer got out of a car to pick up a mine. He stepped with his right foot on an
anti-personnel landmine that exploded. As a result, he lost his leg. The landmine was an
anti-personnel German PPM2 type, the most common among the planted mines.260
Additionally, on 29 September 2015, also in the airport, near the airstrip, at around 2:00
pm, a demining vehicle carrying unexploded landmines, deviated from the main road and
ran over an anti-vehicle landmine261 The force of the blast slightly injured three engineers
and killed another one. The driver lost his leg.262 Also near the airport area, a landmine
Human Rights Watch Yemen: “Houthis Used Landmines in Aden”, September 2015.
Confidential Sources on File.
259 Confidential Sources on File.
260 Confidential Sources on File.
261 Confidential Sources on File.
262 Confidential Sources on File.
257
258
48
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