A/HRC/19/51 42. The delegation had recommended that armed opposition groups should refrain from attacking targets that provide basic services and supplies, including electricity, fuel, water, medical supplies and health and education facilities. In Sanaa, basic services in areas controlled by armed opposition groups appear to be disrupted by the occupation. At the time of the visit, the Old University of Sanaa was closed and several elementary and secondary schools, shops and businesses had been partially or entirely closed. Public transport was scarce or non-existent, and the cost of transport, electricity, gas and other goods had increased two- or three-fold. Attacks on public infrastructures continued; a gas pipeline was bombed on 15 October in retaliation against the extrajudiciary killing of alleged Al-Qaida members, including two children under 18 years, in Shabwah governorate; and the electricity line from Mareb to Sanaa was repeatedly sabotaged (twice in 24 hours in January 2012). Convoys of refined oil products were also targeted, although the situation improved after Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates provided crude oil. C. Other issues of particular concern 43. The delegation received various reports of violations of child rights. Children were reportedly still subjected to the same extreme violence as many adults, including killings, injury and/or recruitment by security forces. Information received by the delegation indicated that children had been directly involved in the violence, having been seen in uniform patrolling the streets and serving at Government checkpoints. Furthermore, children were forced out of school, used in demonstrations or killed, wounded or displaced by the fighting. Numerous schools were damaged or vacated by Government forces or armed groups, thus depriving thousands of children of education. According to children’s agencies, in Ta'izz, 32 schools were closed for as long as two months after the start of the civil unrest. Of some 100 schools, 12 were occupied either by armed forces or armed groups. At the time of drafting of the present report, all schools in Ta’izz had been reopened, despite the continued protests against the Director General of Education and some headmasters. Humanitarian agencies also reported alarming increases in documented cases of malnutrition in children, with figures revealing that families had to reduce the number of meals per day even for children less than 5 years of age. 44. With regard to freedom of expression, the delegation met with media organizations that expressed concern at the gravity of the challenges faced by journalists. More than 320 cases of violations affecting journalists had been reported since January 2011; they included 44 cases of harassment, threats, assault (including during the events in Dar Salm on 24 December), illegal arrest and detention, the vast majority of which were allegedly committed by Government security forces. The journalist Abdelhakim Thu’il was detained incommunicado by National Security from 14 October and only released in mid-December. A former head of the official Saba news agency claimed to have received direct threats from a relative of the President. The headquarters of Al-Sa’ida television station in Safwan, Sanaa, were burned down in October during heavy clashes in the area. There were also cases of attacks and unlawful detention by armed opponents of the Government in Sanaa and one incident in Saada. Unions also documented more than 90 cases of newspapers being confiscated at security checkpoints at the entrance to major cities and in certain districts of Sanaa. Incidents of deportation of reporters and blocking of websites were also reported. At the time of the mission, the delegation was informed that at least five journalists had lost their lives since the start of the unrest, four allegedly killed by Government snipers. 45. The marginalized Muhamasheen community (also referred to as Al Akhdam, meaning “servant” in Arabic) that are distinct by their African features, continued to face harassment at the hands of alleged members of armed opposition groups, who accused them of supporting the President. One of the Muhamasheen settlements in the Al-Rawdha area of 12