A/HRC/36/33 Attack on a boat carrying Somali migrants and refugees 33. As a result of military operations along the west coast of Yemen, the waters off AlHudaydah had become dangerous, with many boats coming under fire. OHCHR verified six incidents of attacks on fishermen in early 2017, three of which occurred on 15 and 16 March 2017.18 34. The most devastating attack was against a boat carrying 146 Somali migrants and refugees, along with 4 Yemeni crew members. Survivors told OHCHR that, on 15 March 2017, they saw ships and a helicopter near their boat. The following night, a ship fired on their boat and minutes later, a helicopter circled over the boat and opened fire. The survivors reported that they screamed, waved and shone flashlights in an effort to signal they were civilians, however, the shooting continued. Once the attack had ended and the helicopter had departed, the crew turned off the lights and the boat drifted to shore. 19 Fortytwo civilians were killed, including 11 women, and 34 were injured, including 8 children. 35. Emirati State media reported that an official of the United Arab Emirates, a member of the coalition, had acknowledged that its forces had spotted the boat and, as it had been identified as a civilian vessel, had refrained from firing on it. 20 In an unprecedented move, the official welcomed an independent international investigation into the incident and denied that Emirati forces had been involved in the attack. 21 The Coalition also reportedly denied responsibility for the incident. 22 As of 31 July 2017, there had been no acknowledgement of responsibility for the attack, nor any explanation as to why the vessel, along with other civilian boats, had been attacked. Restricted weapons 36. Owing to the ongoing armed conflict, a variety of explosives litter the landscape of Yemen, including anti-personnel and anti-vehicle landmines, improvised explosive devices, unexploded ordnance and cluster munitions. All of those explosives pose a danger to civilians, causing casualties and hindering the safe return of displaced populations. The legality of those weapons varies23 but the use of anti-personnel landmines, victim-activated improvised explosive devices and cluster munitions may violate international humanitarian law, particularly in the absence of precautionary measures owing to their inherently indiscriminate nature.24 37. No comprehensive statistics are available on civilian casualties caused by those weapons, but credible reports from demining experts, medical professionals and local residents indicate that the danger is widespread and continuing. According to the United Nations Development Programme, deminers had cleared nearly 450,000 explosive remnants of war between February 2016 and June 2017, including thousands of antipersonnel mines and cluster munitions. 25 The vast majority of mines and explosive devices were reported in areas currently or previously controlled by Houthi/Saleh forces. Residents regularly told OHCHR that their areas had not been mined prior to the arrival of those forces. OHCHR had no evidence of any precautionary measures being taken, such as warnings or symbols, to indicate the presence of mines or explosive devices. Owing to access and capacity constraints, OHCHR was only able to verify a few cases of civilian casualties from such explosives, which had been sustained mostly by people going about their daily activities.26 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 8 Ibid. Ibid. See http://wam.ae/en/details/1395302603973. Ibid. See http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-yemen-security-refugees-idUKKBN16O0WF. Yemen ratified the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction; however, neither Yemen nor any coalition members, except Senegal, are parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. See ICRC, rules 71 and 81. Demining activities were limited prior to February 2016. See annex I.