The Houthi rebels have intensified their operations against Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) forces, causing several hundred casualties, according to a recent report titled IHL in Focus and published by Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.
In parallel developments, the Houthis reportedly increasingly cooperated and coordinated their actions with Al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP), which is still exercises territorial control in Abyan and Shabwa governorates and has resumed its operations against government forces, resulting in dozens of fatalities.
The report added that both the Houthi rebels and AQAP exercise sufficient territorial control over parts of Yemen and violations of International Human Law (IHL) have reportedly been committed by the Houthis, in a climate of impunity.
Concerns have been raised in particular in relation to the conduct of hostilities, including attacks directed against civilians, the destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure; casualties resulting from the use of landmines; the recruitment of children; sexual violence; obstructions to humanitarian access; and aid delivery and forced disappearance.
The report noticed that according to the Panel of Experts on Yemen established by the UN Security Council, Houthi rebels also reportedly launched recently indiscriminate attacks against residential neighborhoods, resulting in at least 153 fatalities and 180 injuries, including women, children and older persons.
IHL in Focus also noticed that the widespread presence of landmines and explosive remnants of war is a source of constant threat to the security of the civilian population.
Houthi rebels have been using anti-personnel mines for years and recent information indicates that they have been producing mines locally.
Reports have emerged about arbitrary detention and harassment of Yemeni staff working for international organizations.
Concerns have also been reported regarding abduction, enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention in Yemen beyond the case of humanitarian personnel.
In areas controlled by the Houthis, the security of humanitarian relief personnel has constantly been under threat.
According to the report of the UN Secretary-General on children and armed conflict, violations related to the recruitment of children and their use in hostilities have been committed by many actors in the conflict.
The Houthis have allegedly used children as ‘human shields, as spies, for planting landmines and other explosive devices, for reconnaissance, as cooks and in combat’.
The recruitment of girls with a view to their integration into the female security wing of the Houthis (known as the Zaynabiyat) reportedly increased in frequency.
According to the Panels of Experts on Yemen, the Houthis ‘have reportedly mobilized boys as young as 10 or 11, often despite parental opposition’.
Methods of recruitment allegedly used by the Houthis include the recourse to coercion, threats or abduction. Children have also reportedly been trained and indoctrinated in Houthi summer camps after having been sent in return for a financial reward for their parents.