Concealed Killer

Fall of civilians by the landmines laid by the Ansar Allah Armed Group (the Houthis) and Saleh Forces

Wednesday (10 May 2017) – Sana’a

Executive Summary

The violent conflict in Yemen since September 2014 has been accompanied by a horrifying deterioration at the security, economic, legal, and rights levels and the conflicting parties have committed a series of human rights violations.These violations included the killing of large numbers of civilian victims and the injury of others as a result of airstrikes by the Arab coalition aircrafts as well as ground shelling and the planting of landmines by the local parties to the conflict.The violations also included attacks on schools, hospitals, medical centers and staff, attacks on relief organizations, humanitarian assistance storage facilities, extrajudicial executions, the use of schools for military purposes, the blockading of cities, the denial and prevention of entry of food and medical assistance goods, in addition to arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and child recruitment.Landmine explosions left scores of civilians dead and wounded in a number of governorates.The use of landmines in all documented cases was limited to Ansar Allah and the pro-Saleh forces. These mines and ground bombs appeared in different areas where Saleh and Houthi forces withdrew from, particularly in the governorates of Aden and Lahj in the south, and in the central regions, such as Taiz and al-Baida, and in the north, in governorates such as Sana’a and northeast in Marib.The gravity of the damage caused by these mines has been increased because they were planted in residential areas, public roads, main streets, homes, farms and crossing paths frequented by civilians daily. In addition to the killing and maiming rates as a result of these mines, they have also led to permanent disabilities among civilians who have been exposed to them, particularly children.Mwatana Organization research showed that the landmine planting operations in residential neighborhoods were made during the displacement of civilians due to the confrontations, but they explode on them during their return to their homes from the areas they moved to. Landmines planting operations extended to citizens farms and homes. Mwatana didn’t find in any of the cases that the party responsible for planting these mines has drawn the attention of civilians to them or left a warning sign, signal, or marks to prevent harm to civilians by the mines.Civilians complained to Mwatana Organization that the mines had been planted at the entrances to their homes, which they considered as an act of targeting them from Ansar Allah armed group and Saleh’s forces because of their refusal to join or support them in the fighting. In other cases, the rain and floods swept the surface layer of the earth and mines were exposed to children or passersby. Also the floods swept away mines from the areas of the armed confrontations to populated areas.Mwatana Organization for Human Rights has verified 33 landmine explosion incidents in which 57 civilians were killed, including 24 children and four women, and 47 civilians injured, including 21 children and six women in six Yemeni governorates.

On 23 April 2016, while 16 civilians were traveling in a rented bus taxi on the road from Taiz country side to Sanaa, a landmine exploded on their bus, killing eight of them, including one child, and wounding eight others, including four children and two women.

This incident occurred in the public road that passes through al-Robaie area in al-Taiziah district southwest of the city of Taiz.

In the eastern Yemeni governorate of Marib, Yemeni citizen Yahya Abdulla Saklaa al-Sharif is still traumatized by the loss of his two children, who went with their third brother and mother to collect firewood in one of the valleys where a mine they were trying to extricate exploded, killing two and causing permanent disability to the third.

At dawn on Saturday, 21 May 2016, in the area of Shaab al-Hashfa’a, district of Harib in Marib governorate, a landmine exploded causing the death of two of Yahya Saklaa children, and the loss of the right eye of his third child.

The father of children victims recounts the incident:

“As usual, my wife and my children – Ahmed, Rowaida, and Nashmi – went out to collect firewood from an area called Shaab Al-Hashfa’a where there are trees that we can cut down. At 7:00 am we heard the sound of a big explosion. I rushed towards the smoke in the valley and when I arrived, I found my wife crying and embracing my two children Nashmi and Rowaida who were injured but still alive, while next to her was Ahmed’s body stained with blood, and wounds are visible on his face, and he was dead. We rushed them to Marib Public Hospital in Marib city, and there my daughter Rawidah died and my son Nashmi was transferred to Saudi Arabia for treatment because his condition was serious and now his condition is improving but he lost his right eye.”

This report, “Concealed Killer”, prepared by Mwatana teams between July 2015 and October 2016, documents the use of landmines in which dozens of civilian victims were killed and wounded.

Monitoring and documentation that Mwatana Organization for Human Rights field team conducted through interviewing the victims or the relatives of landmine survivors shows that during the reporting period, 57 people were killed by mines that Ansar Allah group and Saleh forces used , including 24 children and 4 women. They were killed without being involved at all in the armed conflict in Yemen.

During the preparation of this report, Mwatana organization adopted the investigative field research methodology through verification visits and direct interviews with main sources of information relating to the incidents and the collection of supporting documents. The field research and verification of the information of the cases in this report continued from July 2015 to October 2016.

Mwatana conducted at least 40 interviews in Arabic with survivors, victims’ families, eyewitnesses, medical personnel, paramedics and the competent authorities and specialists in the National Mine Action Program in the conflict areas. In analyzing the report, Mwatana sought the assistance of international experts in the field of International Humanitarian Law and Customary Humanitarian Law, as well as local demining experts who worked in conflict areas.

Article 1 of the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines (the Ottawa Convention), signed in September 1997, and ratified by Yemen in September 1998, imposes a comprehensive ban on anti-personnel mines. It also prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, development and transfer of anti-personnel mines and requires the clearance and destruction of these mines, whether stored or planted on the ground.

The Mine Ban treaty defines Anti-Personnel Mines as the explosive devices (“detonated by the victim”). They are designed to be placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person. The Second Protocol of The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons on the Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices defines the term “Mine” as any munition placed under, on or near the ground or other surface area and designed to be detonated or exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person or vehicle.

According to Article 3, paragraph 7, of the Second Protocol of The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, It is prohibited in all circumstances to direct weapons to which this Article applies, and include landmines and booby-traps against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians or civilian objects either in offence, defense or by way of reprisals.

In all the cases that Mwatana organization investigated, it was found that the rules of International Humanitarian Law and Customary Humanitarian law, which require implementing special measures to reduce the indiscriminate effects of landmines, were not implemented or followed.

For example, mines have been planted in areas where civilians reside and live without complying with the International Humanitarian Law and Customary International Law generally accepted principles and rules of distinction and proportionality. Also no marks, signs or warnings were posted to alert civilians to the presence of mines in villages and houses and other civilian objects to prevent harming civilians.
In some cases, the planting of mines in civilian villages and homes appeared to have been deliberate targeting because of their opposing positions to a particular warring party, resulting in more killings and civilian casualties, including a number of children.