The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for August 2009. It contains an overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
Here is the summary of activities and events in August 2009:
Preliminary assessments conducted in Mambéré Kadei, Sangha Mbaéré and Lobaye by MSF Spain/Belgium, MSF France and ACF revealed that 16% of children aged under 5 are acutely malnourished and 6.6% are severely acutely malnourished. UNICEF is appealing to donors for $1.5 million for lifesaving therapeutic foods, drugs and other supplies; to conduct a national nutritional survey; and train community health workers in early detection of children and women whose nutritional status is compromised.
6 schools rehabilitated by ACTED were inaugurated in the presence of the Minister of Education in 3 prefectures of the country: Ouham, Nana Gribizi and Bamingui Bangoran. These schools will allow 1,350 children to learn in better conditions in the upcoming new school year 2009-2010.
Mid-Year Annual Work Plan (AWP) reviews were organised by the programme sections and sub-offices to compare the activities so far implemented to those initially planned. The AWP was revised to better reflect reality for the rest of the year.
UNICEF provided financial support to organise training to strengthen the capacity of the school directors, teachers and parents. 130 school directors from Ouham Pendé and 59 from Bamingui Bangoran received training in school management and legislation; 274 parent-teachers from Ouham, 104 from Haute-Kotto, 90 from Bamingui Bangoran and 130 from Kémo were trained on their teaching skills; and 220 members of the PTA of Bossangoa and Bouca were trained on the role of the PTA.
101 children (94 boys, 17 girls) associated with armed groups who were released in July were reunified with their families and relatives. To date, UNICEF partners DRC and IRC have supported the reunification and community reintegration of a total number of 361 children (310 boys, 51 girls) formerly associated with the APRD since the child DDR programme began in May 2009.
The preparatory work for the water and sanitation sector Round Table continued, with the opening of the website at http://tableronde-eau.minplan-rca.org/home and relevant documents uploaded on the site. The round table will be held in Bangui on 8 October 2009.
For more information on UNICEF’s activities in the Central African Republic contact:
Hyewon Lee | Reports Officer | UNICEF CAR
Email: hlee@unicef.org | Tel. +236 75 70 63 90
Grave violations against children are being perpetrated by all parties to the various conflicts in the Central African Republic (CAR), including rape and armed recruitment into the fighting forces, according to a United Nations report released today.
Non-State armed groups and bandits are also kidnapping children as a means of recruitment and to threaten and extort ransom from the population, while abuses against youngsters generally are committed in a climate of impunity, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in his latest report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict in CAR.
“I call on all parties to the conflict to immediately and without precondition cease the recruitment and use of children and to identify and release to the United Nations those children already in their ranks,” he says.
“If I can prevent just one girl from having to go through what I’ve experienced, then I’ve achieved something,” Foncy Kongo, 29
Every year, an estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), most of these girls live in Africa. Although most governments have prohibited FGM - the partial or total removal of external genitalia - the practice persists illegally.
In the Central African Republic (CAR) about 28% of women are circumcised. In the capital city of Bangui a group of determined women work to change this. The women are part of an organization called CIAF, or the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices, which operates in 28 countries across the continent. Continue Reading »
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for November 2008. It contains a detailed overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
Here is the summary of activities and events in November:
An attack by government soldiers against presumed bandits hiding in the country’s northwest led to the execution of 7 members of the APDR and the capture of 15 other rebels. The APDR threatened to withdraw from the peace dialogue if its members aren’t released.
A government convoy was ambushed 50km south of the border with Chad in the northeast. Nine soldiers were killed. The attackers belonged to the FDPC rebel movement.
In early November, the city of Sam Ouanjda was attacked by 40 armed men. Five of the attackers died and many of the city’s residents fled into the bush.
Funding of 600,000 Euros was received from ECHO to purchase therapeutic products that will be used to treat 900 children per month suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Joel Madden made a triumphant week-long trip throughout the CAR.
A technical training center was opened by UNICEF and the Diocese of Kaga Bandoro. The center provides two years of technical and academic education to vulnerable children between the ages of 14 and18.
Time for everyone to get serious about clean water
Nov 2008/Holtz/UNICEF
For thousands of children living in the Central African Republic, their every day drinking water is a mass killer, said UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Joel Madden.
Madden, the leader of the rock band Good Charlotte, came to this conclusion after spending a week touring the country with his brother, Benji. The visit, to Bangui’s capital, as well as some of the remotest villages of the country, was organized by UNICEF’s office in CAR and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
“To come here and see these children dying just because they don’t have clean water to drink, I can’t accept that,” said Mr. Madden.
Madden was able to speak with numerous children and families whose lives continue to be negatively affected by water tainted by diseases. In Sam Ouandja, a town near the border with the Darfur region of Sudan that’s been attacked by rebels twice in the last year, Madden learned that 47% of children who die there each year succumb to water-related illnesses.
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for September 2008. It contains an detailed overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
Here is the summary of activities and events in September:
A $14.8 million grant was given by the African Development Bank to support CAR’s Second Economic Development Programme and to help alleviate the country’s food crisis.
A breakaway faction of the UFDR attacks and loots a village near the border with Sudan.
Polio and Tetanus vaccination campaigns target nearly 1.1 million residents.
The Common Humanitarian Fund allocates $2.8 million for 16 projects to benefit Central African residents.
The Steering Committee of the Peace Fund allocates $5.7 million for 11 projects.
UNICEF convenes a training session with NGOs and the government on family reunification and tracing.
UNICEF completes a State of Knowledge report on the extent of abuses of children’s rights.
UNICEF rehabilitates schools in anticipation of the new school year.
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for July / August 2008. It contains an excellent overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, as well as UNICEF’s activities in CAR.
Here is the summary of activities and events in July / August:
The APRD rebel group pulls out of CAR’s Inclusive Political Dialogue
The UN Peacebuilding Fund grants CAR US$10million
The World Bank provides US$7million to alleviate the impact of rising food prices in CAR
One million Central Africans to benefit from the distribution of essential medicines
HIV/AIDS workshop held in Bangui
A second inter-agency protection mission is conducted in southeastern CAR
160,000 people in 400 villages receive information on basic hygiene practices
The Central African Republic (CAR) is an extremely challenging place for people with special needs of any kind, particularly the Deaf. At one point, CAR was a pioneer among African countries in deaf education; Andrew Foster, a Deaf American missionary, opened the country’s first and only school for the deaf in CAR’s capital, Bangui, in 1977. Foster also trained the teachers and paid them a competitive salary, ensuring quality education for the deaf children who could attend the school. Continue Reading »
A member of a self-defense group carrying his traditional rifle in a flower field, near the village of Sambaye, 10 km west of Bozoum, in north-western Central African Republic.
Self-defense groups help to ward off the threat of bandits who loot, kidnap and sometimes kill, allowing more families to return to their houses and fields. The community of Sambaye pays $42 for the weapon and ammunition of each group member, who are recruited on a voluntary basis among village’s men and women. Several displaced families from Sambaye started to come back to three months ago, thanks to improved security offered by the group.
UNICEF advocates to communities to prevent the use of children in self-defense groups.
In the Central African Republic, UNICEF, with funding from the European Commission, is supporting bush schools to provide education and a sense of normalcy to displaced children.
The UNICEF representation in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for June 2008. It contains an excellent overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, as well as a description of UNICEF’s projects in CAR.
Here is the summary:
CAR is placed on the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission’s agenda
Peace agreement signed between the CAR government, APRD and UFDR
The UN Fund grants UNICEF US$5.8million to purchase 740,000 mosquito nets
UNICEF signs new agreements with COOPI, IMC, IPHD, IRC and Merlin
Mass vaccination campaign against Yellow Fever is held in northwestern CAR
International Day of the African Child is celebrated
The construction of 404 latrines is completed in northern CAR
In Birao, in northeastern CAR, women and children have been particularly affected by what they nervously call “the events”, the fights between the rebel forces of the Movement of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) and the government forces.
In a previous post, we published letters from women who were victims of violence and recalled their personal and family experience. This time, Children are talking about the attacks. Under the supervision of social workers, they told their stories and drew the scenes they witnessed.
13 year old boy
I ran from Birao to Roukoutou. We crossed a river and once there, there was nothing to eat. We suffered a lot. So we learned to fish and hunt. We stayed there for 45 days before we came back to Birao. Continue Reading »
Radhika Coomaraswamy, Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflicts concluded on Saturday a six-day mission to assess the conflict’s impact on children in CAR and Chad.
After a two day visit to Chad, Radhika Coomaraswamy came to CAR to meet young victims of abduction, and rebels suspected of recruiting child soldiers. She met with women communities, internally displaced people (IDPs), and victims of the conflict and of coupeurs de routes (Zaraguinas). Among the victimes, the SRSG met a young girl abducted by Coupeurs de Route two years ago in a neighbouring village. She was only liberated in March this year, when the Government forces attacked the bandits’ camp in Bilakaré, between Paoua, Bokaranga and Bozoum. By that time, her parents had fled violence, probably to Cameroun and she is now living with her displaced grandmother in Paoua.
However, despite the remaining insecurity, improvements have been achieved through the peace agreements signed between the Government and the Movement of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) last year and with the Popular Army for Unity and Democracy (APRD) last month. Continue Reading »
‘The people of the Central African Republic are living in Fear’
(UNICEF) – The threat of kidnappings, rape and killings are an everyday part of life for people living in the Central African Republic according to the UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Mia Farrow, who has just completed a week long visit to the country.
Along with the agency’s Regional Director, Dr Esther Guluma, Ms Farrow was able to speak to victims of highway bandits, military raids and forced displacement. Amongst those seen were women who had suffered multiple rapes and children who had been kidnapped for ransom and held for two years in the bush.
Both women visited the country last year and the latest mission was intended to follow up on what they describe as a ‘complex humanitarian emergency’. UNICEF has since launched multiple programmes in the north of the country where some three hundred thousand people have fled their homes because of insecurity. On one of the few major arterial roads in the region Mia Farrow and Dr Guluma were told that 1,100 women and girls as young as four have raped on the route in the past year. Most cases are never reported. Continue Reading »
(IRIN) - Women in Ndele, a remote town in northern Central African Republic, are making a stand for their rights. The local chapter of the national women’s organisation, OFCA, has launched a campaign to alert women to their rights on issues such as female genital mutilation/cutting, early marriages and polygamy.
More than 15 percent of women in conflict-ravaged northern CAR are estimated to have experienced some form of gender-based violence, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Ndele’s women used the occasion of the opening of an OCHA office in the town in late April to make their case to the Minister for Social Affairs and the Family, Solange Pagonendji N’dakala.
“We live in a traditional society which still looks down upon us. Our rights are ignored, we are victims of violence and our young girls are not spared either,” said Marguerite Zanaba, head of the local chapter of the organisation. Continue Reading »
The Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team (HDPT) unites all organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian and development crisis in the Central African Republic: United Nations agencies, the Red Cross Movement, NGOs and other organizations. For more information, visit About HDPT CAR or email us at info[at]hdptcar.net
Interviews with Dr Ione
Dr Ione describes her incredible experiences in the Central African Republic. A thrilling eye-witness account of the country’s history.
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for August 2009. It contains an overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
Grave violations against children are being perpetrated by all parties to the various conflicts in the Central African Republic (CAR), including rape and armed recruitment into the fighting forces, according to a United Nations report released today.
Every year, an estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), most of these girls live in Africa. Although most governments have prohibited FGM - the partial or total removal of external genitalia - the practice persists illegally. 
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for November 2008. It contains a detailed overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for September 2008. It contains an detailed overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, and provides an update on UNICEF’s ongoing activities in CAR.
The UNICEF office in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for July / August 2008. It contains an excellent overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, as well as UNICEF’s activities in CAR.
The UNICEF representation in the Central African Republic has just published their monthly report for June 2008. It contains an excellent overview on the current humanitarian, political and security situation, as well as a description of UNICEF’s projects in CAR.
In Birao, in northeastern CAR, women and children have been particularly affected by what they nervously call “the events”, the fights between the rebel forces of the Movement of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) and the government forces.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflicts concluded on Saturday a six-day mission to assess the conflict’s impact on children in CAR and Chad.
(IRIN) - Women in Ndele, a remote town in northern Central African Republic, are making a stand for their rights. The local chapter of the national women’s organisation, OFCA, has launched a campaign to alert women to their rights on issues such as female genital mutilation/cutting, early marriages and polygamy.
