Amnesty International Press Release (20 Oct 2011)

Central African Republic: Civilians bear the brunt of decades of violence and abuses

Local and foreign armed groups in the CAR are still killing, abducting, torturing and raping civilians, as well as burning houses and looting property, Amnesty International said in a report released today.

The report Central African Republic – Action needed to end decades of abuse describes how CAR’s population has been terrorized for decades by armed groups who have been able to operate with virtual impunity.

Despite peace agreements and a fledgling Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration process, armed conflict continues to ravage the country resulting in civilian deaths and mass internal displacement.

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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.

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Highlights

• General Abdoulaye Miskine, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces of Central Africa (UFDC) says he is ready to sign the Global Peace Agreement
• China donates agricultural equipment and office supplies worth $450,000

Background and security

Miskine ready to sign the peace agreement
General Abdoulaye Miskine, leader of the Union of Democratic Forces of Central Africa (FDPC), one of the three rebel groups based in the centre north of the country, has said he is ready to sign the Global Peace Agreement. His commitment is a prelude to the much anticipated political dialogue expected this month in Bangui. “I am ready to sign the Global Peace Agreement in order to give the political inclusive dialogue a chance — considered by all the only way out of crisis,” said General Miskine in a press release issued Saturday in Bangui. 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 »

Massive sexual crimes in Central African Republic will not go unpunished

(ICC): Jean-Pierre Bemba, charged by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Central African Republic, was arrested on 24 May in the suburbs of Brussels, Belgium.

Mr. Bemba is chairman of the Mouvement de Libération du Congo (MLC), an armed group which intervened in the 2002-2003 armed conflict in Central African Republic (CAR) and pursued a plan of terrorizing and brutalizing innocent civilians, in particular during a campaign of massive rapes and looting. Mr Bemba had already used the same tactics in the past, in CAR, in the DRC, always leaving a trail of death and destruction behind him.

He is the first person arrested in the context of the ICC investigation in CAR which was opened by Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in May 2007. Further investigation are proceeding. Continue Reading »

Often ignored, sometimes treated with discretion, sexual violence remains a sensitive issue in the Central African Republic. Although thousands of women have been victims of physical, psychological, and social trauma, their suffering remains largely silent.

Some women were raped by soldiers from neighbouring armies; others were attacked by rebels or national soldiers in conflict areas. Many are everyday victims of a society disrupted by years of conflict. Adding to their personal and physical burdens, CAR’s victims of sexual violence are often denied justice and face rejection from their community. Continue Reading »

Several thousands of women and young girls have endured rape and other sexual violence in the conflict-torn north of the Central African Republic (CAR). Research suggests that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) strikes well over 15 percent of women and girls in the region.

Rape cases are being reported in northern CAR on a weekly basis. The most recent reports mention two twelve-year old girls, who were raped while searching for firewood in the bush near their shelter. A local newspaper also described the ordeal of a thirteen-year old girl assaulted earlier this month on her way to sell palm oil at a market. Health workers in the western province of Nana-Mambéré have expressed shock at the increasing number of rapes of women and girls. Continue Reading »

Gender inequalities in the Central African Republic persist. They are so deeply ingrained that significant positive change will probably take decades. Some facts from a government briefing paper on gender issues in CAR below. (It is well worth looking at other sources as well.):

• The share of illiterate women (68 percent) is substantially higher than that of men (46 percent)
• Net school enrolment is about 37 percent for girls against 44 percent for boys, these are some of the lowest rates in Africa
• More than 14 percent of women in urban areas have been subjected to sexual violence
• Women in urban areas are more than twice as likely to suffer from HIV/AIDS than men (infection rate 11 percent against 5 percent)
• CAR’s maternal mortality rate is among the world’s highest (1,355 per 100,000)
• Only 11 out of 105 members of parliament are women
• Only 10 percent of all judges are women
• Women remain argely uninvolved in the management and control of financial resources

Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team member UNFPA was recently reinforced by a Gender Advisor, supported by the GenCap initiative, to ensure a gender sensitive and equal approach in all humanitarian operations in the Central African Republic.

For photos of vulnerable women in CAR and to read the brief on gender, go to the next page. Continue Reading »

From ReliefWeb: Today, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced the decision to open an investigation in the Central African Republic: “My Office has carefully reviewed information from a range of sources. We believe that grave crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court were committed in the Central African Republic. We will conduct our own independent investigation, gather evidence, and prosecute the individuals who are most responsible.” Continue Reading »