Corporate report

Human Rights Priority Country status report: January to June 2016

Updated 8 February 2017

This was published under the 2015 to 2016 Cameron Conservative government

Between January and June 2016, the security and humanitarian situation in CAR remained grave, and continued to have a severe impact on the civilian population, their humanitarian needs, and their human rights. Lack of civil liberties, gender inequality and restrictions on freedom of religion or belief all remained serious human rights concerns. Armed groups still control large areas outside the capital, Bangui.

There has been political progress. President Faustin-Archange Touadera was inaugurated on 30 March following successful and relatively peaceful elections. There have been protests within the Muslim community at the perceived under-representation of Muslims in the government. The newly elected National Assembly opened its first extraordinary session in Bangui on 3 May, marking the end of the transitional process. The UK supports President Touadera’s priorities of disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration, along with economic reform, and hopes that the new government will be successful in helping the country move on from its blighted past.

Despite the political progress, religious and inter-communal tensions intensified with violent clashes in a number of locations, leading to multiple population displacements in the west, north and in eastern CAR. Two members of the humanitarian community were killed in May and June, respectively. On 19 June, six police officers were taken hostage in Bangui’s PK5 district by armed elements. MINUSCA (UN peacekeeping mission in CAR) launched an operation against the armed group. MINUSCA forces were attacked and, during the exchange of fire, three armed men were killed and three were arrested. Protests followed in a number of locations with guns reportedly being fired. Six people were killed and 18 were injured. A Senegalese peacekeeper was killed on 24 June. Serious clashes also took place in Bambari and tensions have been rising in Bria.

Gender-based violence, including sexual violence, continued in the reporting period. Statistics are not yet available for this reporting period; however, by October 2015, more than 60,000 cases of sexual and gender-based violence had been registered by an inter-agency group headed by the UN Population Fund. The actual number of cases is likely to be much higher. Armed groups and self-defence groups continued to recruit and use children in large numbers. Children are used in combat, as sex slaves and human shields, or forced to perform support roles.

The UK is deeply concerned by the allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse made against international peacekeeping troops. We support the UN Secretary General’s zero tolerance approach. This is why the UK provided £1m of funding to support training, vetting and implementation of the necessary reforms to the UN system. We are working closely with UN Security Council and international partners to ensure troop contributing countries investigate the allegations fully and take appropriate action.

The UK was concerned by allegations of violations committed by peacekeepers from the Republic of Congo. We have called upon the Republic of Congo to investigate these allegations thoroughly and ensure any perpetrators are brought to justice.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) increased its activities across eastern CAR spreading beyond the mining areas. These attacks have involved looting, violence against civilians, destruction of property and abductions. According to the LRA crisis tracker, since January 2016, 344 people were reportedly abducted by the LRA group, including more than 60 children. Thousands of civilians were also displaced in the areas where they are operating.

The UK continued its strong support for both UN and EU efforts to improve the political and security situation in CAR. The EU Military Advisory Mission (EUMAM CAR) will complete its mission in July. EUMAM CAR provided the government of CAR with expert advice on turning the military into a professional army, democratically accountable and representative of the entire nation. EUMAM CAR will be succeeded by an EU Training Mission (EUTM CAR), the primary purpose of which will be to promote security sector reform through the training of the CAR Armed Forces. This is vital for future stability in CAR, as it will help establish a well-trained and loyal army that supports the democratically elected government.

Reconstruction of the justice sector is still in its infancy. Police capacity continued to be extremely limited and this, along with the absence of a functioning judicial system, meant that little action was taken to halt or address human rights abuses and bring the perpetrators to justice. We hope that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s investigation (launched in 2014) into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by rebel groups since 2012 will help to address this. We welcome efforts by the CAR government and the UN to set up a Special Criminal Court to address these crimes.

The humanitarian situation in CAR continued to be a cause for deep concern. More than 2.3m people are in need of humanitarian assistance, with 416,000 internally displaced persons, and 474,000 CAR refugees in neighbouring countries. With half the population being considered as food insecure and in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, the needs of CAR’s population and refugees must remain a humanitarian priority for the international community.

The UK has provided £63m in humanitarian aid to CAR and CAR refugees since 2013 (and £2.5m in development funding through central programmes), making the UK CAR’s third largest humanitarian donor in 2015. UK funding has enabled UN agencies, the International Committee of the Red Cross and NGOs to provide healthcare, livelihoods assistance, protection and food aid to CAR populations and CAR refugees.

At the UN Human Rights Council on 28 June, the UK reiterated its support for the UN’s Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in CAR, Ms. Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum, and stressed that we would continue to support her work in CAR to build a future without fear of human rights abuses or reliance on humanitarian assistance.