CRINMAIL 176:

In this issue:

Brutal violence in the Central African Republic

Earlier this month, the UN warned that the current conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) is at risk of escalating into genocide.

Many people are dying at the hands of soldiers and militia gangs or from untreated diseases such as malaria. Boys and girls as young as eight are being press ganged into fighting between Christians and Muslims. And reports have emerged of beheadings and public execution-style killings. 

Eruption of violence

The CAR has been unstable since its independence from France in 1960.

The latest eruption of violence began on 10 December 2012, when the Seleka (meaning "alliance" in the local language) rebel coalition launched a series of attacks, culminating in March when President François Bozizé was forced to flee.

A transitional government, headed by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, has been entrusted with restoring law and order and paving the way for democratic elections. But armed clashes in the north-east have increased since August, and the country is facing a dire humanitarian situation that affects virtually the entire population of 4.6 million. In the capital Bangui, insecurity is endemic and abuses by ex-Seleka members and security forces are committed on a daily basis.

Religious conflict

Human Rights Watch has reported that, even though the self-declared president, Michel Djotodia, a former Seleka leader, has ordered the rebel forces to disband, they still rule through fear; burning down village after village, firing indiscriminately at civilians from their pick-up trucks, executing farmers in their fields, and murdering women and children. The large majority of the Seleka's leaders and fighters are Muslims, many of them from Sudan and Chad. To make matters worse, fury with the Seleka is now spilling over into vicious armed resistance among Christians.

Human rights abuses

UNICEF has warned that the number of children recruited into armed groups has doubled since March, with communities setting up self-defence groups leading to a spike in the number of children involved. "Roughly today, we're talking about 5,000-6,000 children, so the number has roughly doubled from our previous estimate," made in March, said Souleymane Diabate, UNICEF's representative in the country.

According to the UN refugee agency, some 400,000 people have been forced to flee their homes since December and almost 70,000 refugees have been registered in neighbouring countries.

Citing mounting human rights abuses, sexual violence and other “horrors,” Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson this week called on the international community to take immediate action to halt the rapidly deteriorating situation in conflict-wracked CAR, which, he said, is “descending into complete chaos before our eyes.” He proposed that a UN peacekeeping mission eventually replace the current African-led International Support Mission in the CAR (MISCA).

International and regional interventions

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday authorising MISCA, as well as the deployment of French troops to assist it.

The resolution imposes a sanctions regime, including a year-long embargo banning the sale or transfer to CAR of weapons of all types, including “ammunition, military vehicles and paramilitary equipment”. It also asks the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to establish an international commission of inquiry for an initial one-year period, including experts in both international humanitarian law and human rights law, in order to immediately investigate reports of violations of such laws and human rights abuses in CAR by all parties since 1 January 2013. Read the full text of the resolution here.

France had said last week that it would send 1,000 more soldiers to try to contain the conflict. They will join the 400 soldiers sent earlier to protect French nationals. There are also currently some 2,500 African troops in the country. This number is due to increase to 3,600 by January 2014.

Latest news and reports:

11,000 children killed in Syria

The Oxford Research Group Study has published a new report on Syria: 'Stolen Futures: The hidden toll of child casualties in Syria'.

According to the report, more than 11,000 children have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict over two and a half years ago, many of them summarily executed or targeted by snipers.

"One of the most disturbing things about this is that the evidence shows that children being killed by bullets are being deliberately killed," said Hamit Dardagan, one of the report's co-authors. "They are not being killed in crossfire."

The United Nations puts the overall death toll in Syria at more than 100,000. Read more.

In another report published this week, the UN refugee agency warned that as many as 300,000 Syrian children living in Lebanon and Jordan could be without schooling by the end of 2013. School-age refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries are increasingly cut off from education and forced to work to survive, the study found. Read more.

Sexual violence during armed conflict

Sexual violence is all too often used as a weapon of war against civilians, particularly women.

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Monday, and the start of the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign, the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) and the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) will publish an assessment of rehabilitation programmes available to survivors of sexual violence during conflict. Read more.

Military use of schools

In most countries with armed conflicts around the world, national armed forces or armed groups have used schools for military purposes, with devastating consequences for children and their right to education.

Forces have converted schools into barracks, detention facilities, military training camps, weapons depots, and bases for military operations. Often, forces take over only part of a school, putting students attempting to continue their studies at grave risk.

On Universal Children’s Day, November 20, Human Rights Watch released a video in six languages on the impact of military use of schools on children, urging all national armed forces and armed groups to reject using schools for military purposes during armed conflict. Read more.

In 2011, the UN Security Council (SC) adopted a resolution to expand the criteria for listing parties to conflict in the Secretary-General’s annual report to include the grave violation of attacks on schools and hospitals. Read more about the monitoring and reporting system mechanism established by the SC.  

Children affected by armed conflict in the DRC

According to the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG), Leila Zerrougui, hundreds of children have been released since an Action Plan was signed in 2012 by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to end and prevent recruitment and use of children in the national security forces, as well as sexual violence.

But Ms. Zerrougui noted that children still face many challenges; for instance, children associated with armed groups are still considered as enemies instead of being treated and dealt with as victims. Read More.

UN resolution condemns LRA war crimes

Reiterating its strong condemnation of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and its use of children in armed conflict, the Security Council demanded last week that the group immediately cease all hostilities, release all abductees, and disarm and demobilise. Read more.

The LRA began fighting the Government of Uganda in the mid-1980s partly as a response to the marginalisation of people in the north. Joseph Kony is the founder and leader of the LRA.

The LRA swiftly degenerated into a brutal and merciless armed group, able to replenish its ranks only by abducting, terrorising and brainwashing children to fight. Its forces, thought to number 150-300 fighters plus hundreds of captive civilians, left Uganda in 2005 and now operate in Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. Read a factsheet prepared by the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict on the LRA and the impact on the lives of children.

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