CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: National Laws

Summary: General overview of Central African Republic's national legal provisions on children's rights, including guidance on how to conduct further research.

National laws on children's rights

Status of the CRC in national law
The preamble to the Constitution of the Central African Republic affirms the State's commitment to all duly ratified Conventions, specifically including those on the protection of children's rights. Article 72 further provides that properly ratified treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, have superior force to domestic laws. It is not clear, however, whether the Convention has been raised in a domestic court.

Constitution: Title I of the Constitution includes a number of rights provisions that apply regardless of age, but also a small number that specifically address the rights of children:

• Art. 6 contains a number of provisions of particular relevance to children including those: requiring the State to protect children against violence, insecurity, exploitation, neglect; providing that parents have a right and duty to raise and educate their children; providing that children born out of wedlock have the same rights to public assistance as children born within wedlock; establishing that legally recognised children have the same rights as children born within wedlock; and obliging the State and other public bodies to create the preconditions and public institutions to guarantee the education of children
• Art. 9, para. 4: requires that State to fix conditions for the protection of workers, particular the youngest

Legislation: the Central African Republic does not have a comprehensive Children's Code, rather legislation of relevance to children can be found throughout a number of Codes, Laws and Orders. Legislation of particular relevance to children includes, but is by no means limited to:

• Law No. 10 of 6 January 2010 on the Penal Code
• The Family Code
• Law No. 09-004 of 29 January 2009 on the Labour Code
• Law No. 10.002 of 6 January 2010 on the Code of Criminal Procedure
• The French Civil Code of 1958 (as imported into national law)
• Law No. 61/212 of 27 May 1961 on the Central African nationality Code
• Law No. 6.032 of 27 December 2006 on the protection of women from violence
• Law No. 66/26 of 31 March 1966 on the advancement of young girls
• Law No. 66/16 of 22 February 1966 on prohibiting dowry
• Law No. 60/95 of 20 June 1960 on the protection of the morals of Central African Youth
• Law No. 84/031 of 14 May 1984 on the organisation of the educational system
• Imperial Order No. 79/077 of 2 June 1979 on the protection of youth
• Imperial Order No. 78/034 of 19 May 1978 on the physical and moral protection of young persons living in an educational establishment of boarding school

Legal Research:
The World Intellectual Property Organisation has published the national Constitution in French (http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/details.jsp?id=7437). Droit-Afrique has published a selection of national legislation in French (http://www.droit-afrique.com/index.php/content/view/93/193/) and the International Labour Organisation website, NATLEX, also provides a selection of national legislation in French (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.country?p_lang=en&p_country=CAF). In addition, the U.S. Law Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/law/) and the World Legal Information Institute (http://www.worldlii.org/cf/) both provide a selection of links to legal and governmental resources.

Case Law
CRC Jurisprudence
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any cases in national courts that reference the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Case Law Research
Please contact CRIN if you are aware of any online resources that provide access to the jurisprudence of the courts of the Central African Republic.

Compliance with the CRC
In its Concluding Observations of 2000, the Committee on the Rights of the Child noted “the lack of an appropriate legal framework” in the Central African Republic and a “judicial system still reliant on colonial-era legislation which is not always appropriate to the current situation”. The Committee also noted that customary practices were applied in place of domestic law, and that these practices may violate children's rights. The Committee urged the State to conduct a review of domestic legislation to ensure conformity with the Convention on the Rights of the Child and to strengthen the implementation of legislation, particularly with regards to customary laws that conflict with the Convention.

In depth analysis
With regards to the justice system, the Committee expressed a number of more specific concerns, including at the absence of a functioning specialised system of juvenile justice. At the time of the Committee's 2000 Observations there were no juvenile courts outside of Bangui, and limited coverage within the capital. The Committee was critical of the practice of detaining children with adults and the absence of rehabilitative practices for children in conflict with the law. The Committee urged the State to implement comprehensive changes to this system to ensure that specialised treatment is given to children at the pre- and post-trial stages.

Violence against children was also prominent feature of the Committee's Concluding Observations, in which the Committee highlighted incidents of police brutality and corporal punishment committed against children, particularly in the capital. The Committee called on the State to end such violence against children, particularly those committed by the police, including through training programmes.

The Committee also raised concern at the practice of female genital mutilation in some areas of the country and called on the State to develop and implement legislation and programmes to combat the practice.

Current legal reform projects
A new draft Family Code was considered by the Parliamentary Gender Commission in January 2012, but limited information is available about its proposed provisions.