Submitted by crinadmin on
The present report has been prepared pursuant to Security Council resolution 1612 (2005) and is submitted to the Security Council and its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict as the second country report on children and armed conflict in the Central African Republic, covering the period from December 2008 to December 2010. The report follows the first report on this issue (S/2009/66) and the subsequent conclusions and recommendations of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (S/AC.51/2009/2).
The report highlights the ongoing protection crisis in the country, caused by sporadic fighting between Government forces and armed groups, prevalent banditry and the extreme poverty of the population. The crisis is compounded by the lack of capacity of the defence and security forces and the judiciary, as well as by insufficient socio economic opportunities.
In spite of the Government’s commitment to end the use and recruitment of children, their mobilization into the ranks of rebel groups and self-defence militias throughout the country continued during the reporting period. Children have been mobilized by the Armée populaire pour la restauration de la République et la démocratie, the Union des forces démocratiques pour le rassemblement, the Front démocratique du peuple centrafricain and the Mouvement des libérateurs centrafricains pour la justice, which are signatories to the 2008 Libreville Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Children were also present in the ranks of the Convention des patriotes pour la justice et la paix. Limited progress was made in the development and implementation of action plans by armed groups signatories to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
The report notes other grave violations, such as the killing of children, sexual violence, attacks on health centres and the denial of humanitarian access. In the south-east of the country, the Lord’s Resistance Army continues to abduct and forcibly recruit children and use them as combatants, spies, sex slaves and porters.
The report identifies the national armed forces, armed groups, self-defence militias and road bandits as responsible for grave violations against children. It also describes the programmatic response to violations committed.
Finally, the report stresses the considerable challenges in monitoring and reporting, as well as addressing, grave violations against children, and outlines a series of recommendations with a view to securing strengthened action for the protection of children in the Central African Republic.
pdf: http://www.crin.org/docs/Children and armed in the Central African Republic.pdf