Recommendations to the Security Council
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR)
Anti-balaka local defense militias, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and the former Séléka coalition are each listed in the Secretary-General’s (SG) 2020 annual report S/2020/525 on children and armed conflict (CAAC) for recruitment and use, killing and maiming, and rape and other forms of sexual violence. Of these, the LRA is also listed for abduction, and the former Séléka coalition and associated groups are also listed for attacks on schools and hospitals. In November, MINUSCA’s mandate is up for renewal, pursuant to SCR 2499 (2019). According to the SG’s October report S/2020/994, COVID-19 has led to verification challenges and a decrease in partners available to support the reintegration of children released from armed groups. During the reporting period, 13 children (two girls, 11 boys) were separated from the Mouvement Patriotique pour la Centrafrique (MPC), 22 children (three girls, 19 boys) were verified as associated with the Front Populaire pour la Renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC), and nine children escaped the LRA. The UN also documented conflict-related sexual violence affecting 39 girls. From January to September 2020, OCHA recorded 304 incidents impacting humanitarian workers in CAR, an increase compared to 2019. The Security Council should:
- Renew MINUSCA’s child protection mandate, maintain current capacity in the child protection unit to fully deliver on this mandate, and ensure child protection continues to be prioritized as a cross-cutting issue, including through the national disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration program, security sector reform, and activities to promote the protection of civilians and rule of law;
- Call for all parties to conflict to engage with the UN to sign and implement action plans to end and prevent all six grave violations against children; urge the MPC, the FPRC, and l’Unité pour la paix en Centrafrique (UPC) to fully and swiftly implement their respective action plans to end and prevent grave violations and release all children still in their ranks;
- Condemn all attacks on protected healthcare and humanitarian personnel, and demand all parties immediately cease such attacks, and allow safe and unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance to all children and other civilians in need;
- Remind all parties that children — including those actually or allegedly associated with armed groups — should be treated primarily as victims, and urge the Government to promptly adopt a protocol for the handover of children associated with armed groups to civilian child protection actors;
- Call on all parties to swiftly and fully implement the recommendations of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict elaborated in its fourth conclusions on the situation of children and armed conflict in CAR