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CAR: HRW report denouncing violations by the government; Reaction to the report; Victims of rape are preparing their testimonies for the ICC

20 Sept 2007

Dear All,

Please find below the developments related to the International Criminal Court's investigation on the situation of in the Central Africa Republic (CAR), including the release of an .

(1) A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report denouncing human rights violations by the CAR government;

(2) Reaction to the report and related news articles;

(3) Victims of rape in CAR are preparing their testimonies for the ICC with the assistance of local CAR NGOs including the CAR Coalition for the ICC.

Please also take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential or pending situations before the court. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

With regards,

Linda Gueye
CICC Communications
[email protected]

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I. REPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH HRW REPORTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY THE CAR GOVERNMENT

1. Central African Republic: Government Forces Kill Hundreds Troops, Presidential Guard also Burn Thousands of Civilian Homes, press release by HRW http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/09/14/carepu16845.htm

The report, "State of Anarchy Rebellion and Abuses against Civilians" is available on: http://hrw.org/reports/2007/car0907/

" (Paris, September 14, 2007) - Government troops, notably the elite Presidential Guard, have carried out hundreds of unlawful killings and burned thousands of civilian homes since mid-2005 in their counterinsurgency campaign in northern Central African Republic (CAR), a new report by Human Rights Watch charged.

The new 108-page report released today, "State of Anarchy: Rebellion and Abuses Against Civilians," is based on three weeks of on-the-ground research. It documents the human rights abuses and breaches of the laws of war committed in northern CAR by both rebel groups and the government forces, and also documents attacks by banditry groups in the northwest known as zaraguinas, who often kidnap children for ransom.

"Just across the border from Darfur, the army of the Central African Republic has killed hundreds of innocent civilians and forced tens of thousands to flee their villages," said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The widespread burning of homes by government security forces is the signature abuse of the conflict." "

II. REACTION TO THE HRW REPORT

(a) An article published on Centrafrique Presse welcomes the report:

"After the publication of the report on the investigation of the American NGO Refugee International that confirmed, which was already known and which few people talk about, the humanitarian disaster due to the Bozize presidential guard [.], another American organization, Human Rights Watch, just confirmed the information. [.] Indeed, the condemning report on the Bangui regime, which was just made public on Friday September 14 2007, blames the Bozize presidential guard. The American organization also underlines the involvement of the French military as to their indifference towards the witnessed violation of human rights. [.] We can only rejoice and congratulate Human Rights Watch for their excellent investigative work. This report is undreamed-of because the responsible party in the massacres as well as the presidential guard would have wanted these crimes to happen in discretion and without the public knowing about it. Unfortunately for them, everything is rising to the surface and it is safe to assume that these blood crimes as well as the numerous infringements of human rights will not go unpunished. One day, sooner or later, the culprits will have to give some explanations to the court about their ignominy."

Voir l'article:

1. Les crimes de la soldatesque de Bozizé dans le Nord continuent de remonter à la surface
http://www.centrafrique-presse.com/index.php?id=85&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2072&tx_ttnews[backPid]=71&cHash=eb993f5367 <http://www.centrafrique-presse.com/index.php?id=85&tx_ttnews[;tt_news];=2072&tx_ttnews[;backPid];=71&cHash=eb993f5367> (French)

(b) A New York Times article summarizing the HRW report:

Central Africa Guard Unit Is Implicated in Atrocities, by Lydia Polgreen, (NYT), 15 September 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/world/africa/16africa.html?ex=1347595200&en=4668f8fc4b6e83c9&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

"The report offers a grim and detailed portrait of the violence that has convulsed northern Central African Republic since a disputed 2005 election won by François Bozizé, a former general who seized power in 2003. The government is trying to put down two rebellions in the remote northern regions, vast swaths of territory with no paved roads or electricity and a long history of lawlessness.

Researchers documented 119 summary executions and other illegal killings of civilians, the report said, with at least 51 of them, including a teacher's beheading, carried out by one presidential guard unit based in Bossangoa, a town in the northwest. The presidential guard is controlled by Mr. Bozizé, the report said, and operates outside the normal command of the military.

The violence in the Central African Republic has been linked by some diplomats and aid officials to the crisis in neighboring Darfur and eastern Chad, but the Human Rights Watch report concluded that there was little evidence of a direct link.

(c) Reaction of the CAR government

A Reuters article, which reports that HRW called the UE forces to protect the civilians in CAR explains:

" The European forces responsible for maintaining peace that are going to be deployed in the Central African Republic must act to stop the massacre of hundreds of civilians by government troupes since mid-2005, the HRW declared on Friday.

[.] Without acting officially, the Central African Republic authorities admit privately that several government troupes have burnt villages and committed exactions against civilians.""

See below:
1. La force de l'UE pour la République centrafricaine doit stopper les exactions de l'armée, indique Human Rights Watch (HRW) - par Pascal Fletcher (Reuters) - 14 septembre 2007 http://www.centrafrique-presse.com/index.php?id=85&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2069&tx_ttnews[backPid]=71&cHash=a6eca1ac4c <http://www.centrafrique-presse.com/index.php?id=85&tx_ttnews[;tt_news];=2069&tx_ttnews[;backPid];=71&cHash=a6eca1ac4c> (French)

III. VICTIMS OF RAPE PREPARE THEIR TESTIMONIES WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF CAR NGOs

An article published in the news agency Info-Sud explains:

"« The victims of rapes perpetuated in the Central African Republic between 2002 and 2003 are actively preparing their next testimonials for the investigators of the International Criminal Court.

In the midst of the associations, the number of reunions is increasing to help them battle the shame and stigmatization of such crimes.

[.] The same effervescence is going on at the Organization for Compassion and the Development of distressed families (Ocodefad). « We have pushed the government to present a complaint to the ICC. Our battle is to make sure the court punishes sexual offenders, » Jean-Gaston Bayama, one of the officials, recently said to the crowd massed in the association's court.

Discrimination [.] "of the victims, who in no case want to be targets of criticism, forces them to leave their villages or their neighborhoods to start their lives elsewhere," deplores Mme. Marie Edith Douzima Lawson, president of the AFJC. "Many victims were targeted and some were infected by HIV," notes the ICC... [.]

Justice in the quest for efficiency.

[.] For more efficient investigations, Mme. Douzima Dawson, also coordinator of the Central African Coalition for the ICC, wishes the introduction of an Office for the Prosecutor of the ICC in the country."

See below:
1. Le viol devant la justice internationale - par Jules Yanganda (INFOSUD-SYFIA) - 5 septembre 2007 http://www.infosud.org/showArticle.php?article=1113 <http://www.infosud.org/showArticle.php?article=1113> (French)

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CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise Awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on Situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts.

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ICC
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