Zeid urges further investigation into human rights
violations by international forces in Central African Republic
GENEVA (30 May 2015) – The UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Saturday said he has urged several States to
intensify their efforts to investigate long-standing allegations that soldiers
in their forces sent to keep the peace in the Central African Republic may have
committed very serious violations, including killing of civilians, summary
executions, abductions and sexual exploitation of local women.
“These allegations were extremely disturbing,” Zeid said.
“People in CAR were desperate for protection.
The role of international forces in halting the worst of the fighting
and sectarian slaughter in CAR has been invaluable, and their presence has
unquestionably saved many, many lives. Yet, in some cases the longed-for
protectors turned into predators.”
“In the wake of the revelations of alleged serious sexual
abuse of children, currently under investigation by the French authorities, my
Office has taken a deeper look into these issues and the extent of the
follow-up into alleged serious violations by soldiers belonging to several
other international contingents operating under the MISCA* umbrella in 2014,”
the UN Human Rights Chief said. “Some of
these incidents have been at least partly investigated, and some States have
apparently sanctioned some of the soldiers involved, but the fact that a number
of foreign contingents may have been implicated is in itself a matter of
enormous concern.”
Several incidents, including ones involving excessive use
of force, enforced disappearances and sexual exploitation and violence, were
investigated promptly by UN human rights officers on the ground, and
subsequently by the International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African
Republic, which reported on a range of violations by international forces in
December 2014.** These included the
disappearance of at least 11 people in Boali, a small town some 80 km north of
Bangui. An update on that incident is currently being prepared, after the
second of two investigative missions to Boali took place in late March 2015,
and this will be published by the UN Human Rights Office next week.
The forces involved in these incidents were not operating
under the United Nations flag. Nevertheless, foreign soldiers, including UN
peacekeepers, have in the past been implicated in crimes, including sexual
exploitation and abuse.
“This is a recurring problem involving foreign soldiers
operating on other territories and clearly more needs to be done to stop it,”
Zeid said
The High Commissioner said that in addition to requesting
concerned States to provide more information about the steps they have taken to
investigate the allegations, and prosecute anyone found to have committed
crimes, he is sending a team from his Geneva headquarters to the Central African
Republic to look into possible further
measures to address human rights violations .
“It is important to do a thorough review of what happened
in the past, but also to drive home the message that there must be no
repetition of these dreadful acts now or in the future,” he said.
The High Commissioner noted that the investigations into
the incidents reported by UN human rights staff in 2014 had resulted in some
preliminary actions by States including the sanctioning and early repatriation
of some senior MISCA commanders.
“But this is not sufficient,” Zeid said. “The punishment
must fit the crime, and some other incidents were reported that may not have
been fully followed up on by the States concerned, and we need to get to the
bottom of what precisely was done by whom and when. There must be
accountability for serious crimes, no matter who commits them. And there must
be relentless pressure on those who are in a position to provide that
accountability, namely the States who provide the troops and who have
jurisdiction over them.”
ENDS
* MISCA is the acronym for the Mission internationale de
soutien à la Centrafrique sous conduite
africaine , an African Union peacekeeping mission to the Central African
Republic, that was deployed in December 2013, in parallel with the French
Operation Sangaris, in an attempt to stabilise the country which was in the
midst of a murderous civil war and on the verge of total collapse. The
deployment of these two forces are credited with halting the worst of the
violence between the two warring groups known as anti-Balaka and ex-Seleka,
that had already cost thousands of lives and threatened to destroy the entire
fabric of the nation. On 15 September 2014, upon completion of MISCA’s mandate,
authority was officially transferred from MISCA to a new United Nations force
known as MINUSCA (UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the
Central African Republic). The French force known as Sangaris remains
independent of MINUSCA.
** See pp. 114-119, paragraphs 540-574, of the final
report (S/2014/928) of the International Commission of Inquiry on the Central
African Republic, transmitted by the Secretary-General to the Security Council
on 22 December 2014. The report can be
found at http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/s_2014_928.pdf
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