Central African Republic
Central African Republic
Africa
Endorsements
Endorsed in 2015
Endorsed
Endorsed
Endorsed
Relevant UN Resolutions
GCPEA Education Under Attack
Profiled in: 2022, 2020, 2018, 2014
Other GCPEA Publications
Other Important Information
Memberships in International Regional Organizations
Peacekeeping
Key Information
Key information about the country.
Advocacy Engagements
Engagements with this state or any other relevant information that can support advocacy.
Watchlist discussed the issue with MFA, MoE and PM’s office as part of their research on attacks on schools (April-May 2015). Present at African Group briefing in June 2015 and endorsed afterwards.
September 2017 UNSC: GCPEA sent a letter to the ambassador in New York asking to raise the issue on attacks and military use, draw attention to the Declaration and the Guidelines and to mention the AU call to endorse during the Open Debate on children and armed conflict. The Central African Republic has ratified OPAC.
July 2018: Co-sponsored resolution 2427 (2018)
March 2019: Clustered Interactive Dialogue with the SRSG CAAC Virginia Gamba, HRC Geneva: joined Norway’s joint statement on the Safe Schools Declaration.
July 2019: In July, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG CAAC) informed that the Front Populaire pour la Renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC) had signed an Action Plan to end and prevent grave violations against children with the United Nations. The Action Plan addresses the four violations for which the FPRC is listed, including attacks against schools.
September 2019: In September, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict (SRSG CAAC) informed that L’Unité pour la paix en Centrafrique (UPC) signed an Action Plan with the United Nations to end and prevent grave violations against children. The Action Plan covers the four violations for which the UPC is listed, including attacks on schools and hospitals.
December 2019: The International Criminal Court issued a unanimous decision partially confirming the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out by Anti-Balaka leaders, including crimes committed at Yamwara School.
April 2020: The Working group has also called on all armed groups operating in the Central African Republic to prevent and stop attacks or threats of attacks against schools and hospitals and their personnel, as well as the use of educational establishments and hospitals for military purposes.
May 2022: On 04/05, GCPEA met with Mr. Prosper Nkew from Plan International CAR and Mr. Mama Tramat from the Ministry of Education to discuss ongoing efforts at the national level for implementation of the SSD. Mr. Nkew explained that they had established a technical committee on SSD implementation in November 2021 and were currently drafting an action plan. One of the first activity they would like to organise is a roundtable discussion with all of the relevant ministries to get them more engaged on this issue (he highlighted that there is very low engagement from MFA and MoD). GCPEA shared experiences from different countries/contexts on inter-ministerial roundtables, proposed to write a letter to the ministries requesting focal points for the state-led network to support the technical committee, shared the example of the SSD Sahel platform on regional coordinated impact, and discussed the idea of workshops for NSAGs in collaboration with the ICRC and Geneva Call. We agreed to keep in touch and support the technical committee in the drafting of its action plan and future concept notes for activities.
August 2022: On 18 August, Nevena and Apolline met with Mr. Marius Nzessioue, Charge d’Affaires (note: there has not been an ambassador at the mission for the last 2 years) from the PM of NY to discuss the Transforming Education Summit. We shared GCPEA’s recommendations, highlighting the ones specific to CAR (I.e. implement the Child Protection Code and National Action Plan) and explained the importance of incorporating the protection of education within the TES discussions and actions. The representative was very keen to support and explained that he would share a note with the MFA, with the MoE in copy, containing our recommendations and recommending that it be incorporated into his President’s statement at the TES. We followed up in writing with the recommendations.
September 2022 Transforming Education Summit: CAR: committed to strengthen the system of data collection to take into account the situation of children out of school.
November 2022: Endorsed the Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences Arising from the Use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas (EWIPA) on 18 November during an International Conference hosted by Ireland, the leader and penholder behind the Declaration.
UN Standards
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
“The Committee notes with appreciation the measures taken by the State party with the support of UNICEF and non-governmental organizations to enhance educational infrastructure and to protect schools from occupation and attacks, notably the implementation of the “Safe Schools” programme, as well as the COVID-19 education response plan.”
Good Practice
What, if anything, the country has done to protect education and/or implement any of the 8 commitments outlined in the Declaration.
related to CAR – MINUSCA issued a directive in 2015 (MINUSCA/OSRSG/046/2015) which states that “[a]ll MINUSCA military and police personnel should avoid encroaching on the security and education of children by using the following guidelines as good practice […] The use of a school or university by a party to a conflict is not permitted, and cannot provide grounds for continuation of such use”.
The government promulgated the 2020 Child Protection Code, which criminalizes attacks on schools and their occupation . This is the first piece of legislation in Africa banning or criminalizing military use of schools.
The Safe Schools Declaration Technical Committee launched an Action Plan in March 2020 with concrete activities to disseminate the Guidelines and incorporate protection of schools and universities into national legislation.
November 2021: SSD follow up committee put in place. Like the committees in other countries, they will help the government to follow-up on their pledge by taking concrete actions on the ground. The focus will therefore be the implementation of the Guidelines and data collection.
December 2022: National Plan on the SSD has been develped by the national committee.
On May 5, 2022, GCPEA conducted an Orientation on the Toolkit at a Regional Meeting on the Implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration in West and Central Africa; the meeting convened EiE and CPiE specialists from across the region. At least 20 people were in attendance; the meeting was also recorded and further disseminated. GCPEA provided simultaneous interpretation (English-French) for the meeting which enhanced participation of the GCPEA secretariat as well as representatives from both anglophone and francophone countries. The orientation covered definitions of attacks, the GCPEA data collection tools, and sharing of good practices in reporting on attacks on education. Following the meeting, the group set several action points, many of which related to GCPEA’s orientation or other GCPEA work. The Regional EiE and CPiE working groups agreed to 1) Define a minimum set of indicators to be regularly collected by countries in the region (based on existing tools including the GCPEA toolkit); Propose to the clusters of the region further GCPEA training on their toolkit and to support the GCPEA-Spain Training; Undertake a granular analysis of the nuances between ‘schools closed’/’education under attack’/’schools not-functional’. In addition, the group committed to several advocacy actions for the International Day and Transforming Education Summit.
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In 2015, in some areas, community members, with the support of UNICEF, started an SMS alert system, EduTrac, that linked schools, communities, and local and national Ministries via text message. This allowed education personnel, especially in schools in remote communities, to communicate education data, such as enrollment and attendance, to regional and national education authorities. In addition, schools targeted for attack could utilize EduTrac to report attacks to the Ministries and police and receive support.
In 2006, when entire communities in conflict-affected areas in northern Central African Republic fled to the bush to avoid fighting and attacks targeting villages, temporary “bush schools” were established by teachers, parents, and community members, with assistance from UNICEF and other donors, including the United Kingdom Department of International Development (DfID) and the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO). Parents were offered short teacher training courses and served as teachers in the bush schools. They delivered lessons that attempted to parallel the national curriculum taught in government schools, teaching over 100,000 students in makeshift shelters or under trees.
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Not established
Relevant Contacts
Contact information of the representatives of Permanent Missions, national Ministries, and focal points for the State-led Implementation Network.
General Email(s):
missioncentrafrique@protonmail.ch
Other Contacts:
Mr. Firmin Gabin N’GBENG-MOKOUE
Counsellor
Chargé d’affaires
firmokoue@gmail.com
General Email(s):
repercaf.ny@gmail.com | loungoulah1@yahoo.fr
Other Contacts:
Marius NZESSIOUE
Chargé d’affaires a.i
(they don’t have an ambassador for the last 2 years)
mnzessioue@gmail.com
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