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Central African Republic

Central African Republic

Africa

Endorsements

Safe Schools Declaration

Not Endorsed

Paris Principles

Not Endorsed

Vancouver Principles

Not Endorsed

EWIPA Declaration

Not Endorsed

No current endorsements

Relevant UN Resolutions

No current co-sponsorships

GCPEA Education Under Attack

Has not been profiled

Other Important Information
Memberships in International Regional Organizations

No current memberships

Peacekeeping

Is not a peacekeeping contributing country

Key Information

Key information about the country.

Advocacy Meetings

Chronological recap of the engagement with this state or any other relevant information that can support advocacy.

None

Examples of Good Practice

What, if anything, the country has done to protect education and/or implement any of the 8 commitments outlined in the Declaration.

Commitment 1

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.

Commitment 2

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.

Commitment 3

None

Commitment 4

None

Commitment 5

None

Commitment 6

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.

Commitment 7

None

Commitment 8

None

Funding Opportunities

Chronological recap of the engagement with this state on funding opportunities.

None

Relevant Contacts

Contact information of the representatives of Permanent Missions, and national Ministries as well as the focal points for the State-led Implementation Network.

None

Other Relevant Information

Other relevant information about the country.