Public Statement by the Chair of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict

The Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, in connection with the examination of the sixth report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Central African Republic (S/2024/93), agreed to address the following messages through a public statement by the Chair of the Working Group.

To all parties to the armed conflict in the Central African Republic: 

• Expressing grave concern at and its strongest condemnation of the high number of violations and abuses committed against children in the Central African Republic; notably by armed groups, and urging all parties to the conflict, especially armed groups, to immediately end and prevent all abuses and violations against children including those involving the recruitment and use, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, attacks on schools and hospitals, abduction, and the denial of humanitarian access and to comply with their obligations under international law; 
• Welcoming the continued implementation of the Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the Central African Republic (hereafter “the Peace Agreement”), which entailed progress on disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation (DDRR) efforts, community reconciliation and voluntary returns, and the Joint Roadmap for Peace and its expansion to the local level; expressing  concern that, despite encouraging steps, the security situation remained fragile, including due to the deterioration of the security situation in the border areas, and violations and abuses continue to be committed against children; calling upon the signatories to the Peace Agreement to uphold their commitments, including its specific provisions to protect children; noting with concern that some armed groups who are signatories to the Peace Agreement continued to be among the main perpetrators of the six grave violations against children; and urging all parties to work with the United Nations to reinforce their efforts to end and prevent violations and abuses against children; 
• Calling upon all parties to the armed conflict to further implement the previous conclusions of the Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in the Central African Republic (S/AC.51/2022/5); 
• Expressing  concern about the challenges faced by the United Nations country task force on monitoring and reporting in the Central African Republic, including as a result of, inter alia, activities by armed groups, an increase in the indiscriminate use of explosive ordnance, as well as fighters living within their communities, which hampered the ability of the country task force to safely monitor and report on the six grave violations; also expressing concern that, as noted in the report of the Secretary-General, the information contained in the report does not reflect the full extent of the six grave violations committed against children in the Central African Republic during the reporting period, and in this regard urging parties to the conflict to ensure United Nations personnel safe and unhindered access to territories under their control, including for advocacy, and monitoring and reporting purposes; 
• Stressing the importance of accountability for all violations and abuses against children in armed conflict by all parties, and stressing that all those responsible be brought to justice and held accountable without undue delay, including through timely, impartial and systematic investigations and, as appropriate, prosecution and conviction; and underscoring that all victims and survivors must have access to justice, as well as that all children must have access to gender-sensitive, age-appropriate, disability-inclusive, non-discriminatory and comprehensive child protection services; in this regard, welcoming the efforts of the domestic courts and the Special Criminal Court to advance accountability for the six grave violations against children; 
• Stressing that the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration, and that the specific needs and vulnerabilities of girls and boys should be duly considered, when planning and carrying out actions concerning children in situations of armed conflict, including by taking all preventive and mitigating actions necessary to avoid and minimize harm and to better protect children during hostilities and from the effects of explosive ordnance; 
• Expressing deep concern about and condemnation of the  high number of cases of recruitment and use of children, noting that armed groups were responsible for the majority of cases of recruitment and use; noting that children were used for sexual purposes, as well as in combat and support roles such as cooks, porters, running errands, gathering information, and manning checkpoints; further noting that children joined armed groups to protect their communities or themselves, as a means of survival due to poverty, and due to fears of reprisals; strongly urging all parties to the armed conflict to engage with United Nations and to immediately and without conditions release all children from their ranks and hand them over to relevant civilian child protection actors; urging all parties to the conflict to end and prevent further recruitment and use of children under 18 years of age, consistent with their obligations under international law, including the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; also noting in this regard the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and welcoming positive steps taken by the Government including the signing of the Action Plan against the Trafficking of Children in the Central African Republic, with a focus on preventing the use of children by the Armed Forces; 
• Expressing concern about the deprivation of liberty of children by parties to armed conflict for their alleged association with armed groups; urging all parties to the conflict to release those children and ensure their full reintegration through child protection programmes; emphasizing that children allegedly associated with parties to the conflict should be treated primarily as victims, including those children who are accused of having committed crimes, and that detention should be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, in line with applicable international law; urging the Government of the Central African Republic to comply with its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol thereto on the involvement of children in armed conflict and recalling that the Government has endorsed the Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (the Paris Principles), and that alternatives to judicial proceedings should be sought for children; welcoming in this regard the release of 57 children who had been detained for their alleged association with armed groups following advocacy measures and a Presidential Decree granting them clemency on 2 December 2022, and calling on parties to the conflict to engage with the United Nations to adopt and implement appropriate handover protocols to facilitate the release of children to civilian child protection actors and prioritize their reintegration; 
• Encouraging the Government to continue to focus on long-term, sustainable and timely rehabilitation and reintegration programmes and opportunities for children affected by armed conflict that are gender- and age-sensitive and inclusive for children with disabilities, including equal access to health care, psychosocial support and education programmes, as well as to raise awareness and work with communities to avoid stigmatization of these children, to facilitate their return and minimize the risk of re-recruitment, while taking into account the specific needs of children, in order to contribute to their well-being and to sustainable peace and security; welcoming the operationalization of a vocational training centre for children in Ouaka prefecture; further welcoming the fact that implementation of local mechanisms in response to security threats entailed progress on Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Repatriation (DDRR) efforts, community reconciliation efforts and voluntary returns while  noting with concern that children’s access to sustainable socio-economic reintegration programmes was impaired by ongoing fighting, increases in logistical costs for humanitarian interventions and a decrease in funding for long-term reintegration programmes; 
• Strongly condemning the killing and maiming of children, notably by armed groups, including during targeted killings as a result of gunshots, explosive ordnance, mutilation, physical assault, assault with a machete, shrapnel, burns and rape; expressing concern that during armed confrontation, Muslim and Fulani civilians, including children, were reportedly attacked and subjected to violations, and urging all parties to the conflict to cease and prevent the killing and maiming of children, including refraining from the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons that cause death or injury to children and destroy the vital infrastructure they rely on, noting that deliberately targeting civilian objects, as such, violates international humanitarian law; 
• Expressing deep concern at cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence perpetrated against children, including gang rape and abduction for the purpose of sexual slavery; noting that cases of rape and other forms of sexual violence continue to be underreported due to stigmatization, the risk of reprisals, a lack of accountability and the absence of adequate support services for victims and survivors; urging all parties to the conflict to take immediate and specific measures to put an end to and prevent the perpetration of rape and other forms of sexual violence against children; and stressing the importance of providing non-discriminatory and comprehensive specialized services for victims and survivors of sexual violence, including mental health and psychosocial support, health, including sexual and reproductive health services, legal and livelihood support and services, including a child-friendly and safe reporting and response mechanism; acknowledging the increased accountability for sexual violence through the gradual operationalization of the military justice system and proceedings before domestic courts, the Special Criminal Court, and other courts; noting with concern that the customary practice of ‘friendly arrangements’ remained a challenge in addressing accountability for sexual violence and may result in further violations or abuses of children’s rights, including child forced marriage; 
• While welcoming the notable decrease in attacks on schools and hospitals, continuing to strongly condemn attacks on schools and hospitals in violation of international law; calling on all parties to the conflict to comply with international law and to respect the civilian character of schools and hospitals and to end and prevent attacks or threats of attacks against those institutions and protected persons in violation of applicable international law; and expressing deep concern at the verified incidents of military use of schools and hospitals in violation of  international law; further calling on all parties to the conflict to safeguard, protect, respect and promote the right to education, including in armed conflict; 
• Strongly condemning the abduction of children, and expressing grave concern at the increase in abductions of children including for recruitment and use and sexual purposes, for ransom and as retaliation, noting that most cases were attributed to armed groups, and calling upon all parties to the conflict to cease the abduction of children and immediately release all abducted children to the relevant civilian child protection actors; 
• Strongly condemning the incidents of denial of humanitarian access, including injury, abduction, physical assault, killing, threats, and robbing of humanitarian personnel, extortion, collection of levies by armed groups, access denial, destruction of humanitarian goods, and explosive ordnance attacks; noting that a majority of  the incidents were committed by armed groups and unidentified perpetrators; further expressing  concern at the insecurity, which regularly prevented the humanitarian community from delivering vital assistance to communities in need, and calling upon all parties to the conflict to allow and facilitate, in line with international law, including international humanitarian law, safe, timely and unhindered humanitarian access, consistent with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, as well as the United Nations guiding principles of humanitarian assistance and  to respect the exclusively humanitarian nature and impartiality of humanitarian aid and to respect the work of all United Nations agencies and their humanitarian partners without adverse distinction; 
• Welcoming the dialogue between the United Nations and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)-Achaye on the release of abducted children; urging the faction to end and prevent all violations and abuses and release all abducted children and to refrain from seeking to recapture released children; welcoming the adoption of a command directive prohibiting grave violations against children by the CPC, and urging the CPC to implement this command directive; further calling upon the Mouvement patriotique pour la Centrafrique (MPC), the Front populaire pour la renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC) and the Union pour la paix en Centrafrique (UPC) to swiftly implement their respective action plans; and urging all  parties to the conflict to develop, adopt and implement action plans with the United Nations to end and prevent all six grave violations against children affected by armed conflict; 
• Recalling the Security Council’s readiness to adopt targeted and graduated measures against persistent perpetrators of violations and abuses committed against children, and that the Security Council, by its resolution 2693 (2023) renewed until 31 July 2024 the asset freeze and travel ban measures imposed by resolutions 2127 (2013) 2134 (2014), and 2399 (2018), which apply to individuals and entities as designated by the Security Council Committee established pursuant to paragraph 57 of resolution 2127 (2013) (“2127 sanctions committee”), for actions that undermine the peace, stability or security of the Central African Republic, such as: 
• Being involved in planning, directing or committing acts that violate international human rights law or international humanitarian law, as applicable, or that constitute human rights abuses or violations in the Central African Republic, including acts involving sexual violence, targeting of civilians, ethnic or religious-based attacks, deliberate attacks on schools and hospitals, abduction and forced displacement; 
• Recruiting or using children in armed conflict in the Central African Republic, in violation of applicable international law; 
• Obstructing the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the Central African Republic, or access to or distribution of, humanitarian assistance in the Central African Republic; 
• Expressing the readiness of the Working Group to communicate to the Security Council pertinent information with a view to assisting the Council in the imposition of targeted measures on perpetrators; 

To all United Nations peacekeeping operations, including the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic and non-United Nations forces present in the Central African Republic and relevant Member States: 

• Expressing deep distress over continued concern of sexual exploitation and abuse against children by some United Nations peacekeepers, and strongly condemning all acts of sexual exploitation and abuse; 
• Calling upon the United Nations and relevant Member States to continue to take appropriate action to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse, including the vetting of all personnel and conducting pre-deployment and in-mission awareness training, to ensure full accountability in cases of such conduct, including through timely survivor-centred investigations of all allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse; to hold perpetrators accountable and repatriate units when there is credible evidence of widespread or systemic sexual exploitation and abuse by those units; to take appropriate disciplinary measures; to report fully and promptly on actions undertaken; to ensure that child victims and witnesses are adequately protected during the investigation process; and to facilitate access to medical and psychological support, as appropriate; and in that respect welcoming the appointment and the work of the Field Victims’ Rights Advocate by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) and the adoption of a victim-centred approach, enabling most child victims to access services and education/vocation training; 
• Urging further efforts by relevant Member States to take appropriate preventative action, including the vetting of all personnel and the delivery of robust pre-deployment training concerning sexual exploitation and abuse in accordance with the terms of their memorandums of understanding and other agreements with the United Nations; 

To neighbouring States, United Nations bodies, regional organizations and all international partners: 

• Encouraging neighbouring States, regional organizations and all international partners to support the peace process, including to end and prevent violations and abuses against children, in a coherent and coordinated manner and through strengthened partnerships; noting that the long awaited local elections provide an essential opportunity to strengthen local governance and to decentralise the peace process; welcoming the second strategic review meeting to take stock of progress in the implementation of the Peace Agreement with members of the Government as well as regional and international partners, including the guarantors and facilitators of the Political Agreement and the Foreign Ministers of Angola and Rwanda and emphasizing the important role of those guarantors and facilitators of the Peace Agreement in using their influence to enhance adherence by armed groups to their commitments; and welcoming the adoption of the joint road map for peace by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region “Luanda roadmap”; 
• Calling on the international community, and MINUSCA, in conformity with its mandate, the United Nations country team and the Peacebuilding Fund, to provide coordinated support to build the capacities and enhance the effectiveness of the judicial system, including where appropriate and mandated through the provision of financial and technical assistance to the Central African Republic authorities towards the restoration of the administration of the judiciary, criminal justice and building of child protection systems throughout the country.

To community and religious leaders:

• Emphasizing the important role of community and religious leaders in strengthening the protection of children affected by armed conflict and fostering reconciliation efforts; 

Urging them to strengthen community-level protection and to publicly condemn and continue to advocate ending and preventing violations and abuses against children, notably those involving the recruitment and use of children, killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, attacks and threats of attacks on schools and hospitals, abductions and denial of humanitarian access, including on the basis of religion or ethnicity, and to engage with the Government, the United Nations, and other relevant stakeholders to support the reintegration and rehabilitation of children affected by armed conflict in their communities, including by raising awareness to avoid stigmatization of these children.