Women's Initiatives Activities in CAR

In May 2005 we began researching existing documentation of the violations committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) since July 2002 specifically the civil unrest during and following the coup d’etats. We discovered relatively few sources of documentation and little specific information about gender based crimes.

CAR map (pdf)

Activities 2006-2008

• Between January and February 2006 we commissioned the translation (French to English) of a human rights report on the alleged violations committed during and following the coup d’etat in CAR. The report includes testimonies of gender based crimes.
  

  FIDH Report- War Crimes in CAR - English (pdf)

• Conduct a field consultation to CAR with the following objectives:
  
  • to establish relationships, contacts and networks with local women’s groups and NGOs, human rights NGOs and other key actors to assess the conflict and the gender based crimes committed in this context;
  • to collect and review documentation of gender based crimes in CAR;
  • to consult with women’s groups, organizations and networks, about their experiences, opinions and analysis of the violations committed during and following the coup d’etat March 2003; their views on the referral by the CAR Government to the ICC; their awareness and expectations of the Court; identify strategies to support opening of a formal investigation into the alleged crimes; national responsibility for prosecutions;  
    
• Identify potential local women’s and human rights partners for collaborative work within CAR;
• Provide information to women and human rights activists and raise awareness on the Rome Statute, its gender mandates, the possibilities and limitations of the ICC (i.e. will only prosecute those ‘most responsible’), and the rights of victims;
• Collaborate with a local women’s NGO to provide training for women’s and human rights organisations on the Rome Statute and the ICC; the rights of victims; the gender mandates of the Statute; legal remedies within CAR to address violence against women; and possible use of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa;
• Conduct training for lawyers on the Court’s jurisdiction and the gender mandates of the Statute; relevant jurisprudence in relation to gender based crimes; the rights of victims and witnesses; the reparations mechanism through the Trust Fund for Victims; and the gender standards of the Statute applicable for national legal systems.